Station Walk to Peartree Green

I'm pleased to report that our train station based walk was a complete success. The idea was to collaborate with my friend Clare Diaper who had written a book on local station walks. Clare planned the walk route and I pointed out fruit and nut trees along the way.

As we arrived at out start point, Woolston station, I immediately pointed out the Pear tree in the station grounds. To be fair, I had an advantage here as my train broken down there two days before. 

There was a good number of interested people who had bowled along for the walk; the weather was just about perfect apart from one quick squally shower. We began at Itchen Ferry Village, or where it used to be anyway and mused over the building of the great ships and Spitfires that were built around this area in the past; hovercrafts are actually still manufactured nearby. From there we set off up onto Peartree Green - and here my job was going to get much more interesting.

We admired the Mayors Pear tree, a regular stop for the children and I about this time of year, then we walked down into the main body of the green. On the way many people paused to gather Blackberries or Elderberries, which were growing wherever you looked. It was not long before I started to spot Apple trees (there are loads hidden around the Green). The first few trees were fairly inaccessible and seemed not to have much fruit but we soon began to spot trees truly laden with Apples. We had bought a small picker with us to help gather fruit and my son was soon clambering up among the branches, as he always will.

By the end of the walk we must have seen over a dozen different Apple trees and everyone had filled their bags and boxes with enough fruit to keep them in Blackberry and Apple crumble and pies for quite a while. Everyone was enthused and happy and hopefully we will see a lot of them again soon - perhaps at the Mansbridge Apple Day (Sunday 11th October Octavia Rd Open Space).

N.B. Apple Day at Mansbridge Community Orchard 

The event will be held at 2:00pm on Sunday October 11th. If you have any spare apples, bring them along for crushing into juice. Octavia Road Open Space is basically a field and wilderness area, so wear suitably robust clothing, wellies etc. This is a free community event, run by volunteers and all are welcome but everyone one is responsible for their own (and their children's) health & safety.

Pendulous Pears, Thanks to the Major

I was just thinking that the harvest season had pretty much drawn to a close, when a trip to Woolston, passing Peartree Green en-route, revealed that we had missed a trick.

They do say, Walnuts and Pears you plant for your heirs, and the ancient Pear tree that was planted by the Mrs Cutler OBE Mayor of Southampton in 1951 was absolutely smothered with ripe fruit.

We discovered this lovely tree a few years ago and have been visiting it ever since. The pears are small, firm, round and beautifully sweet. My children call them Snack Pears. Mrs Cutler is no relative of ours, but we figured that she would be delighted to find that the fruit was going to be put to a good use.

My son and I zipped back up to the tree after his Sunday rugby training, there was a fair few Pears on the ground already and the fruit was suitably ripe, so we set about picking a large bag full.

In about 20 minutes we collected about 15 Kgs, which is quite a lot for a fully grown adult to lug back, let alone a 9 year old boy. However, I’m sure that my fruit based strength and conditioning program will eventually benefit his contribution to the Trojans team.

There is still heaps of fruit left on the tree, if anybody else wants to pick some but you would be wise to use a fruit picking pole, as you should not climb old fruit trees as the branches can snap catastrophically without warning.

Pair of Pears: Urban Regeneration

Like a Phoenix from the flames, my two favourite pear trees, which were so misguidedly chopped off in their prime, are trying their damn best to raise a stubborn two fingered salute to their arboreal oppressors.

Both the pear tree by the bank of the Itchen River and the pear tree by the proposed allotment site in Somerset Road, Portswood, are making significant regenerative progress.

Fresh branches and leaves are already forging their way skyward in an effort to replace the lost limbs and trunks that were so casually cut down. Whether they will eventually be allowed to continue this dramatic regrowth is as yet unknown.

I think we should label the stumps in some way, to make it quite clear that they are fruit trees that should be preserved and encouraged to grow-back to their former productive glory.