Conservation charity land appeal to save Cheshire apples

A Runcorn-based conservation charity urgently needs unused plots of public land to transform into community orchards to safeguard the future of Cheshire’s ancient varieties of apple.

Cheshire Landscape Trust is appealing to parish councils, local authorities, companies and landowners who have unused strips of land ideal for apple trees. Once the plots have been identified, the charity will launch an orchard appeal to help fund the planting and maintenance of the apple trees.

Katie Lowe, Chief Executive of the Trust which moved to The Heath Business and Technical Park in June, said: “Cheshire has 33 varieties of apples but many of these are no longer grown for sale in greengrocers. Some varieties such as the Lord Derby, a cooking apple, can only be found in some stately home gardens.

“Sadly, orchards in Cheshire have been in decline over the past 40 years. We have tried to protect the county’s distinct apple varieties with the community orchard initiative.

“For the past 16 years, Cheshire Landscape Trust has donated apple trees to community groups and schools so that they could establish their own community orchards.

“The scheme has been really successful and we have given trees to over 200 community projects, but now, due to a lack of funding, we are unable to do this free of charge.

“With this in mind, Cheshire Landscape Trust is putting a funding bid together so we can continue this work.”

Cheshire Landscape Trust has so far identified four sites, including a plot near a power station, but needs to find more locations to expand the scheme.

The proposed site needs to be at least 40ft by 40ft so the Trust can plant nine apple trees in the shape of a square. The land also needs to be publicly accessible at all times so trained teams of volunteers can prune and manage the trees.

Cheshire Landscape Trust is a non-membership registered charity established in 1981. It works with community groups including parish and town councils, schools and Women’s Institutes to promote landscape awareness and conservation.

The Trust has its own tree nursery which supplies over 5,000 free native trees and shrubs to community groups. Over the past few years, the charity has planted more than 30 community orchards throughout Cheshire.

“Our aim is to encourage community groups to plant Cheshire variety of apple and damson trees and promote the importance of orchards and fruit growing,” said Katie. “Our orchards aren’t just about trees. Planting wild flowers on the ground around the trunks can turn plots of disused land into mini nature reserves that can be enjoyed by everyone.”

Apart from planting new orchards, the charity runs annual workshops on orchards in partnership with the National Trust at Erddig Hall near Wrexham. The workshops cover topics such as rootstocks, pests and diseases, and pruning.

Last month (June 8) the Trust moved its headquarters to The Heath after downsizing its operations. Katie said: “The Heath is great base for the charity and its forthcoming campaigns. It’s a great location and the facilities are excellent.”

For more information on Cheshire Landscape Trust please call 01928 518018 or email cltoffice@tiscali.co.uk.

30 July 2010

About The Heath:

The Heath, which was established as a business park in 2000, has attracted over 175 British and international companies, ranging from bio science firms to IT specialists, from food industry consultants to website designers, and from government agencies to telemarketing specialists.

Residents have been attracted by the 60-acre business park's vast range of impressive facilities and its flexibility in space management and in attitude. The Heath offers a wide range of office and laboratory space, together with a purpose-built conference centre that includes a 120-seat lecture theatre. Residents can also choose from a wide selection of additional services, including telephone and broadband connectivity, laboratory support services, scientific glassblowing and precision engineering facilities, to name but a few. Residents also have access to The Heath's fitness centre and gym.

Combined with 1,700 parking spaces, its first-class transport links - and the ability for residents to select and pay for just the services they require - it's no surprise that the number of companies on The Heath is continuing to grow rapidly.

www.theheath.com

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