Work in the rain

Tom and Tommy have been working in the orchard to build the base for a sheltered seating/gazebo. We want the structure to be in place in time for the Lowick Northumbria in Bloom judging next week, but unfortunately the terrible weather has meant that time is running out. Today, the two men worked for many hours despite a steady drizzle.

Tommy - cheerful even though very wet!

Roberta’s been checking her Blenheim Orange apple tree. Slugs Ugh!

 The wildflower mix in the grass is tremendous, even in the rain!

A huge 'THANK YOU' to Luke Bell who strimmed around all the trees, signs and hedging plants in the orchard. It was a long, time consuming job and it was tremendously kind of Luke to offer so much help.

 John and Dave came to Hunting Hall earlier in the week to help Tom erect the walls of the gazebo.

John behind bars

The Last Tree

On the 5^th of April the last tree was planted in our orchard. The Croasdale family, back for a visit from Germany, planted a cherry tree in the remaining 112^th space.

The wind blows straight across the orchard from the sea, so we’ve been planting a shelter belt of poplars. To pay for the trees we offered our holiday cottage guests the opportunity to offset their holiday carbon emissions by buying a tree to plant. Here are Amanda and Murphy who were staying in Newt Cottage last week, helping Tom and Tommy add three poplars to the row.

December Tree Planting

Andrew planted a Jefferson's Gage in the memorial circle yesterday - a fruit tree is a lovely way to remember someone special!

We have received our last order of fruit trees and hope to get them all planted in the next week. There will be 112 heritage fruit trees in our orchard when they are all in place. Thank you everyone, your support has been tremendous!

The Doddington Pippin

 Last weekend we planted the Doddington ‘Pippin’ apple trees in the orchard. This variety of apple grows in a nearby old orchard at Doddington Farm, and earlier this year we sent cuttings from the elderly trees to be grafted at Bernwode Nursery. We received back 9 healthy container grown whips, which we planted on a cold Sunday afternoon.

Dinah's Doddington is planted in memory of Alec Iredale and the wording on the plaque is particularly beautiful:

8th October 1929     Alec Gordon Iredale      4th April 2010

       Alec spent many happy hours in his orchard at Doddington.  

          Friends, please remember him for his love of people,  

          his sense of humour and his passion for wild geese.

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.