It's a tasty time at the orchard (From Gazette Series)

It's a tasty time at the orchard

BIRD songs and apple tasting were just two of the highlights of a special event for visually impaired people at a Cam orchard this week.

Stroud Valleys Project led a guided walk around Holywell Orchard with local bird expert Ray Sherman on Wednesday, to reveal the birds and other wildlife living in the orchard with participants learning about the orchard's history. The visit also included a tasting session of a variety of Gloucestershire apples to appreciate just a few of the hundreds of apples that used to be grown in the county.

The visit was arranged following a number of successful pilot events and a special four-week natural history course run last year, which enable visually impaired people to visit some of the important wildlife sites around the district.

The aim of Wednesday's event was to contradict the belief that having a visual impairment prevents people from taking an interest in nature and being able to experience some of it first hand.

Old maps from 1880 show that Holywell Orchard was a fully-fledged and working orchard and memories from local residents suggest that it remained an orchard until the 1960s.

The orchard fell into disrepair and now there are only four of the original orchard trees still growing there.

Stroud Valleys Project and landowners Stroud District Council are now working with local residents to restore the site to its former glory and already over 25 new apple and pear trees of traditional Gloucestershire varieties have been planted including Gloucester Royal, a type of apple bred in Dursley.

Deb Coleman, from the Stroud Valleys Project, said: "The visit was just one of many events organised by the Stroud Valleys Project in a major project to help disadvantaged and social excluded people play a part in caring for the environment."