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In 2005/6 the North Yorkshire Moors National Park Sustainable Development Fund supported a project to maintain and manage a number of traditional farm orchards within the boundaries of the National Park.

The project proposed to test the feasibility of adults with learning disabilities and or physical disabilities working as a team to reinstate, harvest and then market fruit from plum, pear and apple orchards. The team of adults from Northdale Horticulture, a work based day service for adults with learning disabilities, worked at a number of different locations around the western edge of the National Park.

With the support of local farmers the team worked in a number of orchards and eventually harvested more than 7 tonnes of mixed fruits and pruned nearly 5 acres of orchards.

From a community horticulture perspective the real success of the project was that it met the needs of the local farmers i.e. diversification, practical land management and help with picking and marketing fruit, whilst at the same time meeting the needs of adults with learning disabilities who were seeking integration into the community and the chance to become more economically active.

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