Community orchard update '26 🍎

The community orchard at Whitlingham is growing stronger by the year. It has now been in the ground for two years (almost to the day) and some of the trees are now over 2.5 metres tall!

The blossom is almost with us!

These are still young trees, so they are focusing on growing stronger and broadening out a little before creating their fruit. That is why the orchard has not been opened to the public for any orchard events... as yet. There is chance there might be some fruits this year. We will have to see in due course.

Pride in Norfolk

Our orchard is full of Norfolk variety apple trees including Norfolk Royal, Horsford Prolific, Five Crowned Pippin, Golden Noble and Red Falstaff, as well as several other types from the county. We can't wait to taste the varieties when they produce apples and see how diverse they are.

The orchard is situated in a private area of the park, so won't be freely accessible for visitors, but once the trees are stronger and more developed, we'll open the orchard for special apple-related events. That way, you can enjoy the orchard too! Picking, tasting, juicing, maybe even cooking - so many exciting possibilities!

Huge thanks

The Bowthorpe-based business branch of Sinclair International have now supported us multiple times to make this orchard a reality. First, they funded the purchase of the apple trees to begin our orchard journey, and have since supported additional phases of the project. Now, this week, they have come along to help us with a springtime spruce-up in the March sunshine... well the sun made a short appearance!

We welcomed Melanie, Jenny and Laurence from Sinclair on Tuesday 17th March 2026 when they used company volunteering hours to spend with us in our orchard. They planted two apple trees to directly replace two that had been damaged beyond saving. They also mulched all the trees to keep moisture in and help keep weeds at bay. It was a pleasure to spend time with this excellent team and we all enjoyed being outdoors for the morning.

Melanie, Jenny and Laurence from the company Sinclair International.

Great thanks to you all. Your support and time is greatly appreciated by all of us at Whitlingham.

If you want to get involved in orchard events in future, be sure to regularly check our What's On and News pages to see what is going on at the park. New events and listings are added to both pages frequently!