It’s official – Trumpington has its very own apple. The Trumpington Topsy apple variety was grown from a pip and is now a fruiting tree, within the chicken plots opposite the orchard. The tree and the apples were assessed by a panel of experts, and its DNA was compared to others in the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale. From all that, the experts said that the seedling was unique, not comparible to any other variety, and could have its own name. And so, we are proud to present – Trumpington Topsy.
Trumpington Topsy is a large, flat-round apple, mainly yellow with a red blush and red streaking. When picked straight from the tree it is good as a cooking apple, but it will sweeten up when stored and becomes a good dessert apple, although it does not keep too long. So far it is a good healthy tree, and we hope to take grafts from it so that we can bring on more trees in years to come.

Don’t worry about our trees, I don’t mean the toothy, dam building type of beaver. Our orchard visitors were the 1st Trumpington Beaver Scouts (aged 6 – 8) , who came to the Orchard a few weeks ago and made a splendid job of a litter pick.
Just last Sunday (13.5.18) the 1st Trumpington Cub Scouts (aged 8 – 11) joined our regular volunteering session and spent most of their time removing brambles – a very prickly task!
We are really grateful for the enthusiasm, effort and help from these young people and their Leaders. We cannot keep the orchard looking good without the work of volunteers, and we hope that in return they learned a little about the orchard and its plants and insect life.
We welcome other group visits, we’ve hosted the Brownies and local schools as well, so do get in touch if you’d like to play a part in your local orchard’s growth.

OK I admit Spring is rather late this year. But the Orchard survived the ‘Beast from the East’ snow, and here and there blossom is cautiously unfurling. This website needs a bit of a spring clean, not least because of new data protection regulations that are coming into force in May 2018. This means that every organisation, no matter how small, has to ask its supporters to actively ‘opt in’ to receive emails and other contacts. So look out from an email for us soon, and please do take the time to stay in touch because we can’t keep the Orchard going without your help and interest.

Our Monthly Maintenance Mornings (Second Sunday and last Thursday of the month) have been off to a good start and so far we are scything the grass and getting rid of any bramble seedlings that have poked up through the ground. All are welcome to come to these – have a look at our Events page for all the dates and see the sign on the Orchard gate.

At this year’s Wassail we had a demonstration from The Wympole Green Woodworking group who used a pole lathe to make a variety of items. Many thanks to them for the fascinating demo and for being so weather resistant. We hope to collaborate with them again – let us know if you’d be interested in attending a demo or a course of some kind.

On Sunday 14th January 2018 we held our tenth Wassail! Here are some photos that have come my way so far, hopefully I can put up some more to show you the Green Woodworking Group and everything else that went on. Let’s hope it did the trick and the apple trees will produce a bumper harvest this autumn.
 

21 October is National Apple Day, and it’s the time of year when we take our expertise about apples out and about. With our friends from the East of England Apples and Orchards Project, we will be at Apple Day events across the region, helping to identify apples that are brought in, and spreading the word about the amazing varieties you can grow at home.
Here’s a list of all the Apple Days where apple identification is on offer, but there are more events happening so do pop along to your local event.
And, because it’s ‘peak apple’ in October, I am out and about talking at many local Garden Clubs, all of which are happy to welcome visitors if you fancy coming along and  learning more about the amazing history of apples and how to look after your trees:
21 September-  Scotsdales, Great Shelford – fruit in modern gardens (not just apples!)
10 October –  Shelford Gardening Club
11 October – Whittlesford Gardening Club
12 October – Girton Gardening Club
23 October – Wickhambrook Horticultural Society
27 October – Cottenham Garden Club

Do you want to explore your creativity? Do you love spending time in the orchard? Do you have a playful spirit of fun? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘YES’ then sign up for A is for Apple, a creative arts project at Trumpington Community Orchard.

Led by artist Jamie Harper, this week long residency will invite you to create playful activities with other participants, in a relaxed and informal environment, using a variety of artistic methods including drawing, the arrangement of objects and imaginative role-play.

Over the course of the week, we will explore the things that matter to us, focusing on the orchard as a precious but fragile place of imagination, playfulness and community. Through our shared explorations, we will make creative play activities about who we are, what we care about and what kind of future we want to live in.

Play sessions will take place at the following dates and times:

Tuesday 19^th September: 3.30-5.30pm

Wednesday 20^th September: 5.30-7.30pm

Friday 21^st September: 3.30-5.30pm

Saturday 22^nd September: 11am-1pm & 3-5pm

Sunday 23^rd September: (Closing Event) 2-6pm

Please note that you don’t need to take part in all sessions. You can come to as many (or as few) as you like! If you are interested in getting involved, or if you want to find out more, please contact Jamie Harper at: jamie@hobotheatre.co.uk
More about Jamie’s work is here