Get planting!

The Tree Council is the UK’s leading charity for trees. Its Orchard Windfalls Fund is a great opportunity for schools and community groups across the UK to plant their own fruit trees.

What support is available?

Grants are available to help you plant fruit trees to coincide with National Tree Week, which takes place from 28th November to 6th December 2015.

You can apply for a grant worth between £100 and £700 to cover the cost of trees, planting and aids to establishment. Your grant must be a maximum of 75% of the total project costs. This means that you need to contribute 25% of the total project costs.

Please note that only certain apple and pear trees are eligible for funding – full details are available from the Tree Council.

Who is eligible?

All schools and community groups in the UK can apply. All projects must involve children under the age of 16 in the planting of trees or, where the trees are too big to be directly handled by them, children must be involved in related educational activities.

The educational aspect might be during the design, planning and planting of the orchard or, in schools, it might be part of curriculum related projects that will be enhanced by fruit growing.

Planting must take place on publicly accessible land.

How do I apply?

An application form can be downloaded from the Tree Council website. You can find the guidance notes here as well.

The deadline for applications is the 31st of March 2015.

Good luck with your applications and let us know how you get on!