Dorset Wildlife Trust Project: King's Lane Orchard

 "...turn around and walk along this lane, past the pub. Follow the lane down to the thatched cottage on your right, the orchard you are looking for is the one to the left of the cottage, not the orchard on the right of the cottage. You'll not miss it".

I'd arrived in Powerstock looking for King's Lane Orchard, a remnant of the many cider orchards which once surrounded the village a century ago. This isolated village clings tightly to a steep slope, a vertiginous crossroads by the church contains a many-directional signpost of ancient construction, but the lanes radiating off from here are less well documented. I'd walked in the opposite direction to my intended destination. However, meeting a local, unpacking his car, he put me back on the correct path. Maybe I should have brought a map? 

King's Lane, thatched cottage and the orchard

 I headed past the pub and began a short descent along King's Lane, a lane just wide enough for a car, and reaching the cottage (Hillside Cottage) I could see the small gate into the orchard. Best of all the sun was shining.

Bought by Dorset Wildlife Trust in 2008, this 1 hectare orchard was opened to the public in April 2009 when schoolchildren sang a song celebrating spring and apple blossom, written by Dorset based Tim Laycock, before they headed off on a mini-beasts & treasure hunt. It was a lot quieter today. Ahead of me were the remnant apple trees of an industry which once supported both the local economy, people and wildlife, a mix of interests which ensures cider orchards hold a place in nature conservation under Biodiversity Action Plans.

Entering from the lane, the orchard gently slopes away from you, down to a small stream. The research notes I had brought with me mentioned the ground can be wet and boggy by the stream, which, even after a number of rain-free weeks, proved accurate later on in my visit. What these notes did not mention was that my arrival would be heralded by a kingfisher flying along this stream calling its thin, but penetrating, call. It was a good start.

There were possibly a dozen apple trees in the orchard, many surrounded by a fence to deter the grazing sheep who are occasionally brought here to help with the biodiversity management. As one of just two orchards owned by Dorset Wildlife Trust, the other being Broad Oak which I visited in March, these community reserves mix habitat management with general visitor use. The website suggests visitors can wander around, or pick a spot for a picnic. I did the former. 

The reserve is roughly the letter P in shape, having a larger section by the cottage, leading to a small linear area by a five-bar gate and a second entrance. Sadly the apple trees on this visit had finished their blossom, small fruitlets were forming already. Despite being on the edge of the village this is a very quiet spot. No vehicles moved along the lane while I was here, leaving the only noise to come from chiffchaff, chaffinch, robin, blackbird, long tailed tit, jackdaw, rook and greenfinch (and the kingfisher of course).

It doesn't take long to wander about the main orchard area, and soon I found myself exploring the stream. The stream isn't obvious from the entrance, but scramble under some low branches and a quite delightful hidden riparian feature is revealed. 

Looking up at the orchard from the stream

Here it is all mossy and dark, light is shaded from the ground by overhead sycamore and hazel, ferns and ivy cascading down the steep stream bank. I couldn't see any fish from the bank side, but its gravelly bed would be ideal for bullhead, stickleback or minnows. Neither were there any signs of otter, but they are present here.

As I walked along the stream edge it suddenly became boggy and climbing back into the orchard itself I found I was standing on quite spongy ground. It is quite possible that if I had noticed the presence of a large clump of yellow flag iris, I may have realised I was walking towards a wet flush trickling out at the bottom of the orchard slope. These iris were just coming into flower, and looked perfect. Just beyond these, recent habitat clearance had been completed, with the scars on the ground from the removal of brambles and nettles.

It is a lovely spot and had I brought a picnic (and rug as there are no benches) I could have stayed here longer with a flask and some sandwiches. Not having these with me, I slowly climbed back up to the lane while trying to avoid trampling the many cuckoo flower peeping through the grassland. I like the fact that Dorset Wildlife Trust have secured this orchard. All too easily it could have been left to decline or worse still, being on the edge of the village, have suffered from residential development.

Postscript:

After visiting King's Lane Orchard, and being in the village, I made a pilgrimage to see the grave of the naturalist and broadcaster Kenneth Allsop. A Yorkshireman by birth, in his later years he lived at the nearby hamlet of West Milton. Allsop fell in love with this part of West Dorset and championed protecting the area from development, including the threat of oil exploration. His grave lies apart from others of the same era in the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin, in the centre of the village. I sat on a nearby bench with a flask of tea I'd collected from the car. The sun was warm, there was birdsong everywhere, lichens colonising his headstone. Not a bad place to rest in peace, whether that is alive, or dead. 

Date of visit: 14th May 2026. 16:00 to 16:45 (leaving the church at 17:30)

Selective list of species: Kingfisher, long tailed tit, chaffinch, chiffchaff, robin, blackbird. Apple spp., cuckoo flower, meadow buttercup, harts tongue fern, ivy, moss spp. bramble, nettle, Sycamore, hazel, oak with blackthorn hedge, Fresh molehills.