Two orchards will be planted in Cardiff's Bute Park following a campaign that was set up after vandals caused thousands of pounds worth of damage last year. The vandals damaged 50 trees in the park in September last year, with a community-led campaign set up to replace the wreckage. Two trees are now set to be planted for every one that was destroyed in the attack.
Cardiff Council has granted permission for new community orchard planting in the park. There will be two locations, with one north of Blackweir playing field and a smaller orchard adjacent to Orchard Lawn, near to the Bute Park visitor centre. Orchard Lawn was once the site of an orchard that supplied the Bute family and their guests at Cardiff Castle with fresh produce.
The intention is for the smaller orchard to "introduce park visitors to the benefits of orchards" and signpost them to the larger site. A fundraiser has been set up with a target to raise £20,000, of which, at the time of writing, over £7,000 has been raised so far. Over 50 trees were destroyed between Blackweir Bridge and Pettigrew Tearooms in September last year.
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Plants, planters, and manhole covers were also broken in the damage and bins were ripped from the concrete. Works to repair the damage in the much-loved site began later in the month after hundreds of people took part in a march to reclaim the park. Organiser and café owner Melissa Boothman described the day as a "friendly show of solidarity and resistance" and a "positive counteraction" to the vandalism.
Cardiff Council said that tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage had been done and works to restore the park afterwards included restoring the vandalised planters, reinstating litter bins, recovering damaged signposts, repairs to stonework on Lady Bute's Bridge, repairs to optic cables, and putting new doors and locks on the Blackweir changing rooms.
A council spokesperson said: "The team at Bute Park are working closely with the community and Friends of Bute Park on arrangements for the orchard, making decisions on the design, and which heritage fruit varieties will be planted, and are looking forward to the prospect of getting the trees planted later this autumn. It's really heart-warming that something so positive is coming out of the vandalism. Thanks to the incredible generosity of the community all the memorial trees that were destroyed will be replaced, so eventually there will be two trees planted for every one destroyed in the attack - a sure sign that the park is bouncing back better than ever.”
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