Our focus for this maintenance morning will be tackling the invasive brambles and blackthorn, tidying the orchard as well as the many other autumn tasks. If you’d like to loin us or just find out more about the park and our work, we’d love to see you.

There are still apples to be picked, especially cider apples which tend to ripen later than the other varieties in the orchard. If you are feeling more adventurous, you could collect sloes and try your hand at making sloe gin. Some people say you shouldn’t pick sloes until after the first frost, others suggest putting them in the freezers for 24 hours.

There are plenty of rose hips too and I’m thinking about rose hip syrup this year. Rose hips are rich with vitamin C.