Core blimey – Apples from railway orchard are celebrated in Oswestry festival
Apples grown on an orchard planted on land donated by a railway were being celebrated in a border town on Saturday.
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Apple day in Oswestry sees market stall holders sell a selection of apples grown by CROP - Cambrian Rail Orchard Project.
Each year since the orchard was planted, CROP hold its market day at the Bailey Head, where stall holders sell the fruits to peckish customers who fancied a juicy treat.
The day saw apple experts providing pressing demonstrations and giving advice, along with as apples and other fruits grown on the land is celebrated.
It has been an annual event at the market for the last eight years, and is all down to the hard work of Crop volunteers.
The one-acre orchard is located between the railway line and Gobowen Road B5069, an arterial route passing Oswestry’s Iron Age Hill Fort.
The project has received recognition from the Oswestry and District Civic Society, who gave Crop the 2012 Mary Hignett Environment Award, and the Shropshire Wildlife Trust (Oswestry Branch). ‘Oswestry in Bloom’ gave Crop the Outstanding Work by Young Persons award in 2013, plus Best Community Project in both 2014 and 2015, and a gold standard award in 2016. In 2015 the project also received the Chairman’s Award for the Heart of England Britain in Bloom/RHS Scheme and were nominated as an Environmental Champion in the Shropshire Star Pride in Shropshire awards.
Volunteer Ronanni Spreafico said Cambrian Rail donated the land in 2012, and apples along with other organic fruits have been grown there ever since.
She said: “The land is the railway's but we have use of the it and have been there since 2012 when it cleared, and planted it from scratch it two stages.”
She said the orchard looked after by around ten volunteers, but they are always on the hunt for more.
Anybody with time to help is encouraged to visit the group's Instagram page
