The Tamar Valley National Landscape awarded £10,877 of Farming in Protected Landscapes funding to restore a traditional orchard in the village of Bere Ferrers. Once a cherished local asset, the orchard had fallen into neglect – overgrown with scrub and steadily losing the rich wildlife and community life it once supported. Working with the Tavy and Tamar Apple Group (TTAG), local volunteers and contractors, the project has carefully restored the orchard and secured its future as a living part of the Tamar Valley National Landscape.

A rare and threatened habitat

Traditional orchards are among UK’s most wildlife-rich habitats - and among its most threatened. The Bere Ferrers orchard lies immediately adjacent to the Tamar-Tavy SSSI, making its restoration even more ecologically significant. In the years before the project, a lack of active management had allowed scrub to encroach across the site, reducing habitat diversity and gradually displacing the traditional understorey herbs that give orchards their distinctive and species-rich character.

Restoring the orchard

The project saw TTAG, local volunteers and contractors carry out a huge variety of tasks to bring the orchard back into good management: clearing scrub and rank grassland across 0.5 hectares, mowing paths and a central amenity area to make the orchard accessible and usable again; laying 210 metres hedgerows and creating two small ponds to boost wetland biodiversity; installing new stock fencing and a pedestrian and vehicle access gate, and pruning five old fruit trees. They also planted five new trees – traditional Tamar catchment apple varieties – directly connecting the orchard to the valley’s rich fruit-growing heritage.

The Tamar Valley has a long tradition of market gardening, with local apple varieties including Pig’s Nose, Plympton Pippin, and the Burcombe cherry – named after a farm in the valley. TTAG, founded in 1999 and with more than 100 volunteer members, has been a driving force in keeping this heritage alive through community events, training and outreach. The newly restored Bere Ferrers Orchard gives a new venue helping reach more of the community, and giving a space for nature and people to thrive. A new interpretation board tells the story of the orchard and its place in the valley’s history, while two refurbished huts and a newly built wildlife hide offer spaces for learning, watching and quiet enjoyment.

Benefits for wildlife and people

With its scrub cleared, hedgerows restored and new ponds in place, the orchard now provides rich habitat for bats, birds, hedgehogs, toads, pollinators and meadow plants, while strengthening ecological links with the nearby woodland and designated wildlife sites. For the local community, the orchard has been transformed into a welcoming green space for walking, reflection and the much-loved events – Applefest and Wassailing – that TTAG has long championed. It also offers regular opportunities for volunteering and learning traditional orchard and land management skills.

Opening the orchard, National Landscapes Association chair Philip Hygate said: 

"The Bere Ferrers Community Orchard is a fine example of collaboration within the Tamar Valley National Landscape. It beautifully demonstrates what can be achieved by community effort combined with very modest financial contributions from the National Landscape and local councils. It respects the past traditions of the Tamar Valley with its at least two centuries of orchard fruit growing and proclaims a determination to give the beauty and nature friendly experience of orchards to generations yet to come. Well done to all involved."

Following the restoration, the orchard will be maintained through an annual programme undertaken or funded by TTAG members, ensuring the site continues to deliver for wildlife and community for generations to come. The work of TTAG and the preservation of places like this ensures that the Tamar Valley’s orchard heritage remains a living part of the landscape – not just a memory of it.