Orchards, Trees & Orchard ProduceHertfordshire information
Orchards, Trees & Orchard Produce
Hertfordshire information
The East of England Apples and Orchards Project began life as the Norfolk Apples and Orchards project and was set up to promote a greater awareness of Norfolk's apple heritage. It has recently extended its brief to cover the other Eastern counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk. They are surveying the area's existing orchards and helping to establish new orchards with Eastern county varieties - they produce a most comprehensive range of local apples and pears. Contact them for details of price and stock availability. They also organise Apple Day celebrations. Contact Clare Stimson or Martin Skipper at 3 High House Cottages, Weasenham Road, Litcham, Kings Lynn PE32 2RY, or call +44(0)1328 838403, and take a look at the project web-site.They also sell trees.
Hertfordshire Orchard Initiative with the Hertfordshire Biological Records Centre is holding a survey of existing traditional orchards in the county and is helping their conservation, the result of which are still to be fully analysed. Their pack called 'Hertfordshire Orchards, A Guide to Their History, Conservation and Management' is now out of print, and due to be reprinted when funds allow. A free leaflet about Hertfordshire's orchards is available. Contact John Ely at Highfield Park Trust, West Lodge, Hill End Lane, St Albans AL4 0RB, +44(0)1727 847242 or email hoi[at]highfieldparktrust.co.uk
Orchards and Community Orchards to visit
"In Hertfordshire at Croxley Green, Stone's Community Orchard is a 1.4 hectare relic of an orchard once nearly 4 times as large. Such orchards formed an important element of the local economy a century ago. Cherry Sundays were fairs held in July in many orcharding villages in south-west Hertfordshire and combined picking, sales and picking in local orchards including Stone's. Today, new saplings of the dark Carroon (Kerroon) and Hertfordshire Black cherries, as well as local apple varieties and plums, stand among the still flowering ancient giants which Walter Stone may have planted"
From the Common Ground Book of Orchards, 2000).
Aldbury Community Orchard was planted on old allotment plots in 2000 with 60 trees, apples, pears and plums, sponsored by local people.
Baldock Community Orchard was planted in 2004 on part of an allotment site. It is hoped it will go on to become an Local Nature Reserve. Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire apple varieties were planted as well as American Mother from the USA and Warner’s King from Kent because of their association with Rivers Nursery in Sawbridgeworth. Three trees are grafts from unknown varieties of apple growing in the local area, as well as a Mulberry.
Birklands Meadow Community Orchard, off the London Road, Birklands Meadow, St Albans Grid Ref 516982E 205190N (TL 169 051). When looking at maps of this old meadow the Community Forest Association discovered that it used to contain an old orchard in one corner. Further investigation revealed some old trees still surviving although covered with elder and ivy. This was cleared and the trees saved and in Autumn 1999 20 new trees were planted to create a Community Orchard. There have been some problems with waterlogging in the ground, but the trees are thriving in the more fertile ground. The meadow is owned by Hertfordshire County Council and their Countryside Management Service has helped the Community Forest Association to care for the trees and the meadow. The area is unfenced and so has open access to everyone, but the land is threatened by redevelopment.
Codicote Community Orchard, Bury Lane, Codicote (opposite St Giles Church). A 0.22ha mixed orchard on the edge of the village planted in 1998 by local people under the guidance of Codicote Environmental Improvement group (now Codicote Environmental Partnership) and Codicote Parish Council who own the land. The trees are mostly half-standards with some standards and some dwarf trees. Apples pears, cherries plums, gages, walnuts and cobnuts have been planted, many of local varieties including the apple Hitchin Pippin – advice was taken from a local expert. A native mixed hedge was planted, the sward was reseeded with mixed grass and common wildflowers. Some wildflower plugs were also planted with the help of local school children. Many birds including Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Kestrel and French Partridge, mammals including stoat and muntjac, butterflies and insects have been seen. Apple Day has been celebrated since 2004, attracting around 250 people. The day includes apple picking and juicing, with juice sold on the day and later at the village shop. The orchard has proved popular and has lead to some becoming involved in other local orchards such as Tewin and Shenley Park. Future plans include grafting new trees from existing old trees in the village. Contact: Clerk to Codicote Parish Council, +44(0)1438 821770.
Highfield Park Orchard, off Highfield Park Drive, St Albans, Highfield Park is on the south eastern edge of St Albans, once the grounds of Cell Barns and Hill End Psychiatric Hospitals. Following the Hospital closures in the 1990s, the planning authorities of St Albans City and District Council approved the redevelopment of the Hospital sites with nearly 700 new houses on the condition that 60 acres be left as public open space. In 1998 Highfield Park Trust was established as an Independent Charity with an endowment from the Secretary of State for Health to enable it to develop and maintain the Park for its 150 year lease. As well as woodland, specimen trees, hedgerows, wildflower meadows, playing fields. Mediterranean Garden, children’s play areas and a network of footpaths and cycleways, there are two old orchards on either side of Highfield Park Drive at the southern end of the park. They have been restored after a decade of neglect. It is managed without the use of sprays for the benefit of wild life and people. There is a Friends group and the Trust encourages community involvement. There are regular pruning training days enable interested locals to learn restoration pruning from a professional horticulturalist, plus a popular annual Apple Day. The Trust invested in apple juicing and bottling equipment in 2006 and now juices its own apples and those from other orchards in Hertfordshire. Contact: John Ely, Director, Highfield Park Trust, West Lodge, Hill End Lane, St Albans AL4 0RB, +44(0)1727 847242, admin[at]highfieldparktrust.co.uk or see www.highfieldparkttrust.co.uk
Merry Hill Fruit Field, Bushey, Watford. An 8 acre orchard planted in 1999 on arable farmland owned by the Woodland Trust with help from local volunteers. Volunteers have established a Stakeholders Committee to oversee work. Mainly half standard trees of apple, plum, damson, gage, cherry, medlar, quince, hazel and walnuts. As far as possible varieties were chosen with county and neighbouring county provenance including the local Bushey Grove apple, plus some old less common varieties such as Court Pendu Plat. The land is bounded by hedgerows of blackberry and sloe. Grass is cut once a year after most wildflowers have seeded. Guards are still in place to protect trees from deer. Many bird varieties are known plus Cinnabar Moths, Wasp Spider have appeared since more varied wildflowers have established. The harvest is still small but crab apples and medlars are picked for jelly and sold to raise funds for more trees. In 2005 an interpretation board was installed. Tree planting days have been organised in the fruit field for the public and the local school. A supervised Hedgelaying day was held in January 2007 with the Country Management Service. Contact: Mrs J Bonell, 42 Merry Hill Mount, Bushey, Watford, Herts WD23 1DJ, +44(0)20 8950 1583, jill[at]merrymount42.fsnet.co.uk Or Mrs P Rivers, 44 Merry Hill Mount, Bushey, Watford, Herts WD23 1DJ, +44(0)20 8950 4651, pamela[at]rivers44.fsnet.co.uk
Oxhey Orchard, Paddock Road Allotments, Oxhey, Watford. An orchard planted in 1999/2000 by the Allotment Society on five allotment plots left unused for 20-30 years. Allotments holders helped to establish the orchard as did some local residents. The Council keep ownership of the land, but the plots are rent-free. There are forty trees on dwarfing rootstocks of apple, plums, cherries and a mulberry. With some local varieties including apples Lane’s Prince Albert, Bushey Grove and Brownlees Russet and plums President, River’s Early Prolific and Transparent Gage. Volunteers who care for the orchard share the crop. Extra is sold and the money put in the orchard funds for trees and grass cutting. Although on an allotment site, it has public access at all times. A noticeboard lists all the varieties and the names of those who planted them. A bench has been placed in a corner for visitors to enjoy the orchard and the view over to Merry Hill owned by the National Trust. Wassailing is held each year and there have been summer picnics. There are work days for winter pruning, weed clearance in spring and autumn, and mulching in spring. The Allotment Society pay a local conservation group, Friends of Attenboroughs Fields, for grass cutting. An old hedge has been extended with new planting. A small pond in the orchard attracts newts, dragonflies and another pond within the allotments has Great Crested Newts. Grass snakes, foxes and lots of species of bird are seen. Fritillaries and cowslips have been planted, and the cowslips are self-seeding. Honey from nearby beehives is sold for funds to help maintain the orchard. Contact: Mary Reid, 107 Lower Paddock Road, Oxhey, Watford, +44(0)1923 238728, reidmary[at]hotmail.com
Rivers Orchard (left), Sawbridgeworth (Grid ref: TL472145. Access via Rivers Hospital on the High Wych Road out of Sawbridgeworth). This orchard is what remains of Rivers Nursery, planted as a demonstration/experimental orchard in the late 1940s. Thomas Rivers was one of the country's leading nurseryman and plant breeders. He and his family after him bred some of the finest top fruit from the 1820s such as Early Rivers, Czar, Golden and Late Transparent gages, cooking plums: Monarch, President and Conference pear. The nursery was run by the Rivers family for 250 years until its closure in 1985. Much of the land was bought for the construction of the Thomas Rivers Medical Centre, a private hospital, and a number of retirement homes. In 1996 the Friends of Rivers Ochard established to manage and preserve the orchard for future generations. The Friends have managed the orchard under Countryside Stewardship on behalf of East Hertfordshire District Council until 2006 when the agreement reached its end. A ten-year Management Plan has been written to ensure the continuation of good practice. There are monthly work days and special pruning days. The remaining 500 trees of apples, plums and cherries have been restored by the Friends. Identification of existing varieties is continuing and new trees of Rivers varieties have been planted. The grass is cut twice yearly and the cuttings removed to encourage wildflower regeneration including orchids and cowslips. Surrounding hedges are managed for wildlife and scrub areas are left for nesting birds. A public footpath runs along the edge of the orchard but access is by invitation only. There are Community Fruit Picking Days for plums and apples. Fruit and juice is sold at Apple Day and other events such as Wassailing, Arts events, and guided walks and talks. Contact: Hazel Mead, 44 Ash Groves, Sawbridgeworth, +44(0)1279 724503, david.hazel[at]virgin.net or see www.riversnurseryorchard.org.uk
Museum of St Alban’s Orchard, Museum of St Albans, 9a Hatfield Road, St Albans AL1 3RR. An apple orchard planted in 1995 in the garden of St Albans Museum, owned by St Albans District Council. It has been used for school visits. The Museum is open 10am-5pm weekdays and 2-5pm Sundays. Contact: B D Adams, Museum of St Albans +44(0)1727 819581.
Stanley Lord Orchard, Shenley Park. An orchard that was once part of Shenley Park Psychiatric Hospital, and named after its head gardener. It has over 100 varieties of apple planted on semi-dwarfing rootstock by Stanley Lord in 1935 to restock the existing orchard planted in 1900. There were 22 acres of orchards to supply the hospital and local markets, with patients helping to pick and store apples as well as work in the kitchen gardens. These activities were felt to be therapeutic. Stanley Lord orchard was a frequent winner of RHS gold and silver medals for their displays of apples at RHS shows in the 1950s and 60s. The practice of encouraging patients to work in the orchard and gardens went out of favour in the 70s and 80s and by the 1990s the orchard was neglected and overgrown. The land was partially developed with a new village of 900 homes, the remaining 45 acres of land including Stanley Lord orchard was retained as public open space. In 1992 the land was transferred from NW Thames Health Authority to Hertsmere Borough Council, who then leased the Park to the Shenley Park Trust, made up of local residents and councillors. Since then the Trust has restored the orchard to its original form, clearing around 400 remaining apple trees and adding 150 more. The orchard includes some Hertfordshire varieties such as Brownlees Russet, Bushey Grove, Dawn, Gavin, Lane’s, Prince Albert, and New Hawthornden. The Trust also look after the nearby walled garden with cordons and espaliers. The apples are pressed, pasteurised and bottled using equipment owned by the Highfield Park Trust nearby, and the juice is sold in the Orchard Tea Room. A sympathetic mowing regime has brought back cowslips, scabious, vetches and other wildflowers and there is much birdlife including a visiting sparrowhawk. There is free access to the orchard and park, which is open from dawn til dusk. Contact: Glyn Dredge, Director, Shenley Park Trust, The Engine House, Radletts Lane, Shenley, Herts WD7 9DW, +44(0)1923 852629, Admin[at]shenleypark.co.uk or see www.shenleypark.co.uk
Stones Cherry Orchard, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth. In Hertfordshire at Croxley Green, Stone’s Community Orchard, named after Walter Stone, a former tenant farmer, is a 1.4-hectare remnant of an orchard once nearly four times as large owned by the District Council. It has tall cherry trees of Caroon cherries (or Kerroon) and Hertfordshire Black Cherries, and some apple trees including the Hertfordshire cooker Lane’s Prince Albert plus Bramleys, King of the Pippins, Laxton’s Superb and Worcester Pearmain. There are also pears, walnuts and Victoria and Kirkes Blue plums, once grown for Covent Garden market. It was well known within the village for its cherries, but apples, pears, plums and cobnuts were also grown. Such orchards formed an important element of the local economy a century ago. ‘Cherry Sundays’ were fairs held in July in many orcharding villages in south-west Hertfordshire and combined picking, sales and picnicking in local orchards including Stone’s. In the 1970s many of the orchards in the area were lost to housing but Stones was refused planning permission in 1983 and sold to the local authority for £1. It is now part of the village conservation area, managed by the Parish Council. Today, new saplings of the dark Carroon and Hertfordshire Black cherries, as well as local apple varieties and plums, stand among the still flowering ancient giants which Walter Stone may have planted. A survey in 1993/4 recorded sixteen grasses and 60 wildflower species including Black Medick, foxglove, ox-eye daisy, celandine and prickly sedge. There is full public access to the orchard, reached from the village green through a kissing gate. The fruit is available for local people to pick although much is left for wildlife. There are plans to reinstate Cherry Sunday on the green in time. Contact: Mr David Allison, Clerk to Croxley Green Parish Council, Council Offices, Community Way, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth WD3 3SU, +44(0)1923 710250, croxleypc[at]btconnect.com
Tewin Orchard, 1 Upper Green, Tewin, Welwyn AL6 0LX (grid ref: TL269156. Exit 6 from A1(M), follow A1000, B1000 (avoiding Welwyn) under Digswell Viaduct, left for Harmer Green, Burnham Green - at cross roads turn right into Orchard Road and Tewin Orchard is on left where Tewin Wood gives way to a field). An old standard orchard over ten acres, dating from the 1930s. It was originally owned by the Hopkyns family and has continued as a nature reserve due to the wishes of its last owner, Molly Hopkyns, an artist who loved the orchard’s wildlife. Between the 1950s and 1983 trees were rented by villagers who picked their own fruit. Molly Hopkyns left the orchard in her will to the RSPB who leased it to Hertfordshire and Middlesex Wildlife Trust in 1972 since when it has been watched over by Honorary Wardens Michael and Anna Clark. There is full year-round access to the orchard. The existing trees are apples and pears of mainly Bramleys plus many Laxon’s varieties, James Grieve, Monarch, Grenadier, and Hertfordshire pears Fertility and Conference developed by Thomas River’s nursery. The most recent planting include the Hertfordshire apples Brownlees Russet, Bushey Grove, Dawn, Fairies Queen, Hormead Permain, New Hawthornden, Prince Edward, River’s Early Peach, River’s Nonsuch, St Martins, Thomas Rivers, Voyager, Winter Hawthornden, Young’s Pinello, Waltham Abbey, St Alban’s Pippin, Laxton’s Herald, Laxton’s Leader, Laxton’s Pearmain, Laxton’s Peerless, Laxton's Rearguard, Laxton’s Reward, Laxton’s Royalty, Laxton’s Superb, Laxton’s Triumph, Laxton’s Victory. Also the Bedfordshire apple Beauty of Bedford and the Middlesex apple Feltham Beauty. Hertfordshire Pears have also been planted; Beacon, Fertility, Magnate, Parrot, Princess, Saint Luke and Summer Beurre. The planting of Hertfordshire varieties of fruit has long been a policy at Tewin and the Hitchin Pippin has been propagated here from the last known named tree, which was over one hundred years old. The trees continue to crop well although their size makes harvesting difficult. Every year the apples and pears are picked by volunteers to be sold at Apple Day events. Tewin orchard apple juice, preserves and honey from beehives kept in the orchard are also sold. All profits go to support the work of the Hertfordshire & Middlesex Wildlife Trust at the orchard. There are also school visits and orchard skills demonstrations. Wildlife records are kept each year. There area stag beetles, white-letter hairstreak butterflies and good populations of small mammals including water shrew, harvest mouse, voles, wood mice and yellow-necked mice. A Badger sett is flourishing and there are muntjac, foxes, polecats, stoats, weasels and six species of bat, a barn owl, little owls, nuthatch, treecreeper and woodpeckers, and warblers are present in the summer. A new pond built in 1980 has attracted great crested newts from a nearby green. Spotted orchids have returned as a result of grass management. A new Mammal Hide was constructed in 2006 with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund after 15 years using an old converted stable at Tewin Orchard. Between April and October the hide is available for evening booking for individuals or small groups can visit to try their luck at seeing badgers, foxes, muntjac deer, bats and rabbits at twilight. Food is left out at the hide by the wardens each evening and the area is illuminated. Bats have found the lighting a useful source of insect food and may swoop past the windows. Around 800 people use the hide each year. Contact: Michael Clark, 1 Upper Green, Tewin, Welwyn AL6 0LX, +44(0)1438 798324, mike.tewin[at]gmail.com, see www.tewinorchard.co.uk
Watercress Wildlife Association. The original orchard on this land was probably established in the 1920s or 30s by the Pinnock family as part of their market garden and watercress business and the five mature trees still remaining are probably a remnant of this orchard. The standard apple trees, were planted inside large chicken runs and the pears trained as cordons with the fruit for domestic use only. A new orchard of 25 trees was completed in April 2001 to include a disused allotment, which has large old apple trees. Some Hertfordshire varieties have been added in between including Brownlee’s Russet, Young’s Pinello, Dawn, Voyager, Allington Pippin, Winter Hawthornden, Fairie Queen, Lane’s Prince Albert, Hormead Pearmain, St Martins, Prince Edard, and from Bedfordshire Laxton’s Superb. There are also elder, damson, quince, crab apple and pear trees. Many bulbs and wild flowers carpet the older part. The orchard offers cover and fodder for a multitude of finches and other birds. A bank of dumped brick, slate and assorted rubbish has built up over 100 years at the rear of adjacent gardens and is being cleared by volunteers, the slope being planted with wild flowers and shrubs. Wide mown paths allow access. Some very old pollarded willows stand along the edge supporting lots of species including goat moths, woodlice and fungi. Other wildlife recorded in the orchard include hedgehogs, song thrush, mistle thrush, green woodpecker, bullfinch, dunnock, sparrow, chaffinch, long tailed tit, blue tit, great tit, coal tit, starlings, fieldfare, redwing and warblers. Wassailing is held annually attended by the Wicket Brood Morris side. It raises money for two charities, The RNIB and WaterWheelers, a local organization organising tandem cycling trips for the visually impaired. Contact: Watercress Wildlife Association, 220 Riverside Rd, St Albans, Herts, AL1 1SF, steve. simpson[at]dacorum.gov.uk or see www.watercress-net.org.uk
Where to buy apples and orchard produce
Tring’s Own Apple Juice operates from Unit 3, The Silk Mill, Brook St, Tring HP23 5EF, mailing address is 113 Longfield Road, Tring HP23 4DE +44(0)1442 823993. Nigel Nutkins produces apple juice from apples sourced locally in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, sold in local outlets in Tring and surrounding villages, and at Farmers’ Markets. Nigel also offers a pressing and bottling service for organic and local orchards. Email address tringsown[at]hotmail.com
Highfiled Park and Shenley Park Apple Juice - Apple juice pressed from the apples of Shenley Aprk and Highfield Park's orchards is available in the Orchard Tea Room at Shenley Park. See details above.
For information on local produce contact Tastes of Anglia on +44(0)1473 785883 or visit their web-site.
Trees can be purchased from the East of England Apples and Orchards Project. Contact: treesales [at] applesandorchards. org. uk or call +44(0)1328 838403 for a catalogue of 170 varieties local to the East of England.
Aylett Nurseries, London Colney, St Albans, stock around 30 varieties of apple plus, plum, pear, cherries, damsons and gages. Call +44(0)1727 822255 or see their web-site.
You can order trees mail order from a number of nurseries that stock a wide range including:
Keepers Nursery in Kent +44(0)1622 726465 or see their web-site.
Thornhayes in Devon +44(0)1884 266746 or see their web-site.
Please let us know if you know of a good fruit tree nursery in Hertfordshire : email info [at] commonground.org.uk
