This project encourages and supports community in relearning how to work, rest and play together, co-operatively with nature, for the great good.

Orchard Barn Environmental Education Community Interest Company (OBee CIC) Registration Number 6379982 - Wildfire Designs 2007 - Photographs by Richard Smithson

The Moon lit up the Clearing

'I woke to find that the moon lit up the clearing where I lay … it was a small clearing in the overgrown orchard … apples hanging heavy on ancient trees …

I got up to pee, there were unfamiliar night noises … English owls perhaps? I went back into the sleeping bag, put my parka over it to stop the dew wetting it, snuggled down, fell asleep …

I’d been offered the caravan but was really attracted by that patch of grass and I knew the weather forecast was ‘fine’. ‘Fine’ in England means no rain, I’m not sure that no rain is fine here …

I woke again at dawn, it was misty and I got up and walked around the orchard. This is Sarah’s great project, restoring a derelict orchard and also a ruined barn that dates back to the 16th century. I sampled some of the unfamiliar fruit – sour apples and some delicious yellow plums that I’d never seen before.

Then I noticed some bikes leaning against the caravan. Quietly I checked them out. Only one was serviceable and I pumped the tyres up. I sneaked out of the camp, feeling like a bike thief escaping, and rode off down the country lane into the mist … nine years old again …

It wasn’t a comfortable bike but I rode a few miles, got to a village and wandered round an old church and churchyard. It was still early and no one was around. No cafes …

When I got back to Orchard Barn, the others were up preparing breakfast. Justine said that she’d seen me go off, and had been amused by the look on my face …'

Gerry Jacobson (from Australia) 10th September 2009

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