Loads of visitors to the Orchard

I'm working on producing a "dog gate" for the field gate gate which leads to the adjoining field at the orchard. I'd temporarily covered the field gate in stock wire to stop sheep leaking into our orchard. However the blocking of the gate makes it difficult for walkers using the public footpath if they are accompanied by their dogs. The stile by the gate is a climb-over version and is difficult for dogs to negotiate. I'd arrived to double check the measurements of the dog gate I'm building and found a couple of lambs grazing down by the willow grove in the orchard. My herding skills came into play again as I directed them back into the adjoining field. Someone had loosened a section of the wire fence I'd fitted to the gate. The lambs of course had taken advantage this hole in the security. 

While I was working on the field gate I heard a lot of commotion at the roadside gate on the north side of the orchard. I went over to look and found a large group (approx 50) of schoolchildren, accompanying adults and dogs. I think it was from the local primary school in Turnditch. They'd been following the public footpath through the fields to the north of the A517 Ashbourne road. The group was making slow progress in negotiating the stile on the other side of the road. I gave them a hand by unlocking our gate  so they wouldn't be slowed by the stile next to the bridge. The accompanying adults were worried by the fast moving traffic on the A517 so I donned my bright yellow PPE jacket and helped to stop the traffic while this group safely crossed the road. The process took several minutes slowed by small children with large rucksacks negotiating a narrow stile gate.

Once the road traffic was flowing again, I turned my attention back to the other field gate next to the sheep field. The school group were having trouble with getting their dogs through the field gate or over the stile. I took pity on them and released that gate from its chain. The chain has two large padlocks, but is in reality only secured by being hooked over a bent nail. There were lots of thanks from the group and they were on their way. It proved to me the efforts to provide a dog gate on the footpath is worthwhile. If I don't do this I'll only find that some idiot has left the gate unsecured and I'll have an orchard full of sheep and no leaves left on our young fruit trees.

Edit 30th June 2016
I've been told the school visitors were probably taking part in the activities celebrating Ascension Day.

Respect for the Landowners

I visited the orchard in Turnditch yesterday afternoon to trim back some weeds and to check the trees. Those familiar with the site will know there's a public footpath across one end of the land adjacent to the river bank. I've no problems with allowing the public to walk across that part of the land and generally the public are well behaved, except for a couple of dog owners who do not clear up their dog's shit from the land. 

The longer term objective of the project is to open up the orchard area as a permitted recreation spot for the local inhabitants/school kids from Turnditch, Shottle and Cowers Lane. At present it is not safe thanks to debris dumped during the previous owners tenure, but we're working toward the target. We also need to undertake some work to make the river bank safe but accessible. 

When I arrived I noticed someone had wrapped bright red marker tape around the top bar of the roadside gate. They'd also affixed an A5 sized red plastic notice on the inside of our gatepost announcing the name of an Ashbourne running club. I can only presume they are planning some event which follows the route of the public footpath. They'd made no attempt or the courtesy to contact us to seek permission to place these markers on our property. It's not difficult to contact us; this blog address and a contact phone number is shown on the same gate post.  The notice makes it clear the orchard is private land but the public footpath remains open.

Normally when someone wants access we'll bend over backwards to help out, but this lack of respect does make us wonder whether we should be so free with permission. I removed their litter from our land. Let's hope their event causes no further damage.

A safe place for the tools

We've realised we'll need a safe place to protect the tools used to clear the land at the orchard site. The primary purpose of the storage is safety, but also theft prevention. We're concerned inquisitive kids might wander on to the site, after all there is a public footpath running along the edge by the river. The tools are designed for forestry activities and in the wrong hands can be very dangerous. 

We've taken delivery of a steel tool storage cabinet which we'll temporarily place on the site while we are undertaking the main site clearance and planting activities. Nothing valuable will be left there overnight, but it will be used to secure tools during the day.It is also a convenient location to house fencing materials for the duration of the fencing/hedging process. It has meant additional expenditure, but given the the easy public access to the site we treat safety as an important matter.

The store cabinet will be tucked away out of sight and is green coloured to avoid being an eyesore during its temporary stay on the site.

A disappointment at the Orchard

We were quite disappointed to find recent dog poo on the footpath we'd cleared by the river bank in our site. We know it is the countryside, but leaving dog poo where other people walk is rather antisocial. 

There's no real excuse for this type of behaviour. There is a litter bin just outside of the main gate where filled poo bags can be deposited. While we can do nothing about people using the public footpath on our land is does provide a disincentive to us opening up the the rest of the orchard to public access. At the very least it may lead to us banning dogs in the main part of the field/orchard where there is no public access.

Members of the public can find guidelines here.