Orchard maps

The Google map below show orchards that have been located as part of our Traditional Orchard Survey.

Green icons are sites that have already been surveyed by a volunteer or orchard owner and therefore we have more detailed information on what is there and what condition the site is in. Yellow icons are sites that still need checking. You can see further information about a site by clicking on the icon.

• Map of traditional orchards – all records on the PTES Traditional Orchard inventory plus marginal sites (described below) that will not occur on the Natural England/Defra download. Marginal sites are included in the Welsh and Scottish datasets available from NRW and SNH respectively

Please allow 10 to 20 seconds for the map to load. If the points don’t appear shortly, “hard refresh” your client (press CTRL+F5)

Definitions

Traditional orchard definition

Traditional Orchards are defined, for priority habitat purposes, as groups of fruit and nut trees planted on vigorous rootstocks at low densities in permanent grassland; and managed in a low intensity way. Cobnut plats are also included.

The minimum size of a Traditional Orchard is defined as five trees with crown edges less than 20m apart. However the potential biological and genetic interest of sites with fewer trees, such as relict orchards and individual trees within gardens, is noted. Where appropriate these should be considered as potential restoration sites. It is recognised that other sites which fall outside the definition, such as organic bush orchards and fruit collections in walled gardens may also have biodiversity value, as well as historic, cultural and genetic importance.

Condition category definitions

Click here to find out what the category definitions mean, and how to upgrade your orchard.

Marginal site categories

Relict:
A site with less than five trees, or more than 20m between the crown edges. These are normally left over from a larger orchard and may even be a single (old) tree. Rarely these may be younger trees that have been included for a particular reason of interest. Biodiversity interest of relict sites is high as a point of biota colonisation.

Long abandoned:
A site that is or probably was an orchard but has become so overgrown that any fruit trees are outnumbered by non-fruit plants. This is mostly secondary woodland.

Intensively managed traditional orchard trees:
Trees which have some botanical or heritage interest, normally on semi-vigorous or vigorous rootstocks, but the site may be managed with herbicides or pesticides. The standing deadwood habitat within aging standard trees will not be affected by sprays so is of high biodiversity value.

Abandoned or organic bush orchard:
Trees on low-vigour rootstock, often planted in narrow rows but with no evidence of intensive management. Includes sites known to be organic as the biological diversity benefits of this management may be increased; there is some evidence that formerly intensive sites that have become neglected have high biodiversity value.

Updating the maps

The maps will be updated periodically so if you notice any errors please contact orchards@ptes.org.

If you know of an orchard that is not on the map, or want to help add information to the sites that still need to be checked, please see details of how to get involved.

GIS downloads

GIS versions of the maps, with more detailed information and site boundaries, are available for download in MapInfo or Shapefile formats;

• Sites in England can be downloaded or accessed via WMS from Defra, or viewed on the MAGIC portal, or browsed online at Traditional Orchards HAP (England) | Natural England Open Data Geoportal.
• Sites in Wales can be downloaded from Natural Resources Wales.