VISITORS to Oriel y Parc in St Davids could soon be enjoying the fruits of their labour thanks to a new community project.

The St Davids Community Orchard is the inspiration of St Davids Community Forum member Melanie Maloney, who has worked with PLANED and Oriel y Parc staff to bring the idea to fruition.

Melanie said: “The orchard project started as a very simple idea: if we each plant a tree, we can all pick fruit. The community orchard aims to provide a wide variety of fruits with a cropping season that will extend for many months. The community can then pick what they need as it becomes available, and all share the crops. So far the orchard has six varieties of fruit: apples, pears, plums, damsons, cherries and apricots, and would like to offer many more as the project progresses.”

Nine trees have been planted in the grounds of Oriel y Parc.The official planting was held during the Easter holidays which saw local children, members of Friends of Oriel y Parc and St Davids residents join forces to plant the first trees.

It is hoped it will encourage more individuals, community groups and businesses to participate in creating an orchard spread around the city.

Melanie added: “Our aim is to extend the orchard throughout St Davids, and to do this we need more land on which to plant trees. If you wish to contribute to the project by buying a tree, or have land you can make available for planting, you can log on to www.stdavidshub.org”