Nick Sibbett next to a newly planted orchard of St Edmunds Russet apple trees at the Pond Covert Woodland Way on the Moreton Hall Estate in Bury St Edmunds

A SMALL corner of a west Suffolk housing estate has been turned into an orchard – though residents will have to wait a few years before the scheme bears fruit.

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The orchard created at Pond Covert, in Bury St Edmunds’ Moreton Hall estate, boasts 10 trees of the historic St Edmund Russet, a variety first recorded in Bury back in 1845.

This dessert apple is particularly resistant to scab, mildew and canker so will need no chemical sprays.

A couple of Lord Stradbroke’s cooking apple trees have also planted, to help with cross-pollination.

Nick Sibbett, chairman of Woodland Ways, which has organised the planting, said ”From September/October 2015 or thereabouts, the fruit crop should be abundant.

“We will all be able to do our fruit shopping, free of charge. Why buy standard commercial varieties from our supermarkets when you can pick your own local apples from our own orchard?”

Fruit trees are particularly rich in rare species of insects, lichen and mosses, and are enjoyed also by birds.

Old orchards across the country have almost innumerable varieties of fruit trees, being planted before national and international trade reduced commercial orchards to just a dozen or so varieties.

The trees were grown for Woodland Ways by the East of England Apples and Orchards Project, based near King’s Lynn.

“Woodland Ways is very pleased that these special trees remain available,” said Mr Sibbett.

“There was an orchard in Moreton Hall from around 1900 until the 1960s, so its good we can bring an important habitat back to the area.”