In 2022, the village raised money to plant a tree as part of the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. In the event, we raised enough money for 16 trees. At a similar time, villagers had expressed the wish to use some of the land at the recreation ground for an orchard. These came together in the idea of a Community Orchard on the Rec as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy Initiative.
Duncan Gates researched and sourced trees using his experience from Audley End Kitchen Garden and Orchard. Under Duncan’s guidance, a team of volunteers planted the bulk of the trees in late winter 2023, and cared for the trees with regular watering, weeding and mowing throughout the summer. A further tree was planted in winter 2023-24. In the next couple of years the trees should start to produce fruit.
The trees selected are mostly from the East of England Apples and Orchards Project and include two trees related to Littlebury. One, Burrell’s Red Myrobalen, was discovered in Mr Burrell’s orchard in Littlebury in 1875 and developed and sold by a nursery in Bury St Edmunds. The other, Spartan, was grafted by Martyn Porter from a tree Cyril Perrin had planted in his garden in Littlebury. A schematic of the full planting scheme is below.
The current orchard care team includes Duncan and Gill Gates, Isabelle Page, Mary Heath, Charlotte and Ian Dunham, Graham Stock, John Broomfield, Fiona and Kiran Barve and Claudia Haisman-Green.
For further information, or to join the care team contact Charlotte Dunham charlotte_dunham@homail.co.uk
