Show Your Support For Hyde Park Community Orchard!

Regular readers of my blog will know I'm lucky enough to be local to this lovely park in Tameside and that the squirrels who call the park home inspired me to bake my gingerbread squirrels. Adjacent to the cafe in Hyde Park is the community orchard, which was created through funding from the Connecting Communities Fund, supported by Councillor Philip Fitzpatrick. 

More recently, Operation Farm, a local food growing project secured funding from Groundwork UK and Big Lottery Fund’s Community Spaces programme to improve the orchard as a place for local people to enjoy. The orchard contains 44 fruit trees planted by children from local primary schools and students from Tameside College. Types of fruit grown in the orchard include pear, apple, plum, damson and cherry. Honey is also produced from a nearby beehive in the park. 

The park is a beautiful place to spend an Autumn afternoon, especially with little ones. There's a nature-inspired artwork trail, an intricate mosaic laid by local primary school children and designed by local artist Jacqui Symons, which depicts the fruit varieties grown in the orchard. There's also a wildflower meadow, a children's playground, a cafe run by the Operation Farm team and an impressive sculpture of a squirrel carved from a tree in the park by Preston based artist Thompson Dagnall. 

Photo credit: http://hydedaily.blogspot.co.uk/

However this Sunday -  21st October 2012 is going to be particularly exciting in the park! To celebrate Apple Day, there will be a whole host of exciting activities to mark the occasion and to raise awareness of our precious local resource. Check out the poster for the event above and come along to show your support! 

There are other ways to get involved and show your support for the orchard though - you could become a Friend of Hyde Park Orchard by joining the Facebook community group page here. 

http://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfHydeParkOrchardTameside

You could also subscribe to the Hyde Park Community Orchard newsletter, find out how to help the orchard grow into the future and more about the friendly Operation Farm gang at their blog here!

http://operationfarm.wordpress.com/

The orchard has been created for everyone to visit, learn from and cherish and I can't wait to pick my own fruit to make Becky BakesWell goodies with! Pack a picnic and celebrate with us! 

Becky BakesWell  x