AC Goatham & Son has won the East Kent Fruit Society’s Best Orchard competition for its Zari orchard at Shrubbery Farm, Eastry.
The site – which also won best orchard under 1,000 trees – features 120 acres planted with 28 acres of Royal Gala, 34 of Zari, eight of Cox and 17 of Comice and Conference pears. Zari also won the Class D Best Dessert category.
The Zari orchard at Shrubbery Farm is planted on wire work with a 3m cane system, planted at a distance of 3.5m between the rows and 1.2m within the row. Pollinators used are Malus and Golden Delicious.
Shrubbery Farm is one of the 17 Goatham farms benefiting from a programme by the company to plant one million new trees by 2020.
Nigel Stewart, technical director at AC Goatham, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have won the Orchard Competition, along with the other two titles. We strive for uniformity and perfection across all of our orchards and this particular Zari orchard is a real showcase of the team’s growing skills.”
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