Rivers Nursery Orchard: Inspiration and Example

Written by Susan Clark
Published on October 1, 2025.

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Susan Clark was, with Diana Richards, the cofounder of the Rivers Orchard restoration project in the 1990s. Her account below shows how, as a Rural Enterprise Officer, she was able to bring in standards of procedure and county resources to supplement and direct the enthusiasm of the Sawbridgeworth volunteers. She then goes on to show how the Rivers Nursery orchard has inspired other places to set up their own community orchards using heritage fruit varieties including Rivers cultivars. A good example Susan describes is her local Braughing Community Orchard which is proudly described in detail in the Braughing Parish Council information about the village.

Back in the early 1990s Rivers Nursery Orchard site, newly discovered, was disused and overgrown. A small group of local people met to pull together plans to restore and protect the site. Undaunted by the brambles (which were growing over the fruit trees!), we decided to see what we could do.

The first thing to do was to write a Management Plan. Once this was complete we were able to enter the site into the Countryside Stewardship Scheme. This gave protection to the site, and outlined a management programme for the next 5 years. This was the galvanising force needed to set up a group of volunteers to help achieve this – the Friends of Rivers Orchard as it was known then.

As previous articles have mentioned, the programme of clearance began. The Orchard began to reveal itself as the brambles were cleared and we were able to see what we were dealing with.

We had a range of fruit trees which were not labelled. It is probable that these were a random selection of stock placed out of the way and designed to be a show ground for buyers of bare-root varieties or as mother trees for grafting. We worked closely with the Hertfordshire Orchard Initiative (HOI) to identify and label the trees. This process took a year as we had to wait for the trees to go through a full flowering and fruiting cycle to be able to identify them accurately. Meanwhile, some of the orchard trees had died, probably due to a combination of old age and as a result of being overgrown by brambles. However, this was an opportunity to start to replant the trees with traditional Rivers varieties which we sourced mainly from the East of England Apples and Orchards Project, which had been able to acquire some Rivers stock as the company was closing. A variety of apple, pear, plum and cherry trees were planted (and mapped and labelled!) over the next few years, bringing back the completed lines of fruit trees in the orchard.

In order to clear and restore the orchard we needed to raise funds. Funding came from a variety of sources, including East Herts District Council, local grants and support from local people and businesses. Building on the practical restoration work, we began to run a series of social events based in and around the Orchard site, including Wassailing, Apple Day celebrations, Guided Walks and Talks and events for other local community groups. It was important to run these events as they brought the community together and gave the opportunity for local people who were physically unable to be involved with the practical management of the Orchard to be involved in other aspects of its restoration and history.

Momentum was gathering, and the work being undertaken by the group was gaining interest from near and far. Audley End House were interested in our work and we started to form links with them. A visit to the walled garden and the Rivers Glasshouse followed, and the highlight of our collaboration was a celebration event in the Walled Garden to celebrate our Year of Poetry – of course inspired by Rivers Orchard. In addition to this, the local ITV station sent a crew to film our Wassailing event – filming all aspects of the day from making the apple cakes to singing in the Orchard.

One thing we wanted to do was to inspire a love of orchards and hopefully the development of other community orchards. As the word about our work spread we helped support the planting of Braughing Community Orchard, an orchard at Quinbury Farm and several schools in the Buntingford area planting traditional Rivers varieties of fruit trees in their school grounds. Again support came from the East of England Apples and Orchards Project to source and plant these traditional Rivers varieties of trees, ensuring continuation of some of these rarer varieties, incuding:

In addition to providing a historic green space, Rivers Nursery Orchard has brought together local people to celebrate this wonderful site and its horticultural heritage. Its influence has spread far and wide, and this could not have been done without the help and dedication of the volunteers from the early days of the inception of an idea to the wonderful group who continue to manage the site and run events to the local community. Thank you everyone!

Susan (Clark) Lankester - September 2025


These descriptions are featured in the online history of Braughing. Rivers cultivars are noted in the planting scheme.

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