The Hartpury Heritage Trust, in Gloucestershire, has won CAMRA’s Pomona Award for playing a vital role in preserving the UK’s perry heritage.
The award recognises people and groups who have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion of real cider or perry, a key campaigning aim for CAMRA.
Since 2006, the trust has planted and maintained the Hartpury Orchard Centre, becoming a home to the National Collection of Perry Pears, and a collection of Gloucestershire apples, plums, and cherries. It now boasts more than 100 varieties of perry pear trees in 30 acres of orchards and wetlands.
“It was a total surprise and great honour to hear that Hartpury Orchard Centre had been chosen by CAMRA to receive the Pomona Award this year,” said the trust’s Jim Chapman.
“I have always felt a close affinity for perry since I enjoyed my first glass in the 1960s, so was delighted when I was asked to take over the National Collection at Malvern. Then, having inherited land in Hartpury, I established a second national collection, now grown to over 100 varieties, and the purpose-built Orchard Centre. Today, the centre is looked after by the village charity, Hartpury Heritage Trust.
“Whilst preserving the heritage varieties and making perry, the centre also runs courses and events, including an annual perry pear day and wassail. The public are welcome at any time to walk the orchards, grazed by the rare Gloucester cattle, and enjoy the wildlife in the adjacent conservation wetland.”
Andrea Briers, CAMRA’s Pomona Award coordinator, said: “In an age where orchards are being torn down, and global commercial cider producers dominate the market, the importance of the work done by the Hartpury Heritage Trust can’t be understated.
“Future generations can enjoy perry made from pears that have been saved from the brink by the trust, and I cannot think of a more worthy winner of this prestigious CAMRA award.
“Everyone should walk through their wonderful orchards and appreciate just how beautiful these spaces are and how important they are for biodiversity, making warm and welcoming habitats to a whole array of wildlife.”
