Skip to content

Red Barn Orchard

This 12-acre sculptural heritage orchard in Herefordshire blurs the boundaries between living land art, heritage preservation and innovative agricultural design. It directly reverses decades of ecological decline by packing nearly 8,000 maiden-form apple cordons into a breathtaking, stepped star-shaped geometry.

Visible from the air, this striking installation transforms a vital conservation project into an awe-inspiring productive tapestry.  The orchard is made up of nearly 100 heritage varieties on maiden form apple cordons, on M26, MM106 and M116 root stocks.   

Date:
2021
Client:
Private
Collaborators:
Frank P Matthews

While the pattern looks beautifully complex, its layout is engineered for seamless, stress-free management. The stepped star shape naturally creates wide, unobstructed alleys for smooth tractor turning and rapid mowing. Setting 50 trees per 50-metre run keeps spacing perfectly uniform at exactly one metre per tree, maximising yield without overcrowding. Strategic interior rows expand the total capacity to just under 8,000 heritage trees while protecting clear paths for maintenance machinery.

The alley design went through several iterations with the team at Frank P Matthews: decreasing post spacing and increasing wires from three to four tiers to allow for the weight of each cordons fruit of around 3.5-5 KG per tree. The sprawling outer field margins enhance the local biodiversity providing space for local pollinators, beneficial insects, and native wildlife.

Since 1950, around 60% of small traditional orchards in England have disappeared as a result of changes in agricultural practices, market forces, neglect and development. This project proves that small-scale heritage orchards can be both stunningly artistic and agriculturally efficient.

More Projects

The Catalyst Cube

A movable and multi-functional social, cultural and education space that provides an instant focal point in the community...

Modular Landscapes

A range of adaptable, reconfigurable public realm components that allow for endless arrangements, uses and locations...

One Million Bricks

One Million Bricks transforms Whitechapel's gateway through an act of collective making...