Big Tree Country >> News >> Project Blossoms in the Carse

Project Blossoms in the Carse

05/04/2010
Carse of Gowrie

The Carse of Gowrie Historic Orchard Project hosts a Blossom Event at Flatfield, near Errol, on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 May during the Tayside Biodiversity Festival(1). Visitors are invited to come along between 12 noon and 4pm to admire the stunning blossom.

The orchard at Flatfield has 76 apple and pear trees and is owned and actively managed by Paul and Liz Eddy. Although first recorded on the 1908 3rd Edition Ordnance Survey Map, some of the trees are believed to be much older than this.
Flatfield is one of several orchards that are part of the community-led Carse of Gowrie Historic Orchards Project which was formed last year and is overseen by Perth & Kinross Countryside Trust (PKCT).

“It’s great that the local orchard owners and community members have taken such an interest in preserving this historic resource,” says Andrea Partridge, Historic Orchards project officer. “Local businesses are even producing food and drink using the fruit. Visitors should make a day of it and visit the new café at the Cairn O’ Mohr Winery and sample some of the first apple juice and cider produced from the Carse of Gowrie orchards.”

There have been orchards at the Carse of Gowrie since monastic settlement in the 12th century, though most have been in decline over the last century. However, from the orchards that still exist, a considerable amount of fruit is produced.

Flatfield is just to the north of the A90 approximately eight miles east of Perth.