Carhampton Community Orchard’s friends and supporters came together on Saturday for a socially-distanced, Covid-safe midsummer picnic.

Covid regulations prevented folk-dancing on the grass, a key feature of the picnic in previous years. But everyone enjoyed the opportunity to meet and chat with friends and relatives in a safe and serene environment – in spite of its location next to Carhampton’s busy through-road, the orchard remains a haven of tranquility, playing a vital part in contributing to the well-being of locals and passers-by, and to the local environment.

Maintained without the use of chemicals by a team of volunteers, the orchard preserves the gene pool of more than 35 traditional apple varieties, as well as plums, pears and medlars.

It is also home to birds, bats, frogs, slow worms, small mammals - including a family of hedgehogs - butterflies and moths, and a host of bugs, beetles and other invertebrates.

And it plays an important role in creating cleaner air and a more sustainable environment. Although the orchard covers less than 1.5 acres, it absorbs between 15 and 30 tonnes of harmful carbon dioxide every year, and releases more than 20 tonnes of beneficial oxygen.

The importance of traditional orchards is becoming increasingly widely recognised, and Carhampton Orchard’s management team has been giving advice over the past months to other groups wanting to set up their own community orchards, not only in the local vicinity but as far afield as Nottinghamshire and County Durham.

The next event in the orchard is the annual Butterflies ‘n’ Bugs afternoon, a celebration of wildlife for all ages, on Saturday, July 31, from 2-4.30pm. For more information, or to be added to the Orchard Friends list, email Elizabeth Atkinson at [email protected] or phone 01643 821756.

More pictures in this week’s Free Press (July 2).