Bridport Community Orchard grew out of two community initiatives, one in Bridport, to save a field from development and the other, a year long project of The Symondsbury Apple Project which was designed to raise awareness of Dorset’s rich Orchard heritage. The field, in the heart of the town was once priory land and links one of the main shopping streets, South Street, to the river Brit. The new project is to create an orchard of apple trees, a‘cordon hedge’ of heritage varieties, a wall of espalier pears and plums and a small plot of mother trees of local provenance to provide grafting wood for the future. Plans for allotment plots, sitting areas, an outdoor classroom and wildlife areas contribute to making the orchard a truly valuable and sustainable community space.
A 70 metre hedge was planted as a part of the first day of action in the Bridport Community Orchard in February 2009 . The hedge forms a boundary betweeen the orchard and the allotmenst. We wanted it to make it work hard for us so it is primarily native traditional hedge plants with extra wildlife friendly fruits and cultivar varieties of edible soft fruits.
We planted: Hawthorn, Blackthorn, Hazel, Field Maple , Dog Rose, Guelder Rose, Wild Cherry, Crab Apple, Holly, Rowan, Raspberry, Red Currant, Black Currant. 350 plants in all, in two staggered rows, 20cm apart with plants at 40cm intervals in each row; that was the theory, but measurements using hand-spans, and other forms of creative interpretation helped to ensure that the hedge itself symbolises the diversity of people in Bridport!
On the 24th of June we held an event to raise awareness of the importance of wildlife gardening. This event was part of the Bridport Food festival and included stalls, displays, craft activities and lots of information about the orchard, allotments, bees association, butterfly conservation and our new Schools Bee Garden project.
