An imagined future for Icklesham’s old orchards
There are a number of old orchards around Icklesham that have lain unloved for many decades.
Our public footpaths guide us through acres of orchards choked in brambles. The apples within arms reach travel home in villagers pockets and we watch the rest slowly rot and fall, year after year.
I sympathise with the landowners - over the last century, British orchards have become increasingly difficult to make commercially viable. Today, England has lost around 63% of its orchards since 1950.
When an orchard is no longer cared for, we lose more than a productive piece of land. Locally grown food disappears. Employment opportunities and traditional knowledge and skills such as pruning, grafting, and harvesting are lost. Important habitat declines and when orchards are completely grubbed, the soil is less protected from erosion.
Since living here, it has become clear to me that many other villagers feel the same way as I do. There is a collective sense that these orchards are important.
I’m a local artist and horticulturalist and I believe that meaningful change starts with someone simply asking, could we do better than this?
Looking further afield, the National Collection of Sussex apple varieties at Stanmer Park highlights how important apples are to the county. The collection forms a 'living library' of information that can be studied by researchers, horticulturalists and historians.
Furthermore, government support for orchards in England is substantial, delivered primarily through Defra’s Capital Grants framework.
These initiatives demonstrate that orchards are recognised not simply as agricultural land, but as valuable environmental, cultural and heritage assets - and that there is an ongoing need to protect, restore and create them. Traditional orchards are listed as Priority Habitat (habitats of principal importance for biodiversity conservation).
I have initiated contact with landowners and I want to explore whether we could bring part of an existing plot back into use as a community orchard, cared for by the people of Rother via a Community Benefit Society (CBS). If all avenues with landowners are exhausted then the CBS would seek to find suitable land to create a new orchard - however with such vast acreage no longer being actively managed, restoring an existing orchard would remain the primary objective.
I have also been in contact with The Orchard Project, a charity specialising in restoring veteran orchards across the UK. They have expressed their enthusiasm for bringing an existing orchard in the Icklesham area back into use. Their experience and guidance could provide valuable support as the project develops.
For now, I want you to think forward five years to an imagined future. In it we have a shared community orchard, managed through the CBS, with local people involved in its care and development. Alongside maintaining trees, managing wildlife habitat and harvesting fruit, the orchard is a place where people come together, learn practical skills and take part in seasonal activities. It provides meaningful volunteering and training opportunities and has created more space for young people and schools to engage with nature and food growing. The orchard strengthens local food networks by sharing surplus fruit to community food projects and its yield extends beyond the fruit it produces, creating wider social, environmental and cultural value for the community.
Next, I want you to imagine how you might fit into this picture.
This survey is to gauge local interest and find out how people might be able to support it.
You don't need to live in Icklesham or have any previous experience to get involved.
The project is at an early stage, and completing this survey does not commit you to volunteering. It will simply help establish whether there is enough local interest and practical support to take the idea forward.
Thank you so much for completing the survey, it should take under 10 minutes to finish!
