Heritage Fruit Orchards Project

Aim

To save the threatened orchards that will be excluded from the National Fruit Collection and make long-term agreements for their protection.

Brogdale Collections in Faversham, Kent was founded as a Charity in April 2008 to provide the public with access to and information about the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale. This is the most comprehensive and largest collection of fruit varieties in the world.  It is unique amongst collections in that the trees are cultivated to bear fruit, rather than just be available to provide graft wood and research.  There are over 4,000 varieties.

We also use the Collection as a basis for information, education and enjoyment regarding our heritage, environment and healthy lifestyles. Our key areas of focus are education, horticulture, the environment, diet and health.

 We lobby and take action to preserve heritage trees that are no longer considered to be of scientific interest and which would otherwise be destroyed. This has become a more urgent role for the Charity as funding becomes tighter and Defra and other bodies seek to reduce costs by reducing the number of trees in the Collection at Brogdale. Once lost - lost forever. 

To prevent this the Charity acted in 2020 despite the costs, in what has been a very challenging year, and we will have to do so again during 2021 if funds permit.

Recently, the actual existence of many of the orchards has come under threat. This is a tragedy in terms of the potentially lost heritage, and in our ability to attract visitors and to use these orchards for information, education and enjoyment. For example, no longer would children be able to see, for their first time, apples growing on trees, being able to pick them and then to taste and eat them. With increasing urban living, there is a genuine need for the public to be re-connected with rural environments and to learn about them. The National Fruit Collection with its 4,000 varieties of fruit is a national treasure and yet without access to it the public would not experience it nor learn about the benefits it provides. 

Brogdale Collections is the only organisation able to stop this destruction and to take action to preserve these trees. But this will add considerably to the costs of the Charity. But tPublic opportunities to engage with the Collections, include; guided and self-guided daily orchard tours, tractor tours, fruit and food related festivals (apple & cider), 7 themed events (strawberry, pears, plums, cherry, Easter, Christmas and a Hanami cherry blossom picnic event), educational days aimed at KS1, KS2 & KS3 children, summer courses for children (e.g. Orchard Craft Days, Wild Weather Days, Nature Days) and other day courses (‘Meet the Owls’ and ‘Beastie’ days). Horticultural courses include; pruning, grafting, orchard design and practical rural skills courses covering topics such as; foraging walks, wine-making and cider making. We also regularly attract positive media attention and this includes national newspapers, TV and radio. his all occurs at a time when the Charity is worst placed to fund such actions.

This project successfully funded on 16th June 2021