Tarvin Community Orchard

The Tarvin Community Orchard has been a project of great local interest, aiming to celebrate and preserve the heritage of woodland fruit trees in the village. the following article has been prepared to document these trees.

It was back in February 2013 that the (now defunct) Cheshire Landscape Trust offered us the gift of apple trees, of varieties that have been grown in Cheshire for a long time, their idea was to be a part of the establishment of Community Orchards across Cheshire, and we were ideally suited to become a part of this.

Our first question was, how many fruit trees constitute an orchard? I thought that this would be dozens, or possibly hundreds – but I was wrong. An orchard comprises any number of fruit trees six and above, so it transpired that we would not need to turn all of our woodland over to growing fruit! An area behind Crossfields (where, later, the apple pressing would also be held) was chosen and, on 23rd February 2013, nine apple trees of six different varieties were planted by the Landscape Trust.

The trees were: -
Three trees of variety Newton Wonder. These are trees bred in Derbyshire in the 19th century and produce large yellow/scarlet fruit suitable for both eating and cooking, which are ready in October. They keep very well and cook to a juicy, mild puree.

Two trees of variety Golden Spire. These trees, bred in Lancashire in 1850, have a slightly weeping habit and produce cooking apples, which are ready in September. Their flesh is golden with deep cream and has a sharp, almost cider flavour. They cook to a well flavoured puree.

One tree of varietyFiesta (also known as Red Pippin). These trees were bred in Kent in 1972 and produce heavy crops of Cox-like eating apples that are ready in October. The flesh is rich, aromatic, sweet and crisp.

One tree of varietyLord Lambourne, This is an old favourite among eating apples and is ready in September. It is a reliable cropper, having striped fruit that are sweet and aromatic, with a hint of strawberry. It was first grown in Bedford around 1907.

One tree of varietyRibston Pippin. This tree was first bred in North Yorkshire in the 18th century, it is an eating apple, producing sweet, aromatic, crisp fruit with a yellow-red flush. The flesh is firm, deep, cream and more acid than Cox. They will be ready for eating in October

One tree of variety St Edmunds Russet. This very attractive eating apple has a golden-red russet and silvery sheen. The apples have a sweet, juicy, rich, densely textured, pale cream flesh and are ready for eating in September. It was first produced in Suffolk in 1875.

Later, a donor bequeathed a further apple tree to us. This is a tree which is a grafted clone of a piece of the tree which Sir Isaac Newton sat beneath when he watched an apple fall to the ground and first formulated his Theory of Gravitation. The tree is of the variety Flower of Kent and is known for its large and flavourful, but mealy green apples, which have been used for cooking and baking for over 400 years.

On the opposite side of the footpath, we have planted four further fruit trees: two pear trees (to ensure cross-pollination), a plum tree and a cultivated damson tree. Several Cheshire Damson trees (which can also be found growing wild throughout the county) can be found in the hedges a little further up the woodland pathway.

Pruning of our fruit trees is undertaken each year by Katie Lowe of Heathfields Nursery, Littleton, Chester. Katie was one of the foundation Trustees of Tarvin Community Woodland Trust and served as Chief Executive of Cheshire Landscape Trust. We have Katie to thank for the excellent shape of our trees and for the wonderful profusion of blossom that we have had this spring (2025). Hopefully, this will convert into a tremendous crop of apples later in the year!

Because ours is a COMMUNITY ORCHARD, we are happy for folk to pick the fruit on the trees in our orchard. However, we do ask that everyone follows a few simple (and fair) rules:-

• Take care not to damage the trees when you are picking the fruit.
• Please wait until the fruit is ready (ripe) before you pick it. Picking it early means it is useless to you and unavailable to everyone else.
• Only take SOME of the fruit – enough, say, for you to use now – and leave fruit on the tree for others to be able to have some also

If you see others abusing these rules, please remind them that the trees are for EVERYONE, not just for them!