New Community Orchard for Ladybridge Park!

This week we had a fantastic (and soggy!) morning planting an exciting new community orchard in Ladybridge Park, West Hunsbury. A whopping 60 trees, including lots of heritage and local Northamptonshire varieties — plums, pears, apples, gages and damsons.

Thanks so much to everyone who came along to help on a wet morning — and special thanks to the children from Hunsbury Park Primary School for some brilliant digging and for finding lots of wriggly worms.

We’re really looking forward to organising community pruning parties and, eating and drinking the harvest in the years to come.

Tree varieties were supplied from The Heritage Fruit Tree Company. Fruit trees or bushes are capable of providing years of delicious and nutritious harvests as well as offering essential habitats for a wide range of wildlife. Varieties planted in Ladybridge Park include:

·       Apple; Lord Burghley. Dessert apple found growing as a seedling at Burghley House, near Stamford. First fruited in about 1834 it has won awards for its long keeping qualities. Sweet tasting. Northamptonshire variety.

·       Apple; Eady’s Magnum. Large, late-season cooking apple. Raised by Miss D A Eady of Wellingborough, Northamptonshire c1908.

·       Pear; Beurre Hardy. Heritage variety know for its delicious aromatic fruits and robust growth. First cultivated in France around 1820 by Monsieur Bonnet.

·       Plum; Warwickshire Drooper. Raised in the West midlands pre1920’s it is an old favourite with large, oval-shaped yellow fruits that are streaked green.

·       Gage; Cambridge Gage. Ready for picking late August and early September, the fruits are small yellow/green with a slight red flush.

·       Damson; Merryweather. A heavy cropping variety that yields the largest blue, plum-sized damsons. Can be eaten fresh but best used in jams.

We’re really proud of our parks and the range of biodiversity and natural habitats across our parish. If you’ve got ideas for doing more for climate and nature in West Hunsbury, we’d love to hear them — feel free to message me or email cllr.d.garrett@westhunsburyparishcouncil.gov.uk