Orchard Dedication at Charleston


Nice event at Charleston Farmhouse to mark the opening of a new apple tree orchard for those of us who had given money towards it.

This had been a long time coming as it was one of the Centenary projects however various very Charleston misfortunes had scuppered previous versions of it such as the cows in the nearby field eating the initial hedge that was put it! The new version is a an oak tree and line of Sussex apple trees along the edge of the carpark. As the gardener said it’s a long thin orchard.

We had a nice ceremony at the trees where Virginia Nicholson, granddaughter of Vanessa Bell and President of the Charleston Trust, unveiled a plaque with the donor’s names on and gave a lovely speech on apples in Bloomsbury legend. A group of us who get tickets to all events in the literature festival had clubbed together to dedicate a tree to one of our number who died a few years ago, Patrick, so it was also lovely to see his oak tree with a nice dedication on it. I’m hoping we can gather round it with a bottle of fizz during next year’s festival!

As well as lovely refreshments we also had two talks. Peter May talked about Sussex apples and had a lovely array of examples set out on a Bloomsbury textile. Fiona Dennis, Head Gardner at Charleston, talked about changes she had made in the grounds and her plans for the future. She is aiming to display the garden as it would have been in the 1930s.

Anyway next time you are at Charleston don’t forget to walk to the edge of the car park and take a look at our trees and spot yours truly on the list of donors.

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