Welcome Gloucestershire Orchard Group members!

I am hoping that after the little feature on the Charingworth Orchard Trust that Ann Smith included in the most recent Gloucestershire Orchard Group (GOG) bulletin, some GOG members may have recently encountered the blog. If so, fantastic and welcome. Feel free to email me if you have any questions, tips or further info. about my posts.

It has been a quiet August in the orchards at Charingworth but internet coverage should snowball as we enter the picking, and later the pruning seasons. For the moment, here are a few photos of really monstrous Bramley apple trees from Upwells near Wisbech. Michael Clarke of Tewin Orchard kindly sent me them. Perhaps in 20/30 years time a few of the Charingworth trees will be in this league. Or perhaps that's a bit of wishful thinking!


These trees at Upwell have been allowed to grow naturally. In contrast, many fruit trees are cut back at 'maiden' (1 year old) stage to produce an open crown.

Anna Clark of Tewin Orchard here showing the sense of scale of these huge fruit trees. I can't wait for the opportunity to go and see them myself...

The largest apple tree in Charingworth

Noble tree 35 from the Bramley orchard planted in the 1940s.

A sprinkling of snow in the lower orchard

A sprinkling of snow in the 1940s Bramley orchard in February. Two of the largest trees of all can be seen in the foreground. It took me three days to prune the tree nearest the camera- tree 35, and a personal favorite. It has huge internal cavities and I think there may be potential for a bat roost in one of the hollow limbs. In twenty years time these trees may well approach the size of some of the giant trees in Wisbech.