The Damson orchard was ‘discovered’ some 14 years ago when the parish council was looking for other land to use as the allotments as the Fell Foot ones were very overgrown.
It is situated just above the allotments on the flanks of the Kentmere valley.
The orchard is owned by Chris Bethom the 4th generation of family ownership of the orchard and the land around it, which is rented by a local farmer for his sheep grazing. Chris’ father, Bill Bethom, a well known philanthropist in Staveley (plaque to him at the St Margarets tower) originally planted the orchard. He planted it higher on the slopes of the valley to try and prevent late frosts from damaging the blossom of the damson trees, and in the main this has worked very well.
The orchard was very overgrown when it was ‘found’ with many sucker trees (the damson trees naturally spread their roots and grow more trees nearby), bracken and brambles. A group of volunteers spent several days clearing the orchard with assistance from Bob Bradley from the South Lakes Orchard Group helping identify the trees to keep. After some large bonfires, the orchard was clear and it has produced great crops of damson every year bar one! There is usually more than 25kg of fruit picked.
There are also two apple trees in the orchard, one a Bramley cooking apple tree, which produces a profusion of fruits. The other is a Bradleys Beauty, discovered by Bob Bradley on the Witherslack Marshes in 1975, which is a very hardy and disease resistant variety thought to be originating in the mid 20th century, and which the late Bob Bradley had continued to propagate.
The Staveley with Ings Parish Council and SENS group together have a written agreement with the landowner, to manage the orchard, free of charge. Access is limited to supervised work / harvesting parties and these are advertised in the SENS newsletters and on the village Facebook pages, so anyone can come along.
The aims of the volunteer group are to conserve, maintain and renovate this existing orchard, recognising the importance of bio-diversity and the preservation of old local varieties of fruit.
Each year the volunteer group helps to keep the vegetation down so that harvesting the fruit in early September time is made easier. The trees also need pruning every couple of years.
Damson jam and gin is made by volunteers each year and this is sold to raise funds for the orchard. This fund has recently been able to pay for the mending of the perimeter dry stone walls of the orchard to make them stock proof.
If volunteers help with the maintenance tasks, they are able to come and harvest damsons for their own use. There are usually plenty. Everyone is welcome.
Looking forward, the volunteers hope to have sheep grazing in the orchard in the near future (they did graze in there some years ago) so that the vegetation is kept low and needs less work party involvement. It is important for the orchard to have all the brambles and spikey small trees taken down, so that the sheep fleeces don’t catch on the them.
Do come along to one of our work parties and enjoy the quiet situation of the orchard and help conserve a lovely parcel of land in our village as well as enjoying its bounties.
