March 2025

Wassail 

It was fantastic to see so many members of our local community gather at the British Legion on 19 January to attend the Limpsfield Community Orchard’s annual Wassail. Wassail masters, James Reeves and Stephen Rapoport, kicked off the event by taking us on a journey through time, exploring the origins and evolution of the word “wassail”. It is believed to have started with the Vikings, the Old Norse “vess heill” meaning “be in good health”. It later evolved to mean the drink itself - a warm, spiced alcoholic drink - used in Twelfth night and Christmas Eve celebrations. 

Fast forward to 2025 and we’re gathered in the British Legion, sporting all sorts of bright and colourful torches, and noise makers. The rhythmic beats of the North Downs Drummers led attendees through the woodland to the Orchard, the path itself adorned with multicoloured glow sticks to mark the way. It’s not long before bonfire gets going and the carefully crafted woodpile is emitting the warmth and light. Our wassail masters continue with proceedings and it’s not long before we’re joining in song around the decorated King Tree with our cups of mulled cider and apple juice. 

North Downs Drummers

Wassail Masters and the North Downs Drummers

The sounds and sights of the wassail resemble an alarm clock of sorts, as we step into another year, emerging from the depths of winter just a few weeks after the winter solstice.

Bonfire

This event is put on for the community by the community and it’s thanks to many individuals and groups that we’re able to put on this free event. A big thank you goes out to our wonderful volunteers who work all year round to maintain the Orchard, wassail masters James Reeves and Stephen Rapoport, bonfire expert Ian Green, first aider Gary Rapson, photographer Bob Matthews and marshals from Titsey Rotary Club. 

Wishing you all a fruitful year! 

January 2025

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful festive season and end to 2024. We bring you a long overdue update from the Orchard.  

Winter Maintenance

Our volunteers have been hard at work this winter to ensure the Orchard remains a pleasant and safe space for our community and the wildlife to enjoy. Please get in touch if you would like to get involved and join us at our works party. 

Top Step, Top Job! 
If you arrive at the Orchard via the woods from Grub Street (which forms part of our trail to the Orchard from Limpsfield) you will see the top step leading up to the Orchard has been replaced. 

New Owl Box
Our new owl box that we bought from The Woodhouse Centre in Oxted is now up and secured! It's positioned fairly high up on one of the pine trees next to the bug house and a new dead hedge is being created around the tree base. 

Tree Maintenance
Tree surgery to cut back our fabulous copper beech as part of general maintenance took place in December. A birch had partially fallen near the compost area. It will be dealt with before the wassail but please avoid this area as a precaution until then. 

Planting and general maintenance
New bulbs have been planted and wood chippings have been scattered on the muddy paths to aid movement around the Orchard. Maintenance continues with winter pruning, weeding, compost turning and emptying the bird boxes.

Wassail 2025
Reminder about out upcoming Wassail at the Orchard on Sunday 19 January 2025. Please see our previous post for details. We hope you will be able to join us! 

Save the date - Wassail 2025

LIMPSFIELD COMMUNITY ORCHARD WASSAIL 

Sunday 19^th January 2025

• From 4.30pm - Assemble inside Limpsfield British Legion
• 5.30pm - Torchlit procession through the woods to the Orchard where we offer cider, toast and salt to the King Tree to ensure a good harvest. 
• Bring a torch and a mug, also rattles, drums, whistles, tins; anything to make a loud noise & ward off bad spirits. 
• Wear footwear suitable for walking through muddy woods. Warm & waterproof clothing - the more colourful, the better. 
• Mulled cider & apple juice around the bonfire & a singalong.

Everyone is welcome. This is a family-friendly event. 

Limited parking. Please only bring a car if necessary. 

Donations very welcome to help us cover our costs. 

Tasting Day 2024 Round Up

A downpour was forecast for our Annual Tasting Day but after some deliberation, we decided to proceed with the event and hope for the best. Luck favoured the bold as the rain held off until after we'd packed up! 

It was so lovely to see so many people from the community come together to enjoy the Orchard space and see the great work our lovely volunteers have done to keep the Orchard looking tip-top. It's been a bit of a sparse year for fruit at the Orchard so we were fortunate that Friends of the Orchard answered our call for apples from the local area to help provide content for tasting. Attendees enjoyed sampling the different apples on offer and comparing the tastes, texture and smells of each variety.

A selection of homemade apple cakes went down a treat, and children took part in the treasure hunt around the Orchard. 

Thanks to everyone who attended!  

2024 Tasting Day & Picnic

Tasting Day & Picnic

Sunday 22nd September 2024

2.30pm - 4.30pm

This year we're hosting a picnic alongside our annual Tasting Day. Come and join us to taste this year's crop, see how the trees are doing and join in with the children's treasure hunt. 

Why not visit us via the Orchard Trail, which starts at St Peter's Churchyard? We welcome you to enjoy some time down at the Orchard and look forward to seeing you there. 

June 2024 Update

 

Due to unforeseen circumstances we have decided to postpone the summer picnic we had planned for the 23rd June 2024. We were really looking forward to this and are sorry to disappoint those who were planning to attend. A new date will be sent out once we've been able to reschedule so please look out for future LCO newsletters. 

This month we completed our first biodiversity audit of the flora found at the Orchard. The survey recorded twenty-eight varieties of flowers and eight varieties of grasses! We've listed the results from the audit and a few photos below. Have you been to the Orchard recently and if so, have you spotted any that we might have missed?

Wood avens/Herb bennet (Geum urbanum) Small balsam (Impatiens parvaflora) Blackberry/bramble (Rubus fruticosus) Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens) Meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris) Red Campion (Silene dioica) White clover (Trifolium repens) Common cornsalad (Valeriana locusta) Long-stalked Cranesbill (Geranium columbinum) Ox-eye daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) Dog rose (Rosa caninus) Eyebright (Euphrasia) Forget-me-not (Myosotis arvensis) Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum)

Hogweed (Heracleum sibiricum) Garlic mustard/ Jack-in-the-hedge (Allaria petiolata) Elder (Sambucus nigra) Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) Sticky jack/common cleavers (Galium aparine) Lesser stitchwort (Stellaria graminea) Common sorrel (Rumex acitosa) Creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense) Germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) Birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) Vervain (Verbena officinalis) Broad-leaved willow herb (Epilobium montanum) Common male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas)

Crested Dog’s Tail Fescue Meadow grass, smooth Perennial Rye-grass

Sedge or rush Sweet Vernal Timothy Yorkshire Fog

Spring Clean

Our volunteers have been busy at our working parties keeping the Orchard in good condition and what better way to be rewarded than to see the pear blossom out! There is still a couple of weeks before the apple blossom arrives. We won't be having a special event for blossom viewing this year but would encourage you to take a few visits over the coming weeks to see the Orchard transform into something quite magical. 

Bring along your picnic blankets and baskets to our summer picnic on the 23rd June. It'll be a great opportunity to enjoy time in the Orchard with other Orchard Friends and members of the local community. Here's hoping for a dry and sunny day! 

Unfortunately one of our bird boxes was vandalised, which will now need to be taken down but we've bought three new bird boxes and an owl box from the good folk at The Woodhouse Centre in Oxted. We're pleased to support such a great enterprise that offers so much to our community and would encourage you to check them out. 

New Gate Sign Post

Our lovely new gate (pictured above) situated by Westerham Road has improved accessibility to the Orchard making it easier to use. All that's left is to adorn it with a new gate sign post, which will be coming soon.

Get Involved

As you may know, our Orchard relies on your generous donations, be that time, money or both. We're grateful to each and every one of you that helps make this Orchard exist for the benefit of our community. We're always on the lookout for volunteers and as the weather starts to improve, you might consider volunteering with us at our working parties that are held on the first Wednesday of the month at 9.30am. It's great opportunity to get outdoors, socialise and learn more about the Orchard. 

We're also on the lookout for a volunteer(s) to help organise our next Wassail. It's a great event for the Orchard and well attended by the community. If you would like to volunteer in any way, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via email or our Facebook Page. 

Best wishes from the Limpsfield Community Orchard Team