Food Plymouth’s Dig for Devonport Community Explorers initiative is one of nine community projects to win funding from the Great Western Railway (GWR) community improvement fund. This project is part of Food Plymouth’s work with our partners to improve food links between the city and the Tamar Valley. Community explorers will include seasonal events to explore the valley and its culinary treasures by train. Another aim is to highlight the distinctive and delicious Tamar Valley cherry varieties and to find places to plant such trees in Plymouth, especially near the city’s railway stations. The first event will be a blossom walk in May, followed by a visit to a cherry orchard, foraging walks, harvesting events and a wassail.
Community Explorers co-ordinator Tess Wlmot commented: “I am really excited at the potential of this project. It will help Plymouth residents to discover how accessible the Tamar Valley is by train and connect them with the seasonal produce there. We can bring some of this abundance back to Plymouth through purchasing food at local markets, foraging, skill sharing and planting some of the wonderful local Tamar Valley cherry varieties in the city.”
http://foodplymouth.org/dig-for-devonport-community-explorers/
On Friday 28th June [2019] the Community Explorers visited Denham Orchard via Bere Alston. Our host, Matt Pontin, led us along footpaths through fields being baled for silage, across pastures of grazing cattle and past fruitful orchards. At Denham Orchard we were welcomed by our other host, Jeremy Johnston. We enjoyed tea in one of the old packing houses while we learned about the horticultural heritage of the valley and the new plans emerging for this interesting piece of land. We then explored the site. After lunch everyone helped harvesting soft fruit and gave the orchard some TLC. We then had to hotfoot it back to Bere Alston to catch the Tamar Valley train back to Plymouth!
On Sunday 7th July Mary Martin and James Evans welcomed us to their very special cherry orchard near Cotehele. Mary and James have spent years collecting and growing the local varieties of cherries which thrive in the climate of Devon and Cornwall. One of the aims of the Community Explorers project is to plant these Tamar Valley cherry tree varieties in Plymouth. Therefore, tasting the cherries was an essential part of the day! Tom Buckley from the Edible Whitleigh was particularly impressed and taken by the idea of planting some of these cherries in Whitleigh itself.
https://foodplymouth.org/dig-for-devonport-community-explorers-update/
