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TIDNOR WOOD ORCHARD TRUST is about heritage, biodiversity, conservation, ecology and a whole lot more.

TIDNOR WOOD ORCHARDS are a collection of cider apple trees, a museum and gene bank and a superb habitat for indigenous flora and fauna.

TIDNOR WOOD snuggles our orchard boundary, protecting from cold northerly winds.

TIDNOR is an ancient hamlet a couple of miles from Hereford, England, principle city of the orchard county of Herefordshire.

Rare varieties, once lost, are gone forever. We aim to plant rare varieties in a safe and traditional environment, to crop from them, to be an academic resource for their study and to provide material for propagation and revival. We plant commercial and common varieties too by way of contrast and comparison; in fact, we will nurture every variety we can find in order to be WORLD'S LARGEST CIDER APPLE TREE MUSEUM.

But we are not an empty field waiting to be planted. Top Orchard, our main museum/gene bank orchard (5 plus acres - 2 hectares), was a commercial orchard of half standard trees but we have replaced half so far with 360 different varieties, with another 40 in nurseries awaiting their turn. Our second orchard, Old Orchard, is over 2 acres of old standard trees, many bearded with mistletoe, many arthritic in demeanour, which we aim to retain in the tradition that it represents. We have Third Orchard (4 acres) which we also call French Orchard, and Bottom Orchard (13 acres), more commercial half standards, but we are filling vacant spaces with duplicates of our rare varieties.

We are in organic conversion under the auspices of the Soil Association through Westons Cider makers of Much Marcle, who have contracted to purchase our organic fruit until 2017 at least.

In November 2006 we were awarded National Collection (R) status by the NCCPG (The National Council for the Conservation of Plants and Gardens) and although provisional because of the youth of our trees, this is a prestigious award.

We are as busy as our bees, which produce lots of tasty Tidnor Wood honey. Our latest venture is to purchase an old stone cider mill which we will restore to make Tidnor Wood cider one day soon.

We aim to be sustainable, not to rely on subsidies and handouts from bureaucratic government and European bodies. In so doing we might avoid the conditions that such handouts attract and allow ourselves more autonomy. But we do need to sell our fruit and services. Particularly, we also need people to SPONSOR our trees.You are bound to find one that you will favour. Bond with the tree yourself and hopefully visit on our Open Days (one in each season when we get them organised), take pictures and some of the fruit if you wish. We will send you a newsletter and you can contact us freely. Best of all, give a tree to a friend or loved one to mark their birthday or other anniversary (we will send personalised birthday or Christmas cards or whatever). Whatever your motivation, you would be making a very positive step to put something back into the environment – which is exactly what the Tidnor Wood Orchard Trust is all about.

                                                                                          An Orchard Glade