Please join us at The Ladder in Redruth as Colin Hawke tells us the story of the Cornwall Orchard Project, an initiative by Cornwall County Council a project which Colin ran in the 1990s. Colin enjoyed 33 years as Princpal Forestry Officer at Cornwall County Council providing tree and woodland advice and running a number of projects including the Cornwall tree planting scheme (planting over 2 million trees) and the Cornwall Orchard Project. He went on to set up as an independant Forestry consultant around the Truro area including advising on orchard management, in particular on traditional orchards and local varieties.
Were you also involved in this Cornwall Orchard Project? Did you help plant an orchard or maybe you care for one of these orchards now, 35 years later? Please come and share your refections, and discuss how the orchards are faring today.
What can we learn from the Cornwall Orchard Project of the 1990s? Huge numbers of fruit trees are being planted across Cornwall in a new revival of traditional orchards – let's learn from the lessons of the past to help ensure a healthy renewal of this habitat.
Colin has also managed orchards in Brittany and will share lessons learnt from this experience.
We're really grateful to Colin Hawke for sharing his experiences and love of orchards with the people in the network - We hope you can join us!
Open to community orchard volunteers, orchard owners, orchard enthusiasts, small cider makers, orchard workers and anyone interested in orcharding history in Cornwall.
** TICKETS **
To cover the costs of this talk a donation of £5 is suggested. Costs for the event will be reached if 20 people attend at this price, if we reach capacity (40 people) then surplus donations will be put towards room hire/refreshments for the Cornwall Orchard Network gathering in May 2026.
Venue
The Ladder – A space for stories.
The Ladder, 2-4 Clinton Road, Redruth, Cornwall TR15 2QE
Directions & Transport
By Train
Redruth train station is a few minutes away.
By Car
There is no on-site parking but there are car parks close by e.g. Fair Meadow Car Park, and on-street parking.
Cornwall Orchard Network
The Cornwall Orchard Network is a member-led network that meets annually (next Gathering May 2026) to share knowledge, experiences, best practice and news of orchard projects across Cornwall including community orchards. There is an all-to-all email list, and a facebook group. The group is guided by it's members, so if you have an idea of what the network could offer, or you want to offer something that might be of interest to others on the network, a talk or visit, please let the network know. Over the past year, in addition to this talk, we have organised a visit to Plants for Future (a forest garden), and Haye Farm, (a traditional orchard) to survey the invertebrates and other flora and fauna and discuss managing orchards in wildlife friendly ways.
