The Stoneleigh community orchard bringing locals together with its cider
Tucked away on a meadow running alongside the River Sowe in Stoneleigh is a community project which has been bringing locals together for over a decade.
Now managed by a community interest company (CIC), Stoneleigh Orchard is run and cared for by a dedicated group of locals, who now plough the profits from the cider they produce back into the local area.
The project dates back to 2011 when now group chairman Pete Freeman was approached by the Meadow Society - which owns the land - to find a new purpose for the three acre plot.
"The society approached me saying they had this land which was used for dog walking, and asked if there was anything I wanted to do with it," he told Nub News.
"I had an idea - having spent some time in the West Country - to use some of the land as a cider orchard.
"We then managed to source some funding from the Leader organisation; we got around £4,000 to buy the trees.
"We wanted to make sure the land could fund itself and I loved the idea of creating a Warwickshire cider.
"A lot of the time people have these great ideas but it has to be funded somehow, things don't pay for themselves.
"You can't just rely on people contributing the odd tenner here and there; it needs to have a real structure and be sustainable."
The first 31 cider apple trees were planted on 3 December 2011.
A mixture of varieties were planted, mostly West Country cider apple varieties as well as some from Normandy.
More planting took place over the following years and now the orchard boasts 94 trees.
"It was an informal relationship initially as we waited for the trees to mature and then about 2016 we really started to get a crop of apples," Pete explained.
"The soil is very fertile there on the flood plain and the trees liked it and took off quickly.
"Some of them are 30 to 40 feet high now. It has become a major task to harvest all the apples!
"One would describe it as a stellar performance from the trees."
As the crop grew Pete then began the process of making cider on a large scale.
Having taken a course at Pershore College and converted an outhouse in his garden into a cidery, production began in earnest.
Initially the cider was only available as bag-in-box but the team has since begun bottling the cider, allowing it to be carbonated.
And with the crop growing "exponentially" over the past few years, in 2018 the decision was made to start a CIC.
"We have a village turnout to harvest the apples in the autumn and then I turn that into the cider which we sell," Pete explained.
"It is a micro cottage industry run from my house.
"And because it is a CIC it is not there for anyone to benefit from and the funds are fed back into the community and into initiatives.
"We are selling it in volume now, it is becoming a bit of a beast really!"
Each year the orchard produces around 2,000 litres of cider.
Bottles are sold from the aforementioned premises on Church Lane also at Stoneleigh Village Club, and local events, including those which are now run at the orchard on a regular basis.
And with the CIC now exploring other environmental projects and issues, Pete said the project had grown to a point far beyond what was expected back in 2011.
"It has brought the village together," he said.
"It is multifaceted really. We have an environmental component now; we try to encourage wild flowers to grow in the meadow - where we can.
"We have spent a lot of energy questioning local projects including HS2, and how they have impacted the river. We have also been looking at water quality as well, and doing what we can.
"It is lovely that people are committed to the village and people take pride in the orchard.
"Stoneleigh is a very historic village - this adds a new element to it and hopefully it will continue to grow!"
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