The Community Orchard
Having found some veteran apple trees, still producing fruit, in a derelict stretch of land we were inspired to clear the adjacent area to create a community orchard. We have planted fruit trees and soft fruit bushes and are continuing to develop the orchard further. For more detail on this ongoing project, click here.
We are holding an Orchard Open Morning from 10 am to 12 noon on Saturday 6th June 2026,
where you can see how the orchard is progressing and find out more about healing plants.:
Herbs and Healing Plants
We have started a ‘Herbs and Healing Plants’ project, with the help of Sue Pitt a local medicinal
herbalist. We are currently learning about the traditional and current uses of the most important
plants and we hope to grow some of these on various sites in the orchard. Some may find a home
in the rest of the park too.
Replacing the Three Bears and other sculptures in the Maze Garden.
Many people remember the three bears which stood adjacent to the children’s maze. We believe
that Fretwell Downing paid towards the creation of this children’s area. The bears, and other
animals including a sheep and a dog, were made of wood. Sadly they have rotted away, so we
resolved to replace them. The bears have now been replaced and suggestions for other sculptures are welcome.
The three bears
The Tree Survey
Whirlow Brook Park has many veteran and/or unusual trees. Most were planted shortly after the house was built in 1908, making them over a hundred years old. They are an important part of the landscape and are often cited as the main reason why people visit the park.
We have identified up to fifty of them which form our Tree Trail. Others have yet to be identified.
English Oak on the Tree Trail
We want to look after all the trees in the park, and to do this we decided to survey the site, selecting the most interesting trees and plotting each tree, recording its genus, age and condition. Some trees might benefit from a little light pruning. SCC’s resources do not stretch beyond surveying the trees every five years for health and safety purposes. We attracted sufficient funding for an initial survey of about 280 trees. We have a provisional report to be finalised later in the spring when we will consider the next steps. We continue to look to our supporters for help.
People can help by making a donation or maybe by sponsoring a particular tree. Donations of £100 plus will enable the donor to have a permanent entry in our online Book of Remembrance paying tribute to a loved one.