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Home » What we do » Celebrating Orchards in London » Orchard Profiles – London » La Retraite

La Retraite

An old orchard of pear and apple trees on the grounds of La Retraite Roman Catholic Girls’ School, formerly a convent.

Where is it? Atkins Road, Clapham, south London

Can I visit? It is on the grounds of a school so not open to the public.

What is there?

3 veteran apples (Charles Ross, Crimson Bramley and unknown) and 11 veteran pears (varieties unknown)

2 young apples (Charles Ross and Annie Elizabeth) and 2 plum trees (Opal and Herman) planted in December 2018.

History of orchard

The school was built in 1880 on part of the grounds of Clapham Park, by Les Dames de la Retraite, a French religious order. It is not known exactly when the current orchard was planted, but it can be seen in a historical map from 1944:

Community involved

Teacher Wanda Jarrett and school students, including those doing the Land Based Studies course.

Working together

The Orchard Project worked with the school in 2018-2019. We helped pupils to mulch the trees with woodchip, and to plant herbs and sow wildflowers; we ran a workshop with Year 7 pupils in orchard habitat; we harvested fruit, pruned the veteran trees and planted 4 new apple and plum trees; and we identified two of the veteran apple trees and labelled them.

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  • Award in Forest Gardening (Level 2)
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Company Number: 06902160
Charity Number: 1139952

The Orchard Project (Cause) Ltd.
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Unit 10 High Cross Centre
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N15 4BE

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