The project has been transformative both of a derelict site and community engagement. The site has been formally acquired through an asset Transfer under Community Ownership Legislation and was cleared, levelled and planted. Initially with Wildflower seeds and then Heritage Fruit trees. raised beds fro soft fruits have been installed also.
There is a core group of 12 on the management committee, with 6 active volunteers doing weekly maintenance and small developments. Businesses and Voluntary groups, primary and secondary schools are also involved. The Carrbridge Eco Schools Project and the Rural Skills pupils from the high school are involved too.
Older adults come along and encourage and chat in our regular Friday sessions and people enjoy the space at other times too.
Next planting date this weekend
There has been a significant transformation on the site over the summer. Groundworks in May improved drainage and levelled areas for locally sourced wildflower planting.
The first tranche of heritage Fruit trees were planted by each class at the nearby Carrbridge Primary School in late June.
Four raised beds were constructed and Gooseberries, Saskatoons, Hazel as well as black and redcurrants were planted. 2 others have been constructed and will be planted with bare root blueberry and other soft fruit bushes.
A community 'Foster a Fruit Tree' event saw 8 businesses and volunteer groups coming forward to plant and care for a Fruit tree. Families and individuals planted the remaining trees with a total of 25 at this time.
Some further groundworks are required to plant a further 5 trees planned for this year.
Protection against browsing by deer and rabbit has been acheived by staking and surrounding each tree with a cyclinder of mesh and bark us used for mulch and paths between the raised beds.
Action plan:
Timeline: The Project Plan and funding strategy will start on Tuesday 7th March. We will meet as a whole group on a monthly basis but smaller teams will meet as required to agree planting, infrastructure, fundraising, events and communications.
Budget: The seed funding will be used to create planting areas with slightly raised beds for accessibility need (£200); Soft fruit (£100 as we have some donations) Herbs (£50) and wildflower meadow seed mix (£400) to create and ecosystem to support pollination and biodiversity. The remainder will be used to match fund donations from members of the community and fundraising activities to plant fruit trees with stakes and deer protection, we aim to plant 40 - 50 trees, including Apples, Plums, Cherries Damsons, Pears, Nuts.
In addition we will plant native hedging including Blackthorn, Rowan, elder, hawthorn, beech etc.
Impact: Our community is growing with 60 new homes which is significant for our small village. The community will benefit by creating a place for exercise, social connection and locally grown produce. Our measurable goals include attracting 10% or more of our community to become actively involved. Attract visitors to stay longer in the village and we will measure that by inviting feedback from local businesses and on our social media.
We will grow annual vegetables and herbs to encourage others to do the same and to engage people in developing orchard management skills including wider skills such as finance and fundraising and communications. We aim to network with other orchard projects and to share our experience in setting up and running projects locally.
We also want to leave 10% of our produce for wildlife
Location: The village is within the Cairngorms National Park. The location for the orchard has been identified, and the site is centrally located in the village with easy access to parking, public toilets, recreation ground and playpark and just 200m from the primary school. The area has been unused for 50 years has an area of 2700m2
The land is owned by the Highland Council and is currently in the latter stages of an Asset Transfer request under the Community Empowerment Act (2015). Whilst this is concluded there is a license to occupy to allow preparations to commence. We have letters of support from 8 village organisations and 5 local businesses and have recently started a facebook page which has a growing number of followers.
