(Robertsbridge, East Sussex)
Produce:
Apples, pears & juices
Oakwood has been an orchard since 1947 and has been in Matthew Wilson’s family since 1951 when his grandad purchased the land and passed it down to his son- Matthew’s father. Oakwood is located in Robertsbridge, East Sussex and comprises of 93 acres including roughly 25 acres of woodland and hedgerows. Matthew has lived here his whole life and decided to convert to organic practises in 1997 for two major reasons: dislike of the direction the industry was heading in and feeling pushed down the supermarket route. Matthew perceived the organic route would be more tailored to independent wholesalers and growers and much preferred this option. They completed the process in 2000.
Oakwood grows roughly 20 varieties of apples to provide the market with true to season fruit. Prior to this, the orchard primarily grew a few varieties of apple, such as russet, and tried to see the season through. However, it was soon realised this was not sustainable. Early varieties typically commence around the first week of August but have been known to creep forward to the tail end of July. Once picked, some varieties can be stored in air until March/ April the following year.
Oakwood apples go through a series of tests to ascertain the perfect time to pick the fruit to allow them to ripen in storage. The fruit is picked before it is ripe to ensure it has the best storage life. Defect fruit (typically misshapen or with insect bites) is juiced and the resulting pomace from the juicing process goes for animal feed locally. They put as much of their produce to work instead of discarding it.