Hartley Wintney community orchard
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This is quite a new orchard which was planted in 2000. They have a lot of events there, including a wassail there in January, and I went to a Jazz Picnic there last September, a pleasant day, and good to see people having a good time in THEIR local orchard. Hartley Wintney is a pleasant village about 10 miles north of Basingstoke with many events worth visiting if you don't live too far away, details on the village web site.

To check out the Hartley Wintney community orchard click here. There are lots of events including open air Shakespeare, the jazz picnic is on 12th September this year, etc. Other communities-rural and urban- take note 'go thou and do likewise'.

Here are some local people enjoying a picnic, music and good company in their village orchard.



there are about 50 assorted fruit trees in the orchard, planted on the edge of town and sponsored by local groups and individuals. This is important as it gives a sense of shared ownership. Plaques give the name of the apple, pear or plum and a dedication from the people who planted it.




I arrived early to set up my apple stall in the orchard









here is the Fruitwise apple stall set up. I didn't sell many apples, although a teacher bought a lot to offer her schoolchildren a tasting of different varieties in the run up to Apple Day. Admittedly, it wasn't a market but a picnic.



the trees are still young and you can see that there is a great promise of beauty when it grows up.



Hook Eagle Morris are the local morris dancing side, they dress in 'border' kit, basically black with black face paint, cock pheasant feathers worn in distressed top hats, and quite aggressive dances with sticks rather than the hankies used by 'softy' Cotswold morris sides. Some morris sides are all male, others all women- Hook Eagle like the side with whom I play mandolin, Wickham morris, are a mixed side. They feature at the wassailling which is also held in the community orchard (and the pub)

Particularly good to see young children involved in planting a community orchard. Let's hope they see the orchard mature as they grow up.



Inspiration and advice about community orchards can be found on the common ground web site

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