Initiatives 

This is a single word for what we do and what we are hoping to do. We are sure that you will appreciate that we have a number of ideas and projects that we must keep under wraps until an appropriate time. To do otherwise would be foolhardy. But here are some that we would like to share with you. 1. Tree Museum. This is our raison d’être. We are collecting as many cider and cider related varieties of apple tree as we can find. With over 400 in the bag, finding the remaining few is increasingly difficult. Keeping those that we have in good fettle is challenging too. 2. Duplicate trees. Any collection worthy of its name needs a back-up. Duplicating up to 450 varieties of tree is no low acreage matter. We are targeting the rarer varieties as a start and planting duplicates in vacant spaces in our non-museum orchards and as espaliers to form a unique apple “hedge”. The process of duplication will exercise us for many years to come. 3. Organic conversion. We tried the modern way but to have our orchards smell like the disinfectant in a gents’ lavatory is not where we want to be. “Going organic” seemed our natural harbour and we are well on the way. Cider-makers Westons of Much Marcle have put us on their scheme, under the auspices of the Soil Association. I am sure that all the bugs, friendly or otherwise, and all the bug eaters are hugely grateful. What it may do to our yields though, I dread to think. “DRINK WESTONS ORGANIC CIDER AVAILABLE ON THE BETTER SUPERMARKET SHELVES” 4. Wildlife. An awareness and caring for our flora and fauna is a natural partner to our organic farming policy. We have had several meetings with officers from the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and we closely monitor their advice and ideas. We would like to know much more about who our residents are and who pays us regular visits from the wood next door. 5. Bees. We have sited hives at both ends of our orchards, primarily to pollinate our apple blossom when in season. But they travel far and wide in the glorious Herefordshire countryside on our behalf, and have produced a prodigious amount of honey. We have an arrangement with a local beekeeper and the honey turns up on our doorstep in jars. We merely stick on the labels and sell it on – sound! 6. Now that we hold National Collection (R) status for Malus (Cider-making) this should put more lead into our pencil and move us forward towards the “Centre of Excellence” we intend to be. 7. Tidnor Pomona. There have been many Pomonas produced over the centuries but none, as far as I am aware, that have attempted to capture all cider apple varieties in their nomenclatures. We have embarked on a project to photograph the blossom, fruit and leaves of all our varieties and to collect information and compile a comprehensive data base for each one. This will be an endeavour that will be always ongoing and should form the basis for serious study and academic research. 8. Tidnor Star. A frippery perhaps, but we could not resist the opportunity to develop our own unique variety, which we have named “TIDNOR STAR”. Only time will tell as to what the quality of our “Star’s” cider or juice will be. It is a bit of fun though.  9. The Cider House. We are in the business of trees, not cider. Because we do not beg for public money, we do not have to open our gates wide but we do want to give something back to the wider community. So we plan a programme of open days, which might include, according to the season, a display of cider making using a stone mill and traditional press. We have the mill and are searching for the press – having to compete with rich men and their gardens (cider equipment makes good ornaments). We cut the sod for this new building in May 2007. 10. The Big Picture. A whim had us commission a famous and local transport artist, Eric Bottomley, to paint a picture of Tidnor Wood Orchards as they might have appeared in the 1950s. We sell the resultant elegant, signed and numbered prints to provide an extra source of income for the Trust. 11. The Poster. Moving on from our successful “Big Picture”, we have had the extremely talented wildlife artist, Jonathan Latimer, paint for us a poster depicting thirty-two life size varieties of cider apple in an amazing mélange. These too are numbered and signed by the artist and may be purchased through our shop. We can use the images of each of the fruit depicted in the poster as cards and on other merchandise, as well as transposing them into the individual pages of our Tidnor Pomona. If this first poster is a success, then we intend to commission and publish a second one. 12. The Tidnor Shop. Our medium for selling our wares, in an attempt to raise extra money for our trees. What we aim to achieve is to offer only quality products at fair prices to mirror what we aim to be as an organisation. 13. Sponsorship. Sponsorship is our way of moving forward as a community of like-minded people who share a concern for environmental issues. Please sponsor one of our unique trees for the whole life of that tree by a one-off payment, which also confers effective life membership of the TIDNOR WOOD ORCHARD TRUST. You will not be disappointed.                    Bottom Orchard - "Attention!"