Orchards in Avalon

There are 2741 traditional orchards in Somerset covering an area of 1687.8 hectares.

Traditional orchards are groups of fruit and nut trees planted on vigorous rootstocks at low densities in permanent grassland managed in a low intensity way. These man-made habitats are long-established and widely distributed and are a distinctive feature of the British countryside. Prime traditional orchard habitat consists of grazed grassland with fruit trees of varying age structure, with an abundance of standing and fallen dead and decaying wood. Traditional orchards differ from intensive orchards which are managed to maximise fruit production, usually including aspects of dense planting of shortlived trees on dwarfing rootstocks, high chemical inputs, intensive pruning to remove dead and decaying wood and maintain the trees in a restricted form, and frequent mowing and spraying of the orchard floor.