The birchenhayes and uprights ripen first, then come the burcombes with clusters of sweet black cherries on short stems – fiddly to pick but delicious, with a tangy sweet flavour; fice is followed by the bullions, maturing fast in the unusual warmth, shiny fruits darkening among the glossy leaves.
This five-acre orchard of once popular local varieties of cherries, apples and pears has been developed over the last 40 years – grafted, pruned, tended and researched – by my brother-in-law and sister, James and Mary. It includes 150 tall cherry trees grafted on to wild cherry rootstock (which becomes the trunk of the new tree). The topmost fruit is now only reachable by birds.
With picking season finally here, family and friends are invited to gather as many as possible, using hooked sticks and tripod stepladders. Out from the dappled shade, meadow brown, ringlet and gatekeeper butterflies flit among seeding grasses, plantains, hogweed and yellow flowered hawkweed. Jackdaws clack in the distance; pigeons and crows fly by but do not gorge on the tempting fruits – unlike us favoured pickers, who come away with purple-stained hands and teeth. The healthiest trees grow near the shelter of thick hedge banks, perhaps benefiting from the mycorrhizal fungus that has survived in the soil and leaf mould not subjected to intensive cultivation by previous farmers.
Genetic testing has helped confirm the identities of varieties, some of which were in danger of extinction. Every tree is labelled, including names of derelict orchards where the original graft wood was collected (Boetheric, Slew, Beals Mill, Towell and Barretts Mill). Homage is also paid to deceased growers (Jack Sambles, Boxer Harris and Aydon Langsford) who, realising the special nature of their old varieties, helped James and Mary start their collection.
Graft wood from here has been used to establish orchards for the National Trust, and nurseries where customers can now buy genuine local cherry trees. A neighbouring couple recently returned from a trip to South Wales bearing punnets of Tamar Valley cherries, purchased from commercial growers near Tenby who grafted dwarfing stock with shoots from James and Mary’s orchard.
• Country Diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary
• James Evans and Mary Martin’s book Tamar Valley Cherries: Forty Years Hard Graft is out now
