The Orchard Milepost

The milepost, which was found close to the orchard entrance, has been restored and returned to the roadside this week.

In Blaydon on Tyne, at the end of the 19th century, our milepost was cast. It was placed along the toll road between Belford and Ford Bridge, where it stood for many years before a passing hedge flail caught it and broke it in to 5 pieces. We suspect the farmer hid the evidence of his accident in the hedge bottom - where, through time, the pieces became buried beneath soil level. In 1986 a man from the council listed all the milepost along the stretch of road but, by then, our broken remains were well hidden from sight.

A gentleman from the Milestone Society enlisted our help to find the milepost in 2009 but, although we got rather battered and scratched from digging through the roadside hedge, there was no sign of it. 

In June of this year we had to move a stretch of hedge to create the orchard access - and there, hidden well underneath the hedge roots, was our milepost. Using a metal detector Darren was able to locate the stem of the milepost – it was a long way beneath soil level.

We had the pieces of the milepost sand blasted to remove rust and then, with advice and help from the Milestone Society, we were able to rejoin the 5 broken pieces using steel putty (amazing stuff) and fibreglass.

The mended post was painted with several coats of white Hammerite – and then I used a small roller (thank you Jeremy) to apply black to the raised lettering. In some places the damage was too great – so I resorted to a fine brush and a steady hand (the ‘O’ in Ford is all my own work!).

 Terry and Paul gave Tom a hand to dig and cement the milepost in place at the orchard entrance. Thank you to everyone who has helped us restore this piece of local history.

Northumbria in Bloom Gold

We’ve just been to the Northumbria in Bloom award ceremony where Lowick Community Community Orchard won a gold medal in THE DURHAM TROPHY for Best Conservation Project. A huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who has supported the orchard – it’s been a tremendous success! 

The orchard was also part of Lowick in Bloom's village entry which was awarded a gold medal as well. The members of Lowick in Bloom have worked tremendously hard to transform our village into a pretty, flowery, cared-for place with a great community spirit. Congratulations to all! 

Organic

Lowick Community Orchard is now part of the Organic Farmers and Growers scheme. It will take 3 years to convert the orchard to organic production, and in this time, the area must be very carefully managed. In the autumn of 2014 the fruit harvest of our community orchard will be certified organic.

If you are caring for a tree in the orchard, it’s really important that you don’t put anything on it without first consulting Tom and Karen info@huntinghall.co.uk Please remember not to take compost, fertiliser, manure, seeds, plants, bulbs, chemical or non-chemical treatments to the orchard.

We're really excited about this step; registering a community orchard with an organic scheme is unusual, and makes our orchard quite unique. We hope everyone will enjoy this green adventure and help work towards a very environmentally-friendly harvest.

A Birthday Picnic in the Orchard

It was Tom's birthday on Friday. We celebrated with a picnic in the orchard!

A Blessing, a Picnic and a Concert!

On Sunday the 17^th of July, Rev. Victor Dickinson led a small service to bless Lowick Community Orchard.

We processed around the orchard

Electra sang beautifully

And next, our picnic!

The following concert in St. John the Baptist Church, Lowick, was a great success. Over 100 people filled the church for wonderful performances by recent and present students of of St. Mary’s Music school Edinburgh.

A huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who made our event so special and such a success!

Music for the Orchard

You are invited to a

Musical Performance

in St. John the Baptist Church, Lowick

on Sunday, 17th July at 7 pm

The concert will be preceded by a

Blessing of the Orchard

and

picnic

in Lowick Community Orchard

at 4.30 p.m.

5 talented, award-winning young musicians,
recent and present students of

St. Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh,

will perform  a selection of works

for harp, voice, clarsach

and Northumbrian smallpipes

Tickets: adults £5, children £3

available at the performance or in advance from Hunting Hall

To raise funds on behalf of

Lowick Community Orchard, Lowick in Bloom

and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain

For further information or tickets, please contact

Tom and Karen Burn, Hunting Hall, Beal

Tel.: 01289 388652            Email: kburn.huntinghall@btinternet.com

Our Performers
Top photograph: Electra Lochhead, Clara Hyder and Roberta Burn

Above: Alice Burn and Emily Hoile, finalists in BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Musician of the Year.
Above: (with harp) Roberta Burn

Planters, a roadside sign and hedge

Thank you to everyone who came along and helped in the orchard today - it was tremendous! Above you can see the new planters, made from poplar wood grown on the farm and at a good height for wheelchair users. Graham, Paul and Tom made two of these planters in the centre of the orchard. I feel the photograph should have the caption '3 men in a boat'!

Here is our new roadside sign. Martin, on the left, dug the holes (and the ground was hard and stony) and Tom used quick drying cement around the posts.

 To comply with planning regulations for the orchard entrance we've had to remove a section of roadside hedge and replant it further back to improve visibly for drivers.

          A couple of years ago we had a gentleman from the Milestone Society (yes- it really does exist) staying in one of our holiday cottages. We'd spent some time unsuccessfully searching for the missing milepost, which records showed to be along this stretch of road. When Tom came to remove the hedge a few days ago we found this:

We were delighted with the discovery of the top of the old milepost! Tom brought it home late one night and put it on the kitchen table. There's nothing like a heap of soil and cast iron on the table at 11 o clock at night! Today, with the help of Darren and his metal detector, we discovered the remaining missing pieces. The whole post had been completely buried. We're going to see if we can get it repaired, repainted and replaced.

Digging up the buried milepost.

We achieved such a lot today. Thank you very, very much to all our helpers!