HEREFORDSHIRE'S orchard heritage is seeing a resurgence thanks to a nationwide initiative by Helping Britain Blossom.

The partnership, which brings together Heineken, the Urban Orchard Project and the Bulmer Foundation will see a number of new and restored orchards in the county over the next 12 months.

It is part of a wider initiative that will see the creation of more than 100 new and restored orchards across the UK by next year.

The latest new orchard to be planted in this county is at Pomona Grove in Upton Bishop, near Ross-on-Wye, where Herefordshire Housing is building a development of ten affordable houses, flats and bungalows.

Helping Britain Blossom is supporting the onsite community orchard with the help of volunteers.

Once planted, it will feature 12 different fruit trees, including specific Herefordshire heritage apple varieties such as Kings Acre Pippin and Herefordshire Russet, and a number of plum varieties from neighbouring Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.

Two orchard leaders, who are volunteers from the community, have received Orchard Leader training from Helping Britain Blossom and Orchard Origins, a social enterprise project based at Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, enabling them to learn the fundamentals of planting and maintaining an orchard and passing on that knowledge to others.

Matthew Cole, who lives in Upton Bishop and works as a senior lecturer in nutrition at the University of Gloucestershire is one of the Orchard Leaders.

His role within Pomona Grove orchard has been to engage the support of the local community and liaise with the parish council and Herefordshire Housing who have responsibility for the land and the housing development respectively.

"I was aware of Herefordshire’s strong heritage in orchards but knew nothing about them personally. But when a leaflet dropped through my letterbox about the plans for a brand new orchard at Pomona Grove I knew straight away that I wanted to get involved," he said.

"As a lecturer in nutrition I understand the importance of educating people about where food comes from and orchards are a fantastic opportunity to do this. In three years or so, once the trees are established, the community’s efforts to plant and maintain this orchard will pay off, and there will be free fruit for all to enjoy.

"The local community has been heavily involved in choosing the varieties we are planting and such has been the enthusiasm, it is already identifying other sites within the parish to plant more fruit trees.”

Herefordshire Housing first identified the opportunity to incorporate an orchard into the Pomona Grove development in 2015 on an area of land that would have just been open space. Instead it will now feature a community orchard and allotments."

Development officer, Matthew Vincent, said: "The development at Upton Bishop gave us the perfect opportunity to enhance local community wellbeing by incorporating an orchard, to be run by community members.

"The orchard will integrate the new development into the rural area and places the foundations for new relationships to be built between the current and new residents – ultimately enhancing what is already a respectful and caring community."

Pete Norton is Helping Britain Blossom’s project manager for Herefordshire, a huge responsibility given the county’s orchard heritage.

"There are more than 10,000 acres of orchards in the county of Herefordshire, more than any other county in Britain. Part of the work Helping Britain Blossom is doing, in conjunction with local partners, is not only to restore old orchards that may have been abandoned and forgotten, but to plant brand new orchards which keep traditions alive at the same time as teaching a new generation about the benefits they bring.

"Community orchards in particular are wonderful assets, bringing people together from different backgrounds to socialise, develop new skills and re-connect with nature. We can already see that happening at Pomona Grove, a new development where not everyone knows each other yet. It’s a great place for people to get together and meet, share experiences and continue Herefordshire’s great tradition of fruit growing."

Anyone interested in finding out more can email Mr Norton at pete@theurbanorchardproject.org, become a friend of Helping Britain Blossom on Facebook or visit helpingbritainblossom.org.uk