The Woodland Trust’s latest post on caring for apple trees is great advice. (Find it here: how to prune apple trees in winter)
We’ll be posting the date for our own pruning of fruit espaliers courses shortly, but it’s pruning on a much bigger scale that our gardeners will need to be tackling this coming year.

The Woodlands Trust advice on pruning and caring for apple trees
Last year, both of our two heirloom orchards got a much needed trim and we’re hoping to see much bigger yields as a result. We did lose one or two trees this year, but there are others nearly ready to replace them.
There’s a bit of a battle looming. The Holly perimeter hedge has not had much attention over the last five years and has grown to 3 times the intended height and breadth. It is now seriously overshadowing the Apple and Pear trees in the ‘New Orchard’.
We’ll need to radically trim back this year if we are to expect our magnificent blossoms to shine again. If you are able to help us (there is nearly half a kilometre of hedge so, we’re tackling it bit by bit).. … keep checking back here for callouts.