On Saturday 9th June we hosted the AGM of the East of England Apples and Orchards Project.  This organisation grows all the varieties of apples and other orchard fruit that originated in the East of England, and does a lot of research into their origins and how to grow them. It’s open for anyone interested in fruit to join, and it is really worthwhile.
After the business part of the meeting, it was our turn to give a short presentation on how this little orchard came into being. We could hardly believe it was first thought of over ten years ago! We used lots of photos to jog out memories – some of the photos you can find by exploring the links and early posts on this site. It wwas good to have the comments from so many other expert growers and owners of community orchards.
Many of those present joined us for a tour of the orchard itself. As you can see from these picures, the wildflower meadow around the trees was the star of the show. Everyone admired the swift tower, and looked to see the swifts themselves. Hopefully swift towers will be a feature of more community orchards, and the EEAOP site itself, in the future.

The orchard is holding its annual bat walk and moth night on 9th and 10th of June 2012.We will meet in the orchard at 9pm on Saturday 9.6.12 for a bat walk along and around the guided busway. Moth traps will be set up at this time and you can observe how this is done. Meet again at 10am on Sunday 10.6.12  in the orchard to empty the moth traps,identify the different species and release them back into their habitat. Dave Jackson,a local bee keeper, will then give a talk about honey bees and show the colony that is in our observation hive.This promises to be a very full weekend as this Sunday is the second Sunday in the month, so we will also have our maintenance session. We will carry out the regular tree check and weed around the base of each tree. The hedgerows need invasive weeds such as bramble and elder removing .All help is gratefully received. Looking forward to an exciting weekend.
Please remember there are no facilities on site, and especially for the bat walk please dress for the weather and bring a torch.

We’re busy raising the profile of the Orchard, and standing up for the regeneration of apples and orchards. We had a stand at the very successful Seedy Sunday – Trumpington’s seed swap, and one of the team was interviewed by Cambridge105.fm. As soon as I know the podcast is up, I’ll publish a link to it.

On Friday 10 February we will be at the Energise Cambridge rally on Parker’s Piece between 12 – 2pm.

Don’t forget the Orchard monthly meeting, on site between 11am – 1pm Sunday 12 Feb. Come along and help us with some pruning. You don’t have to come for the whole session, just drop in when you can.

Tuesday 14 February sees Joanna giving a talk about the Orchard Project and all things apple to the Romsey Garden Club. The talk will take place in Ross Street Community Centre, Cambridge, at 7pm. Fee payable on the door.

Here you will find information on the TCOP, a community orchard in Trumpington. Cambridge UK.
The aim of the Community Orchard Project is to produce food for local people, improve biodiversity and habitat for wildlife and plants, maintain at green space within the allotment envelope and help combat climate change. Our concern was to protect this site from housing developments or the guided busway. Since acquiring the site, rubbish from many years of fly tipping has been removed and the site has been fenced in order to discourage further tipping. In Autumn 2007 bird and bat boxes were placed in the cherry thicket and on the 6th January 2008 much of the hedgrow was planted. In February 2008 the hedgerow was completed. We planted nineteen Cambridgeshire Heritage apple trees and two plums, representing the full range of heritage fruit trees for Cambridgeshire.

We encourage you to visit the Orchard.  The site has free public access, although dogs (except assistance dogs) must be kept outside. There are places to tie up your dog, and an adjacent dog loo bin.

So come along, enjoy the space and look around. If you would like to come to an event, help to maintain the site or volunteer for any activities, you will find dates and contact details here.

Welcome to the Trumpington Community Orchard.

Tree planting