Orchard Outlook

26/12/2025

Happy Christmas to our woody neighbours!

Over the last year I’ve been putting together a cider making video blog showing what we’ve been doing with all the apples that we’ve harvested. It started in Autumn 2024 and quite literally is a year in the making.

If you’d like to watch it you can do so via the link below

This video is quite literally a year in the making. Join me in the woods for something a little different as I take a breather from delivering historic exper...

31/03/2025

As spring starts to appear it’s a great opportunity to collect some birch sap. It’s quite easy to do, there are a few methods but to avoid causing permanent damage to the trees I went with the least invasive option. You start with making a straw from some of the coppiced hazel and then slice into the bark of the birch tree with a sharp knife. Insert the hazel under the bark and the sap will then run down the hazel and into a container. You can drink the sap straight from the tree as the Vikings once did to celebrate the changing of seasons. It’s quite refreshing with a slight sweetness. Or you can simmer it over heat and reduce down to a syrup in the same way that Maple Syrup is made.

This is the result of reducing nearly 1 litre of sap, less than a shot glass of syrup! It has quite a unique taste, quite sweet at first with quite a bitter after. It’s hard to explain, it tastes like silver birch which is strange because I’ve never tasted it before 😂

02/03/2025

Today I found the random half of a coconut husk on the ground. Spring is definitely here, clearly the swallows are returning.

03/11/2024

Isn’t nature beautiful?

29/10/2024

Poorly aged things. Turned out not to be a good year for apples!

It’s going to be a good year for apples!

27/10/2024

Busy time in the orchard, mostly thanks to Adam dropping off crushed apples for everyone to enjoy

27/10/2024

We were around a lot in the summer, so there wasn’t much wildlife activity, but some of it was quite fun!

22/10/2024

Pressing some apples for the nicest apple juice you’ve ever tasted. It’ll be even nicer next year when it’s finished fermenting and has aged!

27/08/2024

It’s going to be a good year for apples!

20/05/2024

After a couple of winters of lots of clearance and now some grass cutting around the trees, it’s starting to look like an orchard!

08/04/2024

Spring is finally springing! It’s starting to feel like an orchard again

25/03/2024

It’s the first time our little pear tree has properly flowered since we planted it! Hopefully we will get some fruit this year