The Orchards
Waterperry Gardens came to fame as a horticultural school for ladies back in the days of Beatrix Havergal who ran her famous school of horticulture for ladies until 1972, but so many people who visit its grounds don’t realise it has five acres of productive orchards besides. Some 60 apple varieties grow under the watchful eye of Chris Lanczak, our fruit consultant who trained under Miss Havergal and has worked at Waterperry for more than fifty years, who now advises our new fruit manager, Sam Hughes and his small team. Sam and his team preserve the heritage of rare varieties like Ashmead’s Kernel, Orleans Reinette, and Egremont Russet, while favourites like Cox’s Orange Pippin and Bramley, are sold along with seasonal plums, greengages, and rare pear varieties. From August through to February, when the last of the best keepers are put out, you can buy different varieties of Waterperry apples at the garden shop.
Apple juice is available all year round from the Waterperry Tea Shop, Waterperry’s Garden Shop, online, and from several other retail outlets.
Waterperry apples are grown, harvested, and juiced onsite using time-honoured methods, which means our fruit and juices are low on food miles and high on taste. Plums and pears are also available in season along with bare root Waterperry fruit trees from the end of November to late March. We grow 3 different varieties of plum: Marjories Seedling, Victoria and Opal and 7 varieties of pear: Comice, Conference, Buerre Hardy, Williams, Gorham, Glou Morceau and Merton Pride as well as Greengages and Damsons.
Apple weekend, 12 & 13 October 2024, is one of the longest running events in Waterperry’s annual calendar. A great family day out where you will be able to sample and buy many of our different types of juices. Advice and information on growing, planting, apple identification (this weekend only) and selecting trees and rootstock will be freely available on the day. Buy goodies at the craft and food fair, take a tour of the orchards & fruit sheds including a behind-the-scenes visit to see our apple press in action. And when it comes to the festive time of year, visit us for your Waterperry grown Christmas tree – all grown by Sam and available at very competitive rates.
Integrated Pest Management. The Orchard team constantly monitor disease and pests amongst the fruit crops, only spraying when it is needed. There are only certain control measures that can be used which break down in the environment. The control measures they use are very specific to what they control and will only target and kill specific species. Integrated Pest Management is seen as sensible farming.
