Work begins on our new orchard

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We have been very lucky to receive funding from Kent County Council from the Trees Outside Woodlands programme.  According to a map of 1871 there was an orchard approximately where we wished to plant one of our own, so we were eligible for the grant.  It will be a small orchard of 22 trees - apple, pear, plum, cherry and cobnut.

I have enjoyed researching the species of fruit that will like our site and wherever possible I've chosen British varieties.  There is one existing cooking apple tree (shown above).  It was in a sad state but thanks to Wesley it has been tidied up.  Yesterday Wesley also cleared some of the brambles and ivy to make space for our new, young trees.  They arrive in a couple of weeks.  I can't wait and I'll do another blog post with photos.

More information regarding the grant scheme is below the logos.


The Trees Outside Woodlands project is funded through HM Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund and is led by Defra, The Tree Council and Natural England.

The Trees Outside Woodlands programme is investigating innovative and practical solutions to increase resilient tree cover in non-woodland areas, which have huge potential to contribute significantly to national tree cover targets and boost the benefits of trees for people and nature. Through pilot planting schemes, they have tested cost-effective methods of establishing trees in farmed, rural, and urban landscapes, which can often be impractical for woodland planting.

Increased trees outside woods (TOWs) have the potential to connect fragmented landscapes and substantially increase national tree cover. TOWs also have higher benefits per tree than woodland planting: they are enjoyed by more people, contribute more to habitat connectivity, and provide more ecosystem services.

Historic Treescapes Grant Details:  Across England there are areas with good populations of ancient veteran trees but poor recruitment of younger trees, which, over time will reduce the trees outside of woodlands cover and we will lose the connectivity trees supply across a landscape. Similarly, there are areas that have already lost their historic populations of trees outside of woodlands. There is a need to reinstate these historic populations of trees and target planting for ecological connectivity.

KCC has used historic OS maps vs current satellite imagery to identify ‘lost trees’, working with the historic environment team and Ancient Tree Inventory (ATI). KCC has chosen the Dover district area as a focus for this grant scheme, which provides up to 100% funding for tree planting projects to restore trees that have been lost since the 1890 Ordnance Survey. With this grant they want to improve the natural beauty, habitat connectivity, and resilience of our countryside.

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