Reclaiming Eden, One Orchard at a Time

FAMILY ORCHARDS – NEW POSSIBILITIES

When I was growing up, I was fortunate to have not just one but two secret gardens. The first was from my earliest years. Near the centre of my hometown, Newark-on-Trent, in Nottinghamshire, there was a large walled enclosure owned by the Parish Church which contained about six gardens. We had one of them, bounded on one side by the high stone wall between the garden and the street, and on the other three sides by tall hedges. Inside the garden was an orchard, giving us apples, pears and damsons. We also had raspberries and gooseberries, a vegetable garden and flower beds. There was a revolving wooden summerhouse with a veranda that rotated on circular rails, so that it could be pushed round to face the sun. The garden was always full of butterflies and birdsong in the spring and summer. And unlike the garden around our house, this secret garden was remote from domestic concerns; it was another world, although it was only a five-minute walk away.

I spent many happy hours there with my father and brother, and later on my own. I could work in the garden, play, look at plants, watch birds, read, or daydream. But then the land was needed for a playing field for the church school. The wall and the gardens were replaced by mown grass, bounded by wire-mesh fences.

Soon afterwards, my great aunt died. She left us her house, which had a separate garden about 100 yards away, behind a high stone wall, and enclosed on the other three sides by fences and hedges. It was bigger than our previous garden, about half an acre, and had its own powerful magic. There was a well-established orchard, fruit bushes, a vegetable garden, flowerbeds, and a large lawn that we used for tennis and croquet. We moved the revolving summerhouse there. After our parents’ death, the house and garden were sold, and my brother and I hoped the buyer would continue to use it as a family garden. Instead, he sold it to a developer who built six houses there. Another secret garden was lost.

These might seem like purely personal memories from a vanished past, but a few years ago I realised that many people could have similar experiences if only it were possible to create family orchards. And there is no reason why it should not be possible.

In Britain, gardens of various sizes are usually attached to houses. In addition, many people have vegetable gardens at some distance from their house, in the form of allotments. But allotments are usually small, normally between 1/32 and 1/16 of an acre, or 1,350 to 2,700 square feet, or 125 to 250 square metres. They are also very functional, and not at all secret. It is almost impossible to find a larger piece of land for gardening, because urban land capable of being developed is too expensive, and farmland usually changes hands in units of tens or hundreds of acres. So if you want to buy or rent an orchard, you can’t.

But look at this situation from the point of view of a landowner. Imagine you own agricultural land near a town or city. Imagine you take just one acre and divide it into about five gardens, each about one fifth of an acre, about 8,000 square feet or 750 square metres. These would be large enough to contain an orchard, a vegetable garden, and grassy areas as well as flowerbeds. Such a garden could be, for example, a rough rectangular shape of 80 x 100 feet, or 25 x 30 metres. Such gardens could be surrounded by hedges, and laid out with access paths, a parking area for cars and bicycles, and maybe even a communal picnic area with a fire pit for barbecues.

How much would these family orchards cost? Now, in 2025, agricultural land in England sells for an average of £11,000 per acre. Imagine, for the purpose of argument, the value of this acre is even higher, say £15,000. When divided into five, the land-cost of each orchard would be about £3,000. Then add the cost of putting in the pathways and hedges, laying out communal areas and perhaps installing hand pumps or connections to a water supply—say about £3,000 per orchard. Thus, each of these five family orchards would have a cost price of around £6,000. How much could they be sold for? I would guess at least £15,000, and maybe much more, if there is a low supply and high demand. In other words, this project would probably be profitable financially and would not require grants or subsidies.

Farmers or landowners who already own land near towns might be reluctant to sell, but might instead want to rent or lease their orchards. How much might they fetch in rent? I would guess at least £50 a week each, or roughly £2,500 a year. Depending on supply and demand, rental values might be much higher. For comparison, average rental levels of arable agricultural land in England are currently about £150 per acre per year. An acre rented as five orchards would bring in at least £12,500 a year, over 80 times more.

Of course there would have to be legal provisions that enabled orchard-holders to restrain their neighbours from using the orchard as a residence, or as a scrapyard, or as a place to make loud noises. There could be an orchard-holders association with a joint share of common parts, like paths, parking areas, water supply and collective barbeque garden. In other words, the orchard complex could be run along the same lines as many blocks of flats or condominiums.

The orchard scheme should not raise major difficulties for planning permission because it does not involve building houses or structures for living in. Agricultural land would be turned into horticultural land, in both cases dedicated to the growing of plants.

Imagine what would happen if a trial scheme of just one acre proved a success. The demand for family orchards would increase rapidly. There would be a strong incentive to supply them. And many families would then have orchards where their children could play, where they could grow their fruit and vegetables and enjoy an oasis of peace. There would be far greater biodiversity, because orchards with hedges, fruit trees, flowerbeds, and vegetable gardens contain many more kinds of plants and animals than a monoculture of oilseed rape, or winter wheat, or grassland. All this is possible, feasible and desirable.

Although I have been thinking about this idea in a British context, with suitable adaptations it could be implemented in many other countries, and I hope it will be.