Country diary: A thriving new orchard in an unlikely place | Jennifer Jones
Knowsley, Merseyside: The Meadow Park community orchard started with just five trees, now there are 200 species of cherry, plum, apple, pear, quince and spindleEngland’s second most deprived borough is not where you might expect to find an award-winning orchard. And yet here is the Meadow Park community orchard, in Knowsley, growing beneath twin leviathan multi-storey buildings.The orchard was the brainchild of the Knowsley town councillor, Neil Joseph and it became a reality after a generous headteacher released a parcel of land for the project in 2020. Guiding me around the orchard, Neil introduces the trees as if they were friends: Ashmead’s kernel, red pippin, Doyenné du Comice and the delightful slack-ma-girdle. As we pause by a quince, he relates his childhood memories of Edward Lear’s nonsense poem The Owl and the Pussycat, composed only a mile away at Knowsley Hall. Such grand estates feel a long way from this area, formerly known as Cantril Farm, which once had a reputation for crime and deprivation. Continue reading...
Knowsley, Merseyside: The Meadow Park community orchard started with just five trees, now there are 200 species of cherry, plum, apple, pear, quince and spindle
England’s second most deprived borough is not where you might expect to find an award-winning orchard. And yet here is the Meadow Park community orchard, in Knowsley, growing beneath twin leviathan multi-storey buildings.
The orchard was the brainchild of the Knowsley town councillor, Neil Joseph and it became a reality after a generous headteacher released a parcel of land for the project in 2020. Guiding me around the orchard, Neil introduces the trees as if they were friends: Ashmead’s kernel, red pippin, Doyenné du Comice and the delightful slack-ma-girdle. As we pause by a quince, he relates his childhood memories of Edward Lear’s nonsense poem The Owl and the Pussycat, composed only a mile away at Knowsley Hall. Such grand estates feel a long way from this area, formerly known as Cantril Farm, which once had a reputation for crime and deprivation. Continue reading...
