Stop 13 of 33

The Community Orchard

Full walk Blue · 35 min Green · 70 min Orange · 70 min

Golf is played next to this path. On hearing "Fore", cover your head and turn away from the direction of play. Golf safety →

A mature apple tree in fruit in the Community Orchard, with younger trees in their guards around it © Kenneth Marritt

The Community Orchard interpretation panel Courtesy of Friends of Kings Park

Friends of Kings Park created and designed the community orchard in 2013, planting Scottish heritage apple varieties, both cooking and dessert types — Stirling Castle, Bloody Ploughman, Stobo Castle and Scotch Bridget, along with the more recent Katy — and look after it now.

The trees are Scottish heritage varieties — Stirling Castle, Bloody Ploughman, Stobo Castle and Scotch Bridget, along with the more recent Katy — planted in 2013 and bearing fruit since. Apple blossom appears between April and June, and where it is pollinated it sets fruit through to the autumn.

Wildflowers have been sown among the trees to draw in the bees and other insects the apples depend on, and volunteers have had to protect the young trees from deer and rabbits.

The project was funded by the Stirling Council Community Fund and Forth Valley Environmental Link, who also trained the group in pruning, recognising disease, pollination, the spring and summer drop, and protecting the trees from rabbits and deer. The apples are there to be picked, when ripe, by anyone visiting the park.

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Close by

World War 1 Practice Trenches Stop 7 Troops trained for the Western Front here in 1914 — the practice trenches still show in the grass.
1911 Circuit of Britain Air Race Stop 6 8,000 people were in the park at 3.45am in 1911 to watch the Circuit of Britain race land.
Victorian Drinking Fountains Stop 14 One of four ironwork fountains that gave the park public drinking water until the 1970s.