The Gardening Club is involved in a number of projects which are of great importance to the role of the Club in its community. The Club does not exist exclusively for the benefit of members, but for the benefit of the whole community. We have a trading operation which will, we hope, be able to donate to other local good causes as well as raise money for the Gardening Club’s funds.
In addition all the activities and trips are open to non members; we welcome guests at our monthly meetings and we offer support to good causes in many aspects of village life from care groups and luncheon clubs to Bishop’s Waltham in Bloom and the Carnival and Show held annually in June.
We hope that in these ways we are able to put Bishop’s Waltham Gardening Club at the heart of its community.
The area at the beginning of the station roundabout footpath is maintained by the Gardening Club and is now called the Butterfly Garden.
During November 2015 a community orchard at Priory Meadow was planted for use by all the residents of Bishops Waltham. This was an idea that was put to the trustees during the summer of 2014 . Since then a lot of time, effort and patience has been spent to find a viable site in the parish, to choose and source suitable varieties, and think through the project in a logical way so that the planting and protecting of the fruit trees was all achievable in the time available. The orchard was originally planted with 25 trees. Unfortunately a considerable number of the trees struggled with the extremely wet conditions of the first winter and have died. We are planning a gradual replacement programme and experimenting with mounded planting.
To access the orchard, please walk, cycle or drive to the car park off Elizabeth Way (SO32 1SQ), then walk past the Priory Park Clubhouse and the football pitches. Priory Meadow is the field below the bottom football pitch. There is no access to Priory Meadow for vehicles without permission from the Parish Council.
Full details of the fruit trees are listed below. The live trees are listed in blue (checked March 2024).
For a plan of the orchard please click here.
There is more detailed description of the community orchard planting day(s) available here
Apples Old Hampshire Varieties Howgate Wonder (cooker) Hambledon Deus Ans (dual purpose; eater and cooker) Modern Hampshire Varieties Ernie’s Russet (eater) Regular Varieties Bramley (cooker) Discovery (eater) Pinova (eater) Scrumptious (eater)
Crab Apples/Malus Red Sentinel Neville Copeman Golden Hornet Pears Buerre Hardy (eater) Concord (eater) Beth (eater) Damsons Merryweather
Gages Dennisons Superb – Quince Vranja Mulberry St James
Please click here for a factsheet on all the fruit varieties at the community orchard.