The forgotten Orchards of Somerset
Posted September 15, 2025Hidden among the lanes of Stembridge and Kingsbury Episcopi are orchards that many have forgotten. Step beneath their low branches and you’ll find a world of birdsong, fruit, and stories rooted deep in Somerset’s past. Walk them with a cider maker like Tim Gray, and the old ways of the orchard begin to stir back to life.
A Canopy of Apples in Stembridge and Kingsbury Episcopi
Step into the orchards of Stembridge and Kingsbury Episcopi, and the world softens. It’s quiet here, though not silent, bird song threads the air, while low branches hang heavy with fruit. These trees aren’t grand or towering, but small, almost sheltering, so that you feel wrapped in a canopy of apples. Along the hedges, autumn reveals itself in sloes, blackberries, and rosehips, a tangle of abundance waiting to be noticed.
Overgrown Orchards Full of Life and Fruit
The orchards stretch and fold into each other, no hills to mark their edges, just endless rows where it’s easy to lose yourself. The grasses are cut, but the trees remain untamed, some strung with mistletoe, others weighed down by harvest. Wander long enough and you’ll notice how one orchard blurs into the next, each tree carrying its own quiet story. The air feels heavy with fruit and history, a place where time seems to slow. Overgrown, yes, but alive with the past, and all the more magical for it.
Walking the Orchards with Tim Gray of Parrett Cider
It helps to walk them with someone like Tim Gray of Parrett Cider. Tim is steeped in these old ways, carrying the knowledge of orchard not just as a cider maker, but as a custodian of something deeper. He speaks of apple varieties that once belonged to villages, trees that seeded whole families of fruit, and trees dating back to the 1800s. He is close friends with Liz Copas, one of the country’s great apple experts, and together their knowledge keeps the stories alive, because once an apple variety is lost, it is gone for good.
Forgotten Apple Varieties and Somerset’s Heritage
Walking with Tim feels less like a history lesson and more like stepping into memory. These orchards aren’t simply about pressing cider. They’re about belonging, heritage, and the quiet reminder that the land holds more stories than we’ll ever know. There’s a sense of importance in seeing these tree, not just for nostalgia, but for cultural relevance. They shaped Somerset’s past, and to forget them would be to lose part of ourselves.
How to Explore Somerset’s Hidden Orchards
If you’d like to explore, the orchards around Stembridge and Kingsbury Episcopi are open to wanderers. You might start with a walk along the Parrett Trail (there’s a lovely mapped route here: Ramblers Kingsbury Episcopi Trail). Or visit Tim at Parrett Cider, stop in at Burrow Hill where Matilda Temperley continues her family’s cider-making story, or dive into the words of Liz Copas and James Crowden for a taste of orchard history in print.
Why Somerset’s Old Orchards Still Matter
The hidden orchards of Somerset are still here. Overgrown, yes. A little forgotten, perhaps. Yet step inside and you’ll find they are as full of life as ever, rooted in the soil and in Somerset’s soul. These trees carry more than apples, they hold memory, tradition, and the quiet story of a landscape that once revolved around the harvest. To walk among them is to connect with something timeless, a reminder that our countryside is shaped as much by the past as the present. Protecting them isn’t just about cider or fruit; it’s about keeping alive a part of Somerset’s identity for generations to come.
5 Reasons to Visit an Orchard in Somerset
1. Step Into Living History
Somerset’s orchards are time capsules of rural life. Some trees date back hundreds of years, carrying varieties that shaped the county’s cider and farming traditions. Walking through them is like stepping into the past.
2. Discover Forgotten Apple Varieties
Every orchard holds apples you won’t find in supermarkets, varieties tied to villages, cider blends, and stories passed down through generations. Once lost, they can never be brought back.
3. Soak Up Somerset’s Landscape
Set among hedges full of sloes, blackberries and rosehips, orchards offer more than apples. They’re part of the Levels’ patchwork landscape, with quiet lanes, birdsong, and a canopy of fruit overhead.
4. Meet the Makers Who Keep Traditions Alive
From passionate cider makers like Tim Gray at Parrett Cider to families at Burrow Hill, these orchards are tended by people devoted to preserving Somerset’s orchard culture and craft.
5. Taste Somerset at Its Source
Whether it’s sipping a glass of cider, picking your own apples, or simply biting into fruit fresh from the tree, orchards connect you directly to the flavours of Somerset’s countryside.