Orchard Groundforce

Springwatch Christmas Special Part 2

2011-12-16T08:43:00.001Z

We had a great day filming with Springwatch and were blessed with wonderful weather. You can see the results at 7pm on BBC2 on Boxing Day, and if you miss that it will be repeated at 3.15 pm BBC2 on New Year’s Eve.

The feature is about mistletoe and the damage it does to apple trees despite its importance as a wildlife habitat.

There was no shortage of mistletoe in the traditional orchard at West Bradley, unfortunately, as is the case in so many of our Somerset orchards. Neil was eager to get at some of it with his pole saw and Kate was happy to get her hands sticky with the berries.

The crew, from Bristol, were charming, and included Scott Tibbles, son of the great wildlife cameraman Maurice Tibbles, and a great wildlife cameraman in his own right.

It will be a short piece in a review of the year, but we will all be glued to our screens!

BBC Springwatch Christmas Special

2011-11-18T09:21:00.001Z

Kate Humble

We are delighted to reveal that a small part of the Springwatch Christmas Special will be filmed at West Bradley Orchards. Kate Humble and her crew will be spending a day with us towards the end of November to film a piece on mistletoe.

Yes. Mistletoe! Seasonal it may be, and an important habitat for several species including mistlethrushes and blackcaps, but we have mixed feelings about it.

Although we are pleased to say there is not a trace of mistletoe in our commercial plantings it does cause us problems in the traditional orchard. If you don’t keep a serious eye on it it can get away from you and rampage through the trees, eventually killing them.

The only solution is to remove the entire branch, right back to the trunk. Cutting out just the plant only makes the problem worse.

Happily for the BBC there is no shortage of mistletoe at West Bradley and we hope they will be able to capture some of the mistlethrushes in flight. Not many birds are attracted to the white berries so they are a reliable food source throughout the winter for those birds that do know about them.

Other creatures for whom mistletoe is an important habitat include the rare and endangered Mistletoe Marble Moth.

We hope we will be able to get across our message about the importance of managing traditional orchards properly for both diversity and productivity.

The programme will be broadcast in the Christmas schedules.

Orchard Groundforce celebrates 100th orchard!

2011-10-26T17:46:00.000+01:00

Neil Macdonald & Andrew Longman

This week we added the orchard at Snagg Farm, Ditcheat, farmed by Andrew and Brian Longman, to the list of traditional orchards in our care. When we checked we realised that this brings the current total to 100!

Neil Macdonald, director of Orchard Groundforce, said

“We are proud to look after more than 13% of the traditional orchards in Somerset.

In some cases this means harvesting the apples but we also provide a full service, pruning and managing the trees throughout the year. Andrew’s orchard is just the sort we like, with good access and quality fruit”

Snagg Farm has been in the Longman family for over 100 years. The orchard consists of 4 acres of traditional cider apple trees with about 140 trees, producing around 30 tons of fruit.

Andrew Longman points out the very tree under which his grandfather was standing when, as a young child, he heard the siren sound out from Evercreech, just a few miles down the road, to signal the end of the First World War. The date was 11 November 1918.

“I wouldn’t want anything to happen to the orchard" he says. "I think everyone is a bit more wise now to their responsibility to look after what’s around them and I’d like to leave more when I go than when I got here.”

Pick-Your-Own weekends at West Bradley Orchards

2011-08-24T11:30:00.001+01:00

West Bradley Orchards, the home of Orchard Groundforce and Orchard Pig, will be open for PYO apples and pears on the first four weekends of September, Friday - Sunday, 10.00 - 5.00.

We have lots of unusual and rare varieties including Charles Ross, Kidd’s Orange, Ashmead’s Kernel and Orleans Reinette as well as the usual Bramley and Cox.

Join us on Sat 10 and Sun 11 September only for our famous Apple Scrumping Days! You can make your own apple juice from the apples you pick - a blend of your choice or a single variety.

We provide tuition, equipment and bottles; you just have to be prepared to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. You can even make your own labels. Take home your own personal apple juice and amaze your friends!

NACM/Bulmer’s Open Orcharding Day 12 July

2011-07-21T11:33:00.000+01:00

The immaculate surroundings of Bulmer’s Hockhams Farm at Martley, Worcestershire were the location for this year’s Open Orchard Day, sponsored by the NACM.

Over 200 growers were invited to the 540 acre site, as well as suppliers of equipment and machinery to the industry.

Chris Fairs, Growers’ Advisory Manager, led a walking tour around the orchards during which guest speakers made short presentations at designated stops.

Topics included a summary of new varieties planted at Hockhams, removing fruit from young tree leaders to maintain shape, summer pruning techniques and the use of gypsum in orchards.

The machinery on show introduced growers to equipment designed to improve growing and harvesting techniques and everyone was treated to a picnic lunch accompanied by cider.

Neil Macdonald from Orchard Groundforce said “This is an essential event for growers. It’s a great opportunity to network and to find out the latest thinking in the industry. We came away with a lot of food for thought.”

One of the topics we found most interesting was that on summer pruning. Chris Fairs gave a presentation on summer pruning in Fiona and Gilly trees, two of the new varieties planted at Hockhams Farm.

With 450 acres planted at the farm, producing 10% of the total Bulmer’s crop, some of the trees just do not get pruned in the winter, plus the fact that they grow so fast they sometimes need to be pruned twice.

Hereford soils are richer than ours here in Somerset, nevertheless this year we have seen some fantastic extension growth on our young trees.

On the whole we still feel that we are talking about winter pruning and summer shaping. What you prune in summer is not going to regrow. What you prune in the winter is structural and is going to encourage new growth in the spring. But if you need to cut off the end of a branch - not recommended in the winter - you can do that in the summer because the sap has stopped rising.

And if you have only one or two trees in your garden, cider or dessert, and you have a branch that consistently gets in your way when you are mowing the lawn then June is a good time to get rid of it.

Newsflash! John Deere to attend Open Farm Sunday

2011-05-17T13:55:00.002+01:00

We have just had some great news! John Deere, the world's leading manufacturer of farm equipment and one of the main sponsors of Open Farm Sunday, will be attending our event on June 12 and bringing some of their famous green and yellow machinery.

Needless to say we are absolutely delighted to be able to show some of the best boys toys in the world! We look forward to all the oohs and aahs from our guests on the day.

Open Farm Sunday is on 12 June 2011. West Bradley Orchards and our neighbour Lower Farm will be open for this free event from 10.00 - 4.00.

West Bradley Orchards, West Bradley, Somerset BA6 8LT. 01458 851222

Natural England - Traditional Orchards in England

2011-05-12T12:22:00.000+01:00

Thursday 5 May saw the publication of a huge report by Natural England and the People’s Trust for Endangered Species into the state of England’s traditional orchards. This lengthy undertaking has identified over 35,000 individual orchards, covering nearly 17,000 hectares, and has assessed their condition.

Somerset, with 2741 orchards identified covering some 1687 hectares comes second only to Herefordshire, with 3360 orchards covering 2481 hectares. But whereas 14% of Herefordshire’s orchards are assessed as in ‘poor’ condition, here in Somerset the figure rises to 61%, which is absolutely shocking.

A traditional orchard is a man-made thing - we choose the varieties, we plant the trees in straight lines, we graze it with livestock, we hedge it around to keep the stock in, and we harvest and make use of the fruit. Here in Somerset that means not just our five-a-day, it means our cider and our apple juice, a growing, wealth-providing local industry.

Apple trees are early senescing hardwoods. After about 80 years they are at the end of their lives, but prior to that they are a wonderful habitat for wildlife, and at the end of that time they become even richer, providing homes and food for insects and birds.

However we must also remember that we need to produce food, and that there is only 3% of the world’s surface that can be used to grow it. As our population grows we have to consider how we are going to meet that need. Our orchards can improve biodiversity at the same time as increasing food production.

People tend to look at neglected trees and see them as beyond recovery. But we can take an orchard, with careful management, from a state of complete neglect to a place where it is not only breaking even but is commercially profitable due to the growth of artisan cider and apple juice makers in Somerset.

This process of orchard restoration is not only beneficial to the longevity of the orchard, it also improves the wildlife habitat. Now we have been made fully aware of the scale of the problem with our orchards urgent action is required.

We can make a big difference but the project has to be led by commercial need and the appetite of the public for artisan produced premium cider and apple juice from our traditional orchards. There is the opportunity to do it and a definite market for the product. For the project to have meaning and sustainability there needs to be regular care. Apple sales, which finance restoration and secure future management, are the key.

Orchards can have ten times the biodiversity of a grass field, ten times! They are man-made things that we actually got right for a change! Let’s give life back to them and make them part of our economy and our landscape, and our future, not just our past.

Open Farm Sunday at West Bradley Orchards

2011-05-11T13:46:00.007+01:00

David Cotton, left, and Neil Macdonald, with two of David's calves

Orchard Groundforce and Bridge Farm, neighbours in West Bradley, Somerset, are joining forces for this year’s Open Farm Sunday.

Open Farm Sunday, a free event, is to be held on June 12 this year. It is an opportunity to visit local farms and find out what happens on them. This will be the sixth Open Farm Sunday and over 450 farms across the country are expected to open to the public.

Neil Macdonald, from Orchard Groundforce, said

“We have 58 acres of apples, pears and walnuts here at West Bradley. We will be running tours around the orchards and answering questions about everything we do here.”

“The Orchard Pig Gloucester Old Spot piglets will also be here to welcome visitors, and there will be food for the hungry and drinks for the thirsty.”

Bridge Farm, adjacent to West Bradley Orchards, is a dairy farm run by David Cotton, chairman of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers.

“We’re a family farm. I’m the fourth generation and we farm 600 acres with 160 milking cows, over 300 young stock around the farm and lots of calves.”

“Many people see farmers working, but they don’t have an opportunity to get beyond the farm gates to see what happens, so this is a chance for people to find out what farmers do on a daily basis. They can ask questions and see behind the scenes.”

“All our milk is sold through the Co-op Milk Link. It goes down to Wiseman’s at Bridgewater and is sold through the supermarkets, so if people are buying locally produced West Country milk there’s a chance that it comes from us.”

“On Open Farm Sunday there will be calves for people to see, and beef animals that we are rearing for the food chain, plus some of our machinery for people interested in equipment.”

“We also have some lovely footpaths that go right through the middle of the farm. We grow wheat here as well and there’s an opportunity to take a circular walk that brings you back to West Bradley.”

Visitors should come to West Bradley Orchards, BA6 8LT, where there will be free parking. Both farms will be open 10.00 - 4.00.

West Bradley is between Glastonbury and Shepton Mallet, 2 miles off the A361/A37

Wedding Belle

2011-05-03T11:34:00.000+01:00

April seems to have zipped by. We were racing to finish all our pruning at the beginning of the month, then we were racing to get all the new trees planted, plus a large new orchard for a client; now we are worrying because of the drought and the impact it may be having on all the baby trees. And in the middle of all this we opened the orchards here at West Bradley to the public for our annual Apple Blossom Day event, close on the heels of the big Royal Wedding day.

Usually we worry that the blossom won't have appeared in time for Apple Blossom Day. This year we worried that, with spring arriving so early, it would all have DISappeared! The cider trees were in full blossom however, looking wonderful, and the pigs have a lovely new home under the oaks.

Open Farm Sunday workshop at West Bradley Orchards

2011-03-25T15:22:00.016Z

On March 16 Orchard Ground Force hosted a local workshop for prospective participants in this year’s Open Farm Sunday.

In 2011 the event will take place on Sunday June 12. Having participated in it ourselves we are keen supporters - the day is attended nationally by even more people than go to the Glastonbury Festival - and that means something round here!

Organised by LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming) the event has some heavyweight sponsors from industry and a huge amount of support and resource is available to anyone interested in taking part.

Here at Orchard Ground Force we feel really strongly about the importance of the on-farm learning experience. Making the connection between people and their environment, between the public and the food they eat, has never been more important.

The workshop at West Bradley was given by our regional representative Jeremy Padfield and Annabel Shackelton from LEAF Head Office. They brought with them samples of the posters, signage, leaflets, hosting and publicity information available from LEAF and discussed on-the-day activities, publicity opportunities and Health & Safety issues with an eager group.

We’ll be putting on our own event for Open Farm Sunday - more news about it in the next newsletter - and we invite you all to West Bradley Orchards on 12 June. Please come and meet us!

For more about Open Farm Sunday do visit the website HERE and think about registering for the event.

Case study - a pollarded orchard

2011-02-16T11:59:00.001Z

Owners often ask us how long it takes to turn round a problem orchard and to start seeing a profit from it. Here is a typical example.

Nick Case farms organically at Bridgehampton in Somerset. Three years ago he acquired an orchard, six acres planted in the traditional style, which had been pollarded by its previous owner.

“My heart sank” says Neil Macdonald “because I am only too aware of how detrimental that can be to the yield and longevity of the trees. What can happen when you pollard trees is that big sections of them can start to die back because they have come to a stop end. Over a few years these sections will die back into the trunk and start killing the tree."

"Unless you prune these lumps right back to the trunk where they can heal so that the flow can keep moving, and you can redistribute the energy back to where you want it to be, back into fruit growth and health, the tree may never recover."

"Another problem with pollarded trees is that the tree produces a whole lot of shoots which in turn produce a dense impenetrable mass of leaves, but no fruit."

Orchard Ground Force took on the job of restoring the orchard and over the last three years has brought it back to life, pruning the new growth, redistributing the energy and bringing the trees back to health, as well as planting new trees to fill in empty spaces.

“For the first couple of years I was in negative balance,” says Nick, “but this year we have broken even, so next year we should be in the black.”

Last year the orchard yielded twelve tons of cider apples, up from ten the year before. This year Neil Macdonald reckons he will harvest well over that, giving Nick a healthy pay cheque.

“In just three years” says Neil “it’s gone from investment to payback and the future is only upward.”

“You have to do some shock treatment to begin with. Then there will be a little bit of pruning from time to time - just enough to keep the trees in tip top condition - and the orchard will continue to produce well for years to come, making Nick very good money, even from old trees.”

Scions

2011-01-24T10:31:00.000Z

One of our major tasks this year will be grafting. We experimented last year with grafting scions - slips of first year growth - on to mature trees. We chose scions of Red Windsor variety and they were grafted very successfully on to mature Cox trees.

As a variety Cox is losing its attraction to both growers and the public and top-grafting is a way of making use of the valuable root growth that the tree already has but changing the fruit variety it produces. Red Windsor grafts on to Cox trees will produce Red Windsor apples.

The grafts are called "scions". January is the ideal time to harvest scion wood, when the wood is at its most dormant. We look for young active one year growth of our chosen variety and we want the base of it to be about pencil thickness with plenty of leaf bud on the scion.

The grafts will be slipped under the outer bark of a branch and bound in. All the grafts we made experimentally last year have taken and this year we will be extending the work.

Scions are quite valuable things. We need about 600 scions to do the grafting we have planned. Last year, when we bought in the scions, it cost us about £11.50 per tree to do it, including labour. By harvesting our own scion wood this year we can probably reduce that by around £4.50 per tree, so quite an important saving.

Mistletoe - bah, humbug!

2010-12-20T13:33:00.005Z

It’s fair to say that mistletoe is not our favourite thing. Not at this time of year or indeed any time of year.

Round here there are lots of neglected orchards that seem to specialise in growing it; the trees are in a sorry state and produce only meagre crops of apples. In time this parasite will kill the trees.

We have an invasion of mistletoe in one of our older orchards and we are puzzling about what to do about it - some of the trees will have to come right out while others will need radical pruning if they are to survive.

We have mistletoe harvesters in the orchard right now and really all they are doing is coppicing the stuff and making things worse. If you cut the plant off you just encourage its growth elsewhere.

And what’s more they claim they can hardly give it away. Varieties of mistletoe vary in colour of leaves and berries and the less desirable versions with yellowy leaves and creamy berries - like ours - are not as sought after as the ones with glossy green leaves and bright white berries, some of which are imported.

The National Trust has a new campaign to encourage people to buy locally sourced mistletoe and also to plant mistletoe seeds on their apple trees. With the demise of traditional orchards they believe that the plant is in danger of dying out and needs to be saved.

Mistletoe does in fact provide a habitat for several endangered species, such as the Mistletoe Marble Moth so if you have a tree that is so swamped that it is no longer viable for producing fruit you might feel better in the knowledge that it may be supporting these species.

Otherwise you should be managing your mistletoe’s progress with bold measures and a pruning saw.

Apple pomace

2010-11-16T11:22:00.004Z

When we press the apples we end up with delicious juice and a whole lot of bits - pips, apple skins, bits of the core. It turns out there are lots of things to be done with it to use up all the remaining goodness and encourage sustainability.

Robert Snook farms a suckler herd of Hereford beef cattle near Castle Cary, Somerset. His wife, Sally, also runs a Bed & Breakfast business http://www.clanvillemanor.co.uk/ from their beautiful Georgian farmhouse in which she serves Orchard Pig apple juice.

This winter the farm will also be serving Orchard Ground Force apple pomace to guests, but the guests will have four legs instead of two!

Robert explains “In mid July this year, when there had been so little rain, we knew that the price of food for our cattle was going to go up. We had no silage, no grass to cut for the second or third cut, and when someone mentioned that Orchard Ground Force had apple pomace we thought we would consider it. It’s not that unusual - plenty of people have used it - but it was new for us.”

The pomace is rich in vitamins and roughage. Robert stores it in a big heap in the yard.

“There’s a heat element in the pomace so most of the time we don’t cover it, because we don’t want it to break down and ferment. But we also don’t want it too dry because the cattle don’t like it if it’s too dry. We don’t have a roof for it, which would make it simpler, so we are just covering it with plastic sheeting when it rains a lot.”

“It’s basically carbohydrate and we balance it with a protein based product. The cows really like it - you’d probably like it too, it smells lovely! They push each other about to get to it and it means the grass lasts longer so they can stay outside longer.”

There is no doubt that the cows and calves consider the pomace a gourmet delight - even Robert’s beautiful Limousin bull Adam couldn’t wait to get at it.

Apple pomace is also on the menu for the Gloucester Old Spots that give Orchard Pig its name, and experiments are taking place with feeding it to the game birds on a local shoot. The pips encourage the natural scratching behaviour of the birds.

Back at West Bradley Orchards the pomace is mixed with woodchips from the apple tree prunings and basalt dust is added - a waste product from a local quarry. The basalt dust contains essential minerals and has long been used in Australia in the wine industry to retain moisture in the soil. The mixture is composted for at least six weeks and then used as a mulch around the base of the new trees later in the year.

Harvest 2010 part II

2010-11-15T12:36:00.003Z

We have finished picking all our Jonagolds, so that’s the last lot of juice apples picked through, (just made it before the starlings!) and we have now finished the cider apple harvest at West Bradley too. We’re slightly ahead of time at West Bradley because it was not a bumper crop this year. The fruit was a little slow to fall which is good because it made up some of the size it lost earlier in the year, but without really cold weather the crop stays on the trees and it makes harvesting more time consuming.

We have finished all the juice pressing and bottling - we try to get the apples off the tree and into the bottle inside 48 hours - and we are well ahead with the cider pressing. We still have about another 20,000 litres of cider to make at West Bradley but the quality has been spectacular and we are really pleased.

Harvest 2010

2010-10-15T13:01:00.003+01:00

How lucky we’ve been with such a dry start to the autumn. It’s our favourite time of year and it has been beautiful. Dry warm days and the handpickers are racing to keep ahead of the starlings! At this time of year huge flocks of the birds form and they love the fruit as it starts to get soft and a little overripe. They have been known to descend en masse and devour an entire crop.

The cider crop is looking good and with the dry weather all the work is getting done with the minimum of mess - a boon for pickers and processing alike.

Crop wise we are definitely down in volume. Sugar levels are up, as we predicted and the quality and ph levels are fine.

At this time of year we also like to see what kind of one year extension growth we have managed to achieve, because that is the future of our crop. The one year growth is looking reasonable. We probably left a little bit too much fruit on the younger trees, which hasn’t given us quite as much growth as we would have liked, but we’re hoping to put on a bit of a spurt in the spring.

We’re going to be experimenting with putting more nutrient on a little earlier in the season. We had a bit more scab than we would have liked, which is probably us being mean with the spraying, and we have a little bit of codling moth damage on the dessert fruit, but not anything excessive and no problem for juicing.

We have sent off our scab leaf samples for analysis and when we get the results back in a couple of weeks we will decide on our actions. Some people kill off all the leaves with a very heavy spraying regime, but we would prefer not to do that. Old traditional orchardmen put sheep into the orchards to eat all the leaves so there would be no carry over of spores to the next year. Depending on the results of the analysis we might do a little judicious spraying with copper - a little spraying, with a natural product, at the right time, can save you a fortune later.

SWECA

2010-10-04T14:19:00.000+01:00

The South West of England Cidermakers’ Association (SWECA) held its six monthly meeting last week. Hosts were John and Martin Thatcher at the family farm at Sandford, Somerset.

SWECA is a group dedicated to supporting the needs of cider makers, apple growers and enthusiasts in the South West region. Its objective is to link with NACM on behalf of the cider industry, and to promote the interests of those engaged in the region’s cider making industry.

About 50 people attended last week’s meeting at Thatcher’s and were fascinated to hear what the company has been up to recently. John and Martin Thatcher have invested heavily in new plant this year - an expression of confidence in the future of the industry.

They discussed the new harvesting machinery they have acquired to harvest cider apples with a shake-and-catch technique which minimises bruising and improves cold storage times.

John Thatcher is regarded as a great mentor for all in the cider business, tremendously enthusiastic and forward looking. “He is ahead of all of us!” said Orchard Ground Force's Neil Macdonald.

Group members shared their outlook for this year’s crop, with Devon predicting a 100% crop, Somerset 80% and Hereford 120%. Everyone expressed optimism in the growth of the cider market - 6% over the last twelve months - with similar predictions for the growth of the apple juice market.

Perry pears have had a good year, with the market looking robust.

SWECA welcomes new members who are fruit growers, cider makers or enthusiasts. For more details contact Bob Chaplin on 01749 334007 or email bob.chaplin@gaymercider.eu.com

Stream Farm

2010-09-29T09:58:00.000+01:00

We are very pleased to be bottling the first apple crop from Stream Farm in the Quantock Hills, Somerset. The juice is a blend of Red Windsor, Bramley, Red Devil, Egremont Russet and Red Falstaff.

Stream Farm is an 250 acre organic farm with an interesting vision - its owners have started several farming businesses on their land with the intention of handing each one on once it is profitable to farmers who see things as they do.

Henrietta and James bought Stream Farm lock, stock and barrel in 2002. It had a small herd of 28 Dexter Cattle and a small flock of 26 Hampshire Down sheep. They have increased the herd to 200 and the flock to about 300.

They sell their award winning produce online and at Food Festivals and Farmers’ Markets. Thus far they sell organic beef, chicken, lamb, pork, mutton, and stream fed, line caught trout. For more information see the website at www.streamfarm.co.uk

If you have apples that you would like pressed and bottled do get in touch with us.

Appropriate clothing

2010-09-24T10:51:00.000+01:00

We have lots of schools visiting our orchard (see School visits tab) and we always remind them to wear the right clothes for the outdoors, and particularly the right footwear.

We were delighted to see that Wells Cathedral School took us very seriously!

Apple Scrumping Day 2

2010-09-14T10:28:00.002+01:00

It was a beautiful sunny day and we had an overflowing car park by 11.00 in the morning. Everyone worked flat out all day chopping and squishing and pressing to turn the apples people picked in the orchard into juice to take home. Huge thanks are due to Camilla and Amanda from Vigo who brought along one of their fruit presses and a big yellow muncher cruncher to chop up the fruit.
Anyone who has more fruit than they can eat should certainly think about turning it into juice and a small Vigo press would really come in handy. See www.vigopresses.co.uk or telephone 01404 892101.
We had such a lot of fun and the general public worked hard too, lots of dads and kids taking turns at the presses. Thanks to Jasmine for the bacon butties, and to Fergus (not quite 7) who was her right hand man.

We're definitely up for it again next year.

Apple Scrumping Day

2010-09-09T17:35:00.000+01:00

We’re doing something new on Sunday 12 September. We’ll be offering to turn the apples people pick at the PYO into juice, bottle it and even give the bottles personalised labels.

Vigo, who provide us with equipment, are coming along to help and bringing some extra kit. We’ll be chopping up the apples, pressing them for juice and pasteurising the bottles so the juice keeps. So much easier than storing the apples for winter in the attic, and so much more fun to be able to offer your guests your own juice!

People can even make up their own blends from the fruit in the orchard - we have fifteen different kinds of apple to choose from and four different varieties of pear.

The sun is supposed to shine, and we’ll have a barbeque for hungry customers.

We look forward to seeing you all - West Bradley Orchards, 10.00 - 5.00 Sunday 12 September.

First PYO weekend of 2010 a success

2010-09-06T12:28:00.006+01:00

Lots of people came to West Bradley for the first weekend this year of Pick Your Own. The weather stayed sunny - more or less - and the fruit is looking really good. People were filling wheelbarrows with apples and pears. Many were intending to store the fruit until needed, and some said that their eyes were just bigger than their brains! It is wonderful to see a whole orchard bursting with ripe fruit, each one a beauty.

Pick Your Own will continue on each weekend throughout September. All apples and pears are £1.10 per kilo.

The harvest begins next week with our own pickers coming in during the week, and then it's absolutely full-on until Christmas.

Pick Your Own at West Bradley

2010-08-17T13:59:00.007+01:00

Neil, Arthur & Fergus Macdonald - Juicemasters!

West Bradley Orchards is opening on each weekend in September for Pick Your Own.

West Bradley Orchards is one of the few orchards left in Somerset producing dessert fruit. The public is welcome to come on any of the weekends in September to pick apples and pears before the full harvest starts. All apples and pears are £1.10 per kilo.

There are fifteen varieties of apple to pick at West Bradley. These include Cox, Bramley, Kidd’s Orange, Charles Ross, Jonagold, Russet, as well as four different varieties of pears. Some of the first apples to mature are the delicious Worcester Pearmains with their strawberry-like flavours. They are highly sought after and will be ready in time for the first weekend in September.

APPLE SCRUMPING DAY

This year brings a brand new event - Apple Scrumping Day - on Sunday 12 September.

Neil Macdonald of Orchard Ground Force, which manages the orchards, said “For the first time we are going to be making juice for people from the fruit they pick. It’s a great way to store the goodness of freshly picked apples and pears, and you can see exactly what goes into the bottle.”

“It takes one kilo of apples to make one bottle of juice - and when you consider that two Bramleys can weigh a kilo it won’t take long to pick the fruit!”

“You can choose the apples that go into your juice - either a single variety or a blend of different varieties. For a small charge we will juice the fruit for you, (or you can do it yourself), bottle it, pasteurise it quickly so it keeps, and you can even have your own personal label!”

Neil’s young children, Arthur and Fergus, are masters of the technique of making juice, but it is simple enough for even adults to get the hang of it!

After a very dry spring and summer the recent rains have been extremely welcome.

Said Neil Macdonald “The dry sunny weather has given the fruit lots of flavour and sweetness and now the rains are coming at exactly the right moment to swell the fruit and make it really juicy.”

The orchards will be open 10.00 - 17.00, Friday to Sunday on each weekend in September. Free entrance and parking. Bags and containers provided.

West Bradley Orchards, West Bradley, BA6 8LT
2 miles off the A361 between Shepton Mallet and Glastonbury
Tel: 01458 850 227

Gold at The Great Taste Awards

2010-08-02T15:38:00.002+01:00

Neil Macdonald & Andrew Quinlan

The Orchard Pig was delighted to receive three Golds at the Great Taste Awards 2010. Its Medium Sparkling Cider, Apple Juice and Ginger and Sparkling Jonagold Apple Juice were all declared winners in this year’s Awards.

Andrew Quinlan said “ It’s the first time we have won three Golds in one year and we’re absolutely thrilled. The Fine Food Awards are a real benchmark of quality, because each product is tasted by several judges, and Gold Stars are only awarded when everyone is in agreement, so we are honoured to have made the grade once more.”

Neil Macdonald said “It always comes down to the quality of the raw ingredients and we’re improving on that year by year in our orchards. Our techniques and understanding are getting much better too so its great to see that someone thinks we’re doing it right!”

The Kingfisher Award Scheme 2010

2010-07-27T09:32:00.003+01:00

Neil Macdonald, from The Orchard Pig, West Bradley, was one of the judges at this year’s Kingfisher Award Scheme Prize Day, held on 15 July at Home Farm, Curry Rivel, Somerset.

The Kingfisher Award Scheme was launched in Devon in 1992 at the instigation of the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes and his friends. This is the third year it has been running in Somerset.

The Scheme links children from Primary Schools with the natural environment through a Field Day, where they visit a farm to explore a wildlife theme. This year the theme was ‘Orchards’ and the children visited one of the orchards at The National Trust’s Barrington Court.

What they learned on the Field Day about animals and insects and wildlife was then explored in a Project they continued at their schools.

Finally the Projects were judged and awards given. 150 children attended the Award Day and enjoyed a picnic together with entertainment provided by a Storyteller, barn owls and bees.

The winning school keeps the Kingfisher Award, a beautiful hand-carved kingfisher, for a year, and each child receives a certificate and a badge.

This year the winner, Sedgemoor Manor Junior School, was also invited to bring the entire year group to the orchard managed by The Orchard Pig at West Bradley.

Runners-up, High Ham Primary School, received a cheque for the school and an apple tree to plant.

Neil Macdonald said “We simply could not believe the quality of the work the children produced. The standard was exceptional and as judges we had our work cut out making a choice.”

Sedgemoor Manor Junior School created huge painted insects for their Project. They sprawled across the floor and were an object of fascination to everybody.

Said Jim Gillard, Head of Year 3, “Lots of the children don’t get out into the countryside much. We wanted them to see what is on their doorstep.”

The children also enticed the judges with their home made smoothies, made from yoghourt and orchard fruits.

The judges were Dennis Silk, ex-teacher and Somerset cricketer, Neil Macdonald from The Orchard Pig, Henry Lang, farmer, Kate Merry from The National Trust, and Michael Brown, founding partner of Brown & Forrest Smokery.

Michael Brown said “It really opens the children’s eyes to so many aspects of wildlife. This is learning by discovery. Now, whenever they see long grass, they will know what’s underneath it!”

Open Farm Sunday

2010-06-16T22:03:00.002+01:00

It was a lovely day for our Open Farm Sunday event and the people who came enjoyed tractor and trailer rides around the orchard and tours of the bottling plant.

Our elderflower pickers had been out since early morning picking the flowers that go into our special Apple Juice infused with Elderflowers. We put the blossoms into net bags and sink them into our thousand litre vats of apple juice to infuse overnight.

One enthusiastic helper was Fergus Macdonald, age six, seen here helping to put the elderflowers into the big vats.

The fresh aromatic juice is a bestseller for our sister company The Orchard Pig and is a huge success with adults and children alike.

Open Farm Sunday 13 June

2010-05-30T08:42:00.003+01:00

Come and meet us!
We are going to be opening the orchards as part of Open Farm Sunday on 13 June 2010.
Open Farm Sunday is an annual event that gives everyone the opportunity to meet the people who grow their food and care for the countryside. Organised by LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), it takes place across the country on one Sunday in June.
Come and tour our orchards, find out about how we grow our fruit and how we make it into award winning apple juice and cider.
We'll be open from 10.00 - 4.00 and we very much look forward to meeting you!

The Kingfisher Award scheme

2010-05-26T09:16:00.004+01:00

The Kingfisher Award Scheme (KAS) has been involving Primary Schools in their local environment since it was first launched in Devon at the instigation of the late poet laureate Ted Hughes and friends in 1992. The Somerset project is run by Michael Brown and his wife Utta.

The objective is to provide children with an opportunity to go onto farms to explore the natural world and and discover the relationship between food, farming and wildlife.

Children come with their entire class for one session in early June. This year the sessions will be held at the National Trust's Barrington Court property from Tuesday 4 June to Friday 11 June. The children explore a variety of topics on the subject of orchards and wildlife and then return to their schools to create a project over the following weeks.

Neil Macdonald from Orchard Groundforce will be a tutor on the sessions this year, helping children to build high rise skyscrapers for insects such as beetles and bees, like the one above.

In July a grand final and picnic takes place and the projects are judged, with a prize being awarded to the winning class.

Michael Brown is one of the founders of the Brown & Forrest smokery near Langport, and is seen here with Neil Macdonald inspecting a graft on a tree in the orchard at West Bradley.