Cavell Orchards are based at Low Common, Swardeston and here we have an orchard of 60 apple trees planted in 2000 and 2003. These trees are a mixture of traditional heritage varieties and Norfolk varieties.
We have named the orchards after Edith Cavell who lived in Swardeston as the daughter of the Rector of Swardeston from her birth in 1865. Edith Cavell was a nurse in Brussels during the First World War and she helped nearly 900 service men escape back to Britain. Edith was arrested, tried for “Conducting soldiers to the enemy”, and was executed on 12th October 1915. Edith Cavell once hid an injured soldier in a barrel of apples in the back yard of the Clinic in Brussels whilst the building was being searched for hiding British soldiers. During her early life in Swardeston, Edith Cavell would have known the many orchards and market gardens which were around the area and would have probably known and enjoyed the many varieties of apples which we which are now growing in Cavell Orchards.
We also have our own bees kept in the orchard and as well as pollinating the apple trees we produce our own honey.
Using the apples from the trees we produce our own apple juice which is bottled and then pasteurized as single named varieties and also as a heritage blend of selected varieties.
Cavell Orchards 