Donkey Lane Community Orchard - The First 5 Years

About the Project    Stories

February 2019 – March 2024

It’s 12:45pm on Saturday 9th February 2019 and I am standing in a small clearing surrounded by dense overgrowth and undergrowth in what will become the Donkey Lane Community Orchard.

Earlier in the week we had made our way through the narrow path cut from the lane and cleared an area to accommodate about 10 people. I am waiting, along with Alan, wondering if anyone will come. We have a small bag of tools, some hi viz jackets, gloves and bundles of enthusiasm. This is the first of three working parties that we will have in the coming week. People said they would come, but would they?

To get to where we were on that day in 2019, I need to go back over the previous 15 months.

How we got involved

In November 2017, Greening Chinnor were approached by Nick Marriner, Landscape Partnership Development Officer from the Chiltern Conservation Board. He had been put in contact with us via Chinnor Parish Council. He wanted to discuss the potential involvement of our group with their forthcoming ‘Rough around the Edges’ (RATE) project, which was part of a larger Lottery Funded Chalk, Cherry and Chairs 5-year Landscape Partnership Scheme programme for the Chilterns.

He explained that the Landscape Partnership Scheme would weave together three main themes – local wildlife, local heritage and local people, this would be across a whole host of different projects designed to engage people, celebrate the area, and protect and enhance the Central Chilterns landscape.

The Scheme would be funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the HS2 Community & Engagement Fund, and would be managed by the Chilterns Conservation Board.

Initially our involvement would be in connecting and increasing wild life areas around Chinnor – RATE.

As the discussion about the project went on, we found out that restoring old orchards was part of the project – hey presto – we knew of a disused orchard!

To find out more about the Chalk, Cherries and Chairs project go to www.chilterns.org.uk/chalkcherrieschairs/about-project


Why did we get involved?

A good question, but why not? We are a local environment group working to look after our wonderful area. We knew of the Orchard site and knew it was incredibly overgrown.

After being put in touch and meeting with Claire Conway-Crapp from the Mid-Shires Orchard Group, we knew the apple varieties could go back to the mid-1800s and we should try to preserve these heritage fruit trees. We further found out from an earlier rough survey taken in 2013 by Derek Tolman of Bernwode Nurseries, that there were at least 19 apple trees on the site plus the Chinnor plum.

We saw it as a potential relaxed and enjoyable space for all - we could all enjoy and share the harvest of fruit. It would make a good social and educational outdoor space, we could encourage schools, nurseries and other local groups to use it as an ‘outdoor classroom’. We wanted to explore the social history of the site: Who lived there? What was their story? There was the opportunity to learn about and increase the biodiversity of the area. Identify and record the flora and fauna and extend its value as a wildlife habitat. AND Training opportunities: Learn the skills to manage an orchard: pruning, coppicing, hedge-laying, etc. An opportunity to good to miss.

Where is the Orchard?

Donkey Lane Community Orchard occupies a small area of privately owned land next to the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway on Keens Lane, Chinnor. You will find the Orchard on the right-hand side after the crossing, accessed by a gate.

The lane that passes the Orchard has been variously known as Hollands Lane, Guntrips Lane and in more recent times as Keens Lane. Locally it is known as Donkey Lane possibly due to the donkey blacksmith located nearby. On the site there were three double cottages built probably during the late 18th Century and finally pulled down about 100 years ago.


How we thought we could do it

The biggest question was how could we do it? We knew it was going to be a large project especially in terms of time and resources and would need the support of the land owner, national and local organisations and volunteers.
 
We already had an active community group so were comfortable to take on the management of the Orchard.

Alan and I put together a ‘5-Year Plan’ for the Orchard site, with aims, objectives, ideas and costings which we put to Mr Derek Nixey (the landowner), the Chiltern Conservation Board and Chinnor Parish Council.

We had built a good relationship with the Chinnor Parish Council as we had worked on several projects with them and they had always been supportive of our efforts. We were asking them to take on the 15-year lease agreement of the site kindly given by Mr Nixey, whilst we would have day to day management of the site to ensure continuity if Greening Chinnor ceased.
 
We also had the backing and support of the Mid-Shires Orchard Group, BBOWT, Trust for Oxfordshire Environment (TOE2) and Wild Oxfordshire. The Parish Council agreed and generously gave £1,000 to cover legal fees and the Chiltern Conservation Board, though the National Lottery & HS2 Landscape Partnership Fund, committed £6,936 to the project as well as support.

After many discussions and with the agreements in place, funding secured, we reached out to the Village – and they responded. We were ready to begin!

So how did we get from that abandoned overgrown piece of land in February 2019


to the amazing space we have now?


I couldn’t have been the only one who was more than a little daunted seeing the scale of the task at that first working party. However, my concerns that no one would turn up were soon removed as the first trickle of volunteers made their way through the narrow path.

We had, and still have, a very keen and eager group of people full of energy and expectation and what a difference they have made. In telling the story of the first 5-years of the Orchard project we shall go through some of the amazing achievements that have been made.

Start of the hard work!

The site was an unused, overgrown and much neglected historic orchard and had been used over the years, as a casual meeting place for young people. Access to the Orchard could be difficult on account if its overgrown state and the wet and muddy condition of Donkey Lane in winter months.


Our aim was to slowly remove the scrubby undergrowth that had established in the Orchard, uncover the trees and form a management plan for each. To do that we first formed 2 regular monthly working parties.
 
Much of 2019 was spent clearing a century’s worth of accumulated detritus. Who can forget how the site was extremely overgrown with the trees swamped with ivy and brambles and so much litter and waste material. There was even a tree house and a den! The whole site was a mess. Alan and I had to cut a path into the site before the first working party to make a safe place for our volunteers to work and limit numbers.

Working parties

We’ve had some great working parties. Everyone was and still is so enthusiastic and I love seeing all the happy faces whilst we’re working. During this first phase of the project, with the guidance of the Mid-Shires Orchard Group, we learnt how to carry out winter and summer pruning and even had Apple identification training.

In addition, we have had first aid training (4 first aiders), training on safeguarding, brush cutting, scything, site surveying and identifying pollinators. In fact, we’ve had 15 training session delivered by Mid-Shires and in conjunction with the Chiltern Conservation Board and BBOWT.


And of course, our working parities wouldn’t be complete without a tea break and good chat - and sometimes we even sample some of Laura’s spectacular biscuits. My calculation tells me that within the period up to end of March 2024, there have been over 60 working parties - a whopping 1,800 volunteer hours given.

Fruit trees

I could say that the Orchard ‘slowly’ emerged but we have such a dedicated group, that the trees were soon discovered and we wondered at their amazing architecture. Trees that had fallen and at first sight looked dead, we’re, under the weight of the ivy and brambles, still alive. We are pleased to say that we do have an ‘official’ Donkey Lane Community Orchard photographic record on Flickr of the transformation that is free for anyone to view thanks to Keith Webley.
 
It took a while and lot of hard work but we found the fruit trees, 21 apple trees and 4 Chinnor plums. All the fruit trees have been mapped out and given a ‘management’ plan. With the air and light finally reaching the trees, they all came into their own and now have regular blossom and fruit.


They are also regularly surveyed and are doing well.


Fruit tree varieties

Much research was undertaken to identify the heritage apples in the Orchard with thanks to the Mid Shire Orchard Group for their help. So far, we have identified about 40% with many varieties going back to the middle of the 19th century when we believe most of the planting was carried out.


There are still many of the apple varieties to identify and in the summer of 2023, we sent off leaf samples as part of the fruitID/ NIAB-EMRDNA Fingerprinting Scheme to have our apple trees DNAd.
This may not identify all the trees but should help us add a few more to the list. There is a possibility that we have a new variety. If so, we will be able to name it.

Hedgerows

Another great achievement was planting The Platinum Jubilee hedge along the lane side of the Orchard, in celebration the late Queen Elizabeth’s platinum Jubilee. The hedge has been listed as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative. It continues to thrive, thickening up nicely and providing valuable habitat.


Varieties planted include: Hawthorn, Cornelian Cherry, Hazel, Kentish Cob (Lambert’s Filbert), Spindle, Dog Rose, Cherry Plum, Wayfarer Tree, Bledlow Bullace, Sea Buckthorn, Field Maple and Holly.
 
This had brought the hedge into better management.

Established a heritage fruit nursery




We have cleared a dedicated nursery bed and have now grafted 8 original apple trees and 2 Chinnor plums. All seem to be doing well. This will ensure longevity of the Orchard and help reinvigorate some of the older trees.










In December 2022, two new varieties of apple trees were planted, ‘Scrumptious’ and ‘Core Blimey’. Core Blimey in memorial to the three young men who lived or were associated with the Orchard and died in WW1.

Community Events

We have established 3 annual community events; Blossom Day in April – coincides with the National Blossom Week, Apple Day – in October coincides with the National Apple Week and of course our Wassail in January. Our thanks as always to the marvellous Clare Conway-Crapp from MSOG who is our Master of Ceremony – always does a great job and our Rev’d Jacky Barr is always on hand to give the Orchard her blessing.

In July 2023, we were privileged to hold the first showing of the ‘Sour Cherry Soup’ outdoor performance, a 45-minute, one-woman show that tells the story of the changing landscapes and populations of the Chilterns. Inspired by stories from Chiltern people written by playwright Sara Clifford. The Orchard was the perfect location for this most inspirational and emotional play.


Also in July 2023, we were joined by The Rt Rev’d Gavin Collins, the Bishop of Dorchester and other members of the Church, on his annual pilgrimage around Chinnor with Year 3 children from St Andrew’s School. We could hear the children before they came up the lane and it was amazing to see the Bishop fully clad in cope and mitre crossing the railway line. We accommodated 120 children plus teaching staff, parents and helpers from the church which certainly made the Orchard buzz! Everyone had a great time exploring and finding all sorts of interesting things.
 
We joined the Christian Aid Scarecrow trail in September and was amazed to find that Stickman had visited the Orchard – what a treat. We have been informed that he is happy to attend more of our events and we hold an annual Sausage & Cider social for our volunteers which aways proves popular.

Story Group

A real significant part of the Orchard story is the life of the villagers who lived in, and in many cases, worked in the cottages. There are many other areas of interest: Crafts and Customs, such as lacemaking and wassails; Flora & Fauna – what we found in the Orchard meticulously researched and recorded by Christine.

Geology and Archaeology - what’s it like around the site and what’s been found beneath!
The Story Group consists of Bernard Braun, Linda Brawn, Pam Coull, Christine Davis and Carol Stewart.
 

Where are the cottages?

We don’t have many pictures of the cottages, pictures we have so far, are of two sets of the cottages but all three pairs are shown on old maps and tithe records so we know roughly the location of each one. These three pairs of cottages, at one time, were home to a community of 31 people.
 
It is thought that the cottages were built in 1700s but the fact that they seemed to be of more than one construction type probably suggests that they were not all built at the same time.

Photographs which are roughly turn of the 20th century show that the cottages were already in poor repair. It is thought that the last one was demolished around 1920.


All the heritage fruit trees found within the Orchard were probably planted by the cottagers to either feed themselves or to sell. The site would not originally have been classed as an orchard but as it has more than 5 fruit trees, it now is.
 

Stories from the Orchard

So how do we find the information? Carol and Bernard, have done amazing work studying the 1841 to 1911 Census’s, researching old maps such as Tithe maps and newspapers and books and have managed to pull out the history of people, families and occupations of the cottagers. And by talking to others from living memories and handed down stories.

The Story Group meet regular and most months publish a short article in the Parish Pump with the longer and more detailed one, including photos, illustrations, maps etc, published on our website.





We have had a collection of the ‘Stories’ printed and you can find a copy in the local history section of Chinnor library. Or you can borrow a copy from Greening Chinnor. There is also a digital copy on our website at www.greeningchinnor.blogspot.com under the ‘Projects & Stories’ tab. We hope you enjoy them and they pique your interest!

Archaeology at the Orchard

To help gather information on the Orchard and its’ people, in 2022 we started to explore the Orchard with the help of South Oxfordshire Archaeology Group (SOAG) to try and find evidence of the cottages identified from the 1881 and 1889 maps. We have continued to explore under the lead of Roelie Reed and have held several dig weekends since starting.

We weren’t too successful in finding any buildings on our first few digs, although we did find lots of small pieces of pottery, roof and floor tiles, brick pieces, animal bones, glass, charcoal, clay pipe stems as well as buttons and metal pieces and a ring and thimble.

We haven’t found any treasure yet but we are now very excited to have found walls and potential floors, we now have evidence of buildings in the location of the cottages. This will need much further exploration and more digs are planned. Our thanks to SOAG and particularly Roelie for leading the project.


Evidence of the three pairs of cottages

These are photos from one of our series of digs and shows the remains of chalk and brick wall from Test Pit 5, the area of the cottages near the railway line. Or as we now call it ‘the great wall of Bernard’.



The remains of knapped flint wall, a chalk floor and possible brick path in Test Pit 3 located near the lane dug by Carol and Ian and Test pit 7 showing possible remains of packed chalk floor dug by Christine.

We can’t be sure these are the cottages; they could have been other buildings that are shown on the map.

Survey Group

A group of our volunteers undertook simple surveying training provided by BBOWT and since May 2021 have regularly surveyed the Orchard. Our survey group consists of Christine Davis, Carol Stewart, Sue Mewett, Rod Thorpe and Linda Brawn.

Whilst there was some initial concern about how much clearing had been done this has in fact allowed other plants to grow through, including some garden escapees. We have recorded 97 flowering plant, identified 13 species of fungi and 11 named insects. As well as 34 species of fungi, lichen and moss identified in the Orchard by Sue White a lichenologist early in the project.

These are being entered into iRecord which enables wildlife sightings to be collated, checked by experts and made available to support research and decision-making at local and national levels. To find out what we’ve recorded so far check out our iRecords file go to https://irecord.org.uk/ and search for Donkey Lane Community Orchard.

Challenges

There were some that thought it was an impossible task – it would take a huge amount of work and commitment. That was and is very true.

Some were concerned that we would destroy, what on the surface, looked like a good wildlife area. The work that has been undertaken by the Survey Group proves that in fact the biodiversity of the site has increased. There are many areas that are left to go wild, there are areas that haven’t been cleared at all, scrub that was cleared has been put into the hedging area and is loved by the birds and other creatures.

Some were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to go scrumping as they had done since they were a child. We have regular open days and whilst we do not yet feel it is ready to have picking sessions with the general public, they are free to help themselves to the fruit when ripe and they do.

There was a lot of anti-social behaviour when we took over the Orchard. It had been used by local ‘youths’ for many years. We have much less problems now the area is more open.

Covid-19 Pandemic - was itself a challenge to continue the work we were doing as a group, but it also showed how important it was to have outdoor community spaces that people could access.

Communication: Getting the message out that the Orchard is there. We’ve found that it’s really important to talk to people about the Orchard and the work that’s been done and will continue to be done.

Impact on the site and people

On the site the fruit trees are responding and producing blossom and fruit. Removal of dominant brambles and nettles have revealed a remarkably diverse ground flora. Although scrub is of course beneficial to some wildlife, the shift to a more varied habit means more birds are regularly using the site. The hedges are in a better condition, with dead limbs and leggy trees laid into a thicker boundary hedge, partially replacing the removed scrub habitat.


On people

The impact on people cannot be underestimated. Our volunteers have become more confident about talking to people about the site and the work they are doing and some of our volunteers have also taken on more leadership roles in the Group.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, people were able to access the site and it became a valued space for some of our volunteers which has helped our mental health and wellbeing. There is the benefit of socializing at the working parties – work but also tea and chatting.

Joining up on some local events and activities such as Open Gardens and the Scarecrow trail, has enabled volunteers to feel more connected to other Chinnor groups.

So back to highlight what we’ve achieved in the period from February 2018 to March 2024:

🌿Established an active management group with 10 dedicated regular volunteers
🌿2 working parties a month – over 60 equating to over 1,080 volunteer hours given!
🌿Heritage fruit trees found, mapped and managed
🌿Hedgerow brought into better management and replanted where needed
🌿Established a heritage fruit tree nursery
🌿Established active Story Group
🌿Established active Survey Group
🌿Established Archaeology Group
🌿Established community events
🌿Regular engagement with other groups and events
And more!

The Orchard in numbers to March 2024

🌿179 activities including working parties
🌿4049 total volunteer hours given
🌿369 trees and / or hedgerow plants planted
🌿£39,347 is the value of volunteer hours, calculated on the minimum wage of each year

These are jaw dropping sums for a small group.

The Orchard now – looking lush, fruitful and welcoming.




Future Plans

Our future plans are up to you. You are all part of the Community Orchard. What would you like to see? Some of the things we’d like are:

🌿Better and easier access to the Orchard from the village across the railway. We are in discussion with Mr Nixey who is very supportive and will need to speak to the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway
🌿Make more of the finds from the digs and find a means of showing the remains of the cottages in a way that will protect them
🌿Have more groups visit and use the Orchard
🌿Hold a varied programme of events such as ‘music in the Orchard’, and other such performances
🌿Add permanent signage once the DNA results are confirmed and we know what varieties of apples we have
🌿Reinvigorate the other hedges

Add more seating

and anything else we can think of.

Our thanks to all who have had an input into the project and to those who make use of the Orchard and especially our wonderful volunteers. Also to:

🌿Mr Derek Nixey
🌿Chinnor Parish Council
🌿Chiltern Conservation Board
🌿BBOWT
🌿Mid-Shires Orchard Group
🌿South Oxfordshire Archaeology Group

I started this article speaking about the trepidation I felt at the beginning of this project. 5-years on, I no longer worry whether we’re doing the right thing. Seeing people, including our volunteers gaining so much tranquillity and enjoyment from the space, seeing the abundant plants and hearing the wildlife, shows me that, to paraphrase an old saying, ‘from a small apple pip a great Orchard/space can grow’.

If you’d like to get involved in any of our activities, please feel free to contact me, or if you see us on a working party, pop in and have a chat and find out more about the site. We love talking to people. You never know, you might even be invited to join us for tea!

Linda Brawn – Chair, Greening Chinnor e: greeningchinnor@gmail.com w: www.greeningchinnor.blogspot.com

Photo credits: Christine Davis, Keith Webley, Carol Stewart, Alan Brawn, Linda Brawn, Claire Conway-Crapp

Links

BBOWT https://www.bbowt.org.uk/

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