Fourayes Orchards

Fourayes has approx. 31.98 hectares of Bramley apples the youngest of which were planted in December 2008. The oldest orchard was planted in 1984. We have 3 types of rootstock, most  are on M9 or M26. We also have a small area on M27. We use several varieties for pollination. Fourayes also has 3.2 hectares of Mondial Gala. All the Bramley are used in our processing factory and a percentage are stored on site at 5% carbon dioxide and 1% oxygen, the rest go into hired storage. Fourayes has won the award of "Bramley apples for long term storage" at the National Fruit show on numberous occassions.

The orchards are high up on the North Downs at 450 feet above sea level. Bramley respond very well to being grown at this height. The Bramley are pruned a little lighter than normal to obtain the size range of 70mm to 105mm.

Our newest orchard, planted December 2008, is 1.2 hectares, or 3 acres, of Bramley on M9 rootstock. As seen on the BBC South East news, we have chosen the new post wirework and cane method of planting. Plant widths of 11ft by 3ft give plant density of 1,320 trees per acre instead of our previous planting of 14ft by 8ft with a density of 390 trees per acre. Each tree will be tied to a cane supported by wire work and it could considerably increase crop yields.