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In recent years the idea of creating a community orchard has become increasingly popular and is due in no small part to the excellent work of Common Ground a campaigning charity that promotes diversity across the UK.

Community orchard projects develop in a number of ways but by far the most popular encourages organisations and individual members of the local community to adopt trees in a proposed or existing orchard. In an ideal situation the cost of the project is simply divided by the number of adoption opportunities and the jobs done! In reality you may require additional funding to subsidise the cost of the activity for individual participants.

One or two things to consider when creating a new community orchard

• If possible involve your local fruit group or horticultural college and get some advice as to suitable or historically interesting varieties appropriate to your area.
• How secure is the land? Orchards take a while to establish and will generally outlive a good number of the individuals proposing to adopt the trees. The orchard will also need to be kept free from vandalism and some consideration will have to be given in the early years to protection from pests and diseases.
• Give some thought to the long-term management of the Orchard, who will look after the project once the initial enthusiasm has waned?
• Organise a number of community days so that the community can help prepare and then plant the orchard.
• Consider holding annual apple day events and develop a calendar of events to maintain community involvement, eg; picnics, barbequeus, picking days, apple tasting, cider making, and pruning workshops.
• Give some consideration to how the communitys use of the space may evolve in the future. Individuals may wish to sponsor benches in the orchard or possibly spread ashes. Will this be acceptable to your community and if so how will it be managed?

As with the creation of a community garden, a community orchard will require ongoing commitment and resources from the community and or outside funders and this should be taken into consideration when designing your project.