Old orchards across London are to be saved

Traditional orchards across London are to be restored by local communities thanks to initial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for pioneering charity The Urban Orchard Project. Development funding of £48,800 has been awarded by the HLF to help The Urban Orchard Project progress its plans to apply for a full grant of £671,300 at a later date. A Celebration of Orchards aims to restore a total of 30 orchards over three years, during which 3,500 people will be trained in orchard skills. The charity has risen to prominence by planting urban orchards across the capital, many of them in deprived areas. The 100th urban orchard will be planted this winter. Kath Rosen, CEO of The Urban Orchard Project, said: “There is a huge resurgence of interest in planting and restoring orchards and learning about heritage fruit growing skills, particularly in urban areas. Old maps show orchards all around the capital and even in the centre.” London, Surrey and Middlesex used to be primary fruit growing regions, and many old varieties were developed in South and South East London, a history echoed today by varieties with names such as Merton Joy and Hounslow Wonder. The Lea Valley and West London also used to have vast orchards – the latter replaced by Heathrow Airport's runways, just a few metres away from the cemetery where the gardener who developed the Cox Orange Pippin is buried. The orchards planned for restoration include: ones at Down House in Bromley, Charles Darwin’s house where he used apple trees to demonstrate artificial selection and Bethlem Royal Hospital, also in Bromley, where there is a mature orchard of over 200 fruit trees. The Urban Orchard Project: http://www.theurbanorchardproject.org/

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