Gloucestershire Orchard Trust

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Gloucestershire Orchard Trust

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http://glosorchards.org/ Gloucestershire Orchard Trust is a charity that campaigns for the retention and restoration of traditional orchards in Gloucestershire.

If you have an enquiry please use the website enquiry form at https://glosorchards.org/home/contact/ rather than posting here on facebook!

24/09/2026

Celebrating Gloucestershire's apple heritage.

The Trust has a stand at the Malvern Autumn Show, where almost all the 73 apple cultivars that come from Gloucestershire are displayed. Some look better than others, but amongst our favourites is Barnet's Beauty, and apple very few people have ever heard of, and fewer still have tasted.

The variety grew at Bell Inn Farm, near Berkeley, a pub mentioned in Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens, who stayed at the Inn on his way to Tewkesbury, as did the characters in the book.

08/08/2026

A Humingbird Hawk Moth captured in an orchard / allotment in Cheltenham.. The reason the wings,appear a bit blurry is that they flap at about 80 times per second, so one needs a better camera than those typically included with a mobile phone!

02/08/2026

It's Plum Day at Hartpury today ...gorgeous weather, wonderful orchards to wander through, delicious cakes, tea and other refreshments ...

24/07/2026

The inauguration of the new Longney BBQs this evening, as the moth traps are set as part of our Wildlife Weekend, under the watchful eye of our master-chef, Nigel. We've invested in two, one for vegetarians, the other for carnivores ... and both to help conserve Nigel's back, as he can now apply his skills in a more perpendicular way. A d Nigel has,also discovered an important feature of our new equipment ... the inbuilt bottle opener.

We've invested

22/07/2026

Orchard Outreach in action, courtesy of tree surgeon Simon Jones Simon Jones seen here pruning a majestic perry pear tree. Our general recommendation is to leave perry pear trees alone, allow them to grow in their own way with minimal intervention, but on this occasion we opted to remove the large limb that is growing off to the left, to minimise any likelihood of it breaking over the course of the next 100 years.

And to remind us why we were in the orchard in the first place, Simon places signs in the orchard, so the volunteers don't wander off thinking our orchard outreach days are for idle entertainment and picnics: although we do enjoy ourselves, a lot of serious work gets done!

21/07/2026

Orchard Outreach descended on Standish last week, where Simon Jones Simon Jones did his magic, high up in tge tallest trees, whilst volunteers tackled smaller trees and lower branches, or lugged tge arisings across the orchard to form a dead-hedge on the orchard's boundary.

Setting a new high for orchard hospitality, Ed served us all fine, artisans coffee in his office / café, together with 2 DELICIOUS cakes, freshly baked by Sally, tge sort of welcome that is sure to encourage us to return.

10/07/2026

Last Saturday we hosted the 2nd Gloucestershire Scything Day in our orchards at Longney and were delighted to welcome many experts from around the region, who passed on so much of their knowledge, based on years of experience, to those who are relative newcomers. Blades were filed, peened and sharpened, techniques were honed, "hackers" were turned into scythers. By the end of the (hot) day, acres of meadow had been mowed and a veritable crowd had descended on the barn to escape the sun's rays.

Our THANKS to everyone who turned up, expert and amateur alike, and we look forward to hosting the 3rd Gloucestershire Scything Day next year ... likely to be in late May, when it'll probably be somewhat cooler and the meadows more mowable.

06/07/2026

The Trust does a lot of good work behind the scenes but truly comes alive and becomes so much more meaningful when we're fortunate enough to have volunteers join us.

On just about the hottest 2 days of the year, 24th and 25th June, Mitch was kind enough to help us in an orchard in Preston Cross, on the very northern border of Gloucestershire. We were helping prune some majestic veteran trees with the help of tree surgeon Simon Jones Simon Jones - part of our Orchard Outreach programme - and whilst Simon was removing tonnes (literally, tonnes) of mistletoe from the largest trees, Mitch tackled several smaller trees with a Silky handsaw and a ladder - the before and after picture of one tree does not justice to the amount of restorative pruning that he undertook. THANK YOU!!

And we owe Mitch and his partner Caysie an apology; a serious editorial glitch meant they weren't mentioned in our post about the Wildlife Weekend, a major ommission as they are long-standing and valuable members of our Longney volunteer group and bring so much enthusiasm to our gatherings, as well as a deep knowledge of the world of c***r. Indeed, they played a critical role in the production of our batch of Longney c***r last autumn, some of which we consumed at that Wildlife Weekend. APOLOGIES!

26/05/2026

Wildlife Weekend (part 2)

For those camping in the orchard, Saturday began with the cacophany of the dawn chorus; the orchard being visited by over 70 species of bird, it really is an impressive sound. A bleary BBQ breakfast was then followed by the return of Peter, the moth expert from Butterfly Conservation, to verify the moths that had been trapped. Fewer moths than last year eas to be expected - fewer traps, and no pheromone traps - but we were pleased to record additions to the list of species we counted last year, and top of Trustees year's list is Hedge Beauty (pic 1).

Jonathan Briggs, the mistletoe man, long-standing supporter and active participant in managing the Trust a few years ago, then gave an orchard Walk & Talk, explaining about the peculiarities of mistletoe and their value to an orchard's biodiversity: fascinating.

And then the Trust's ecologist and former Trustee gave an orchard Walk & Talk about lichen, in the heat of a hot day, which resulted in participants taking a close and personal interest in the trunks, branches and twigs of our orchard trees. Lichen under a magnifying glass are a thing of wonder.

Our thanks to the experts who gave up their time and expertise to entertain and inform us. Our thanks, too, to the Trust's Curator and Trustee, Steve Mason, who did so much to organise the weekend and make it such a success, also acknowledgement that our Chair of Trustees, David Lindgren, turned up on both days to talk to people and make himself look busy whilst actually doing very little (a useful, if somewhat annoying, trait). But most of all,THANK YOU to our members and volunteers who came along, whose presence make these events worthwhile and who contribute so much to the Trust. Thanks to Sam (Old Sam) for sything the pitches on Friday, to Sam (New Sam) for scything acres of nettles on Saturday morning, to Nigel for acting as chef for 3 meals, to Ellen for bringing a delicious cake, to Jo for bringing potato wedges, enthusiasm and laughter, to Sue for excellent BBQ sauce and wisdom, to Ursula & Toby for bringing salads and enquiring minds, to Lucy for bringing her family, to The Peskeys for their Friday evening performance ...

23/05/2026

Wildlife weekend, part 1 ...
.. started with our orchards at Longney playing host to our first ever music festival, with local folk band The Peskey providing the entertainment. Before that, in the heat of the afternoon, Sam (Old Sam) cleared several pitches with his scythe, in preparation for those who wanted to camp overnight. After The Peskeys had completed their encore, Peter from Butterfly Conservation (Gloucestershire section) set up moth traps for our annual moth survey, whilst our head chef Nigel run our BBQ.

The moth traps attract insects with lights, luring them into the bowels of the traps where comfortable accommodation is provided for them in the form of used egg boxes, which are then inspected the following morning, the survey carefully recorded and photographed, before the moths and other insects are released (I.e. moths are NOT harmed during the course of the survey).

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If You Have An Enquiry Please Use The Website Enquiry Form At Https://glosorchards. Org/home/contact/rather Than Posting Here On Facebook
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https://glosorchards.org/

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