Fourayes Farm
The Fourayes factory is surrounded by approximately 100 acres (32 hectares) of English Bramley apple orchards.
The oldest current Bramley apple orchard was planted in 1984 and we have three types of rootstock – most trees are on M9 or M26 although we do have a small area of M27. We also use several different varieties of apple tree for pollination.
Our orchards are high up on the North Downs at 450 feet above sea level. Bramley apples respond well to being grown at this height and we prune the trees a little lighter in order to keep a Bramley apple size range between 70mm and 105mm in diameter.
Leading the way with close planting
As each orchard comes to the end of its natural life, we have been replacing them with a revolutionary close-planted format. The first of these orchards was planted in December 2008 and found fame on BBC South East news. The format allows for better land utilisation, for more light to reach each apple as well as making pruning, tree management and picking more efficient. It’s a great new way to grow the best quality English Bramley apples.
Join Swailey in the Fourayes Orchards at Harvest time.
Orchards through the Seasons
Swailey’s Orchard Report
New luxury accommodation at Fourayes Farm
The hot news is that we’re putting up hotels all over Fourayes Farm. Most of my posts focus on events in our factory, so it’s a welcome change to focus this time on the Farm. The hotels I refer to are not the bricks and [...]
Orchard Report February 2020
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: February 2020 At the time of writing we are just edging into February in what has, for the most part, been a mostly mild but wet winter. Our orchards have been waterlogged. Our new Bramley orchard has been staked [...]
Orchard Report Autumn 2019
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Autumn 2019 At the time of writing, we have just finished the Bramley harvest which started very dry, sometimes very hot and dusty, until 24th September when the heavens opened. By the end of the Bramley harvest we have had 100mm of rain. This turned the [...]
Orchard Report Summer 2019
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Summer 2019 At the time of writing we are just edging out of quite a dry May after a cold April in which our bees struggled to find any warm days to work their magic with the pollination. March [...]
Orchard Report Autumn 2018
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Autumn 2018 At the time of writing we are nearly half way through the first pick of the Bramley. The end of spring brought us a hail storm which hit half the farm while the other half was unaffected [...]
Orchard Report Spring 2018
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Spring 2018 We are emerging from a very wet and cold spring: we had 42mm of rain over the Easter weekend alone. The orchards are a sea of mud making spraying and fertilising operations very difficult. Fourwheel- drive has been very [...]
Orchard Report Winter 2017
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Winter 2017 At the time of writing we have just finished our first pick of the Bramley. It has so far been a fairly dry harvest: we lost two half days to the rain and had a couple of [...]
Orchard Report Spring 2017
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Spring 2017 We are emerging from an early spring which has been colder than normal. The bees have struggled to find small windows of warm weather to pollinate the Bramley. The outlook is a lighter crop. The winter was [...]
Orchard Report Autumn 2016
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Autumn 2016 We are about a third of the way though our second pick of the Bramley. For the most part it has been a dry summer with almost no rain at all in August. The Bramley size has [...]
Orchard Report Spring 2016
Orchard Report Fourayes Farm: Spring 2016 We are heading into a late spring with another cold weekend ahead to slow things down again. Our own winter was very wet, and March and early April were much the same. Much of the winter was [...]