Wortley Hall: How a group of volunteers have taken on the walled kitchen garden at a Yorkshire stately home famous for its fruit trees

For the volunteers who had tended the fruit and vegetable crops and run courses for the community, the potential loss of productivity for a site that had been under-used grassland before the charity’s restoration efforts 20 years ago was disastrous – and they resolved to take on Wortley Hall Walled Garden themselves.

The new community group’s members are now marking their first autumn and inaugural Apple Day at a garden renowned for its orchards and rare varieties of fruit. In the spirit of Wortley Hall’s ethos – the stately home has been owned by the trade union movement since 1950, when the Lords Wharncliffe sold up with their gardens in a state of neglect following the end of World War Two – the volunteers donate produce to local food banks and primary schools.

Visitors to the Apple Day event on Sunday October 15 (11am-3pm) can sample several varieties of apple, make apple juice, buy fresh fruit and explore the orchards. They can even bring their own produce for juicing.

The kitchen gardens, which were supplying exotic fruit and vegetables to the estate, then owned by the Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie family, by the early 19th century,

are home to 40 different types of apple, including varieties specific to Yorkshire, and the range is far wider than that available in shops. There are also pear trees that are more than a century old. Two Belgian specimens are the only examples of their kind to be found in the north of England.

The Wortley Hall Garden Growers are continuing to supply the house’s wedding and events catering team with produce, sharing the surplus between social projects, local businesses and the public.

Head gardener Bridget Lewis said: “We are looking forward to the first Apple Day since we took on the running of the garden. Through the summer we have welcomed

many first time as well as regular visitors to the garden and everyone is amazed by what they find inside the walls.

“Apples from this year’s harvest have also been donated to local food projects, including community fridges and pantries. The choice of apples available to shoppers is usually very limited, though there over 2,500 native apple varieties in the UK out of the 7,000 that exist worldwide and the differences in shape, colouring, taste and texture will be a revelation to many.

“New volunteers at the walled garden are very welcome, regardless of gardening experience or lack of it. It is a friendly and beautiful place to spend time and volunteers get to take home a share of produce for free.”