Apples and pears – from the trees

Greytown’s Molewood Orchard has just opened its gates for Pick Your Own: apples and _ for the first time _ pears.

Last year was the first the family-run orchard opened to the public, which greeted the initiative with huge enthusiasm, as people travelled from throughout the Wairarapa and much further afield to pick fresh, sun-warmed fruit from the trees.

The Cooke family, who returned to managing Molewood Orchard in 2022, is delighted to be

preparing for another pick-your-own season and to build on the success of last year with a number of initiatives.

This season the orchard is offering pick-your-own pears as well as apples. 

“Last year we provided ready-picked pears at the orchard shed, but this year we decided to throw open the pear block to pickers,” says Wendell Cooke. 

The “pear block” includes four varieties: Buerre Bosc, Packham’s, Taylor’s Gold and Doyenne du Comice.

Ed and Wendell Cooke recently uncovered an additional gate on Mole Street that was completely overgrown in the shelter belt. The car park by the orchard shed has been expanded, so.together with the new exit, this means parking is available in the orchard grounds.

The Cookes say they are also excited to introduce their new picnic area, Molewood Meadows, to the community. 

Two of the open spaces within the orchard (formerly full of tree stumps and holes) have been ploughed and planted with fresh grass. The Cookes say the Meadows are intended as a picnic area and space for community events. 

Molewood Meadows will also be the venue for the inaugural Greytown Apple Harvest Festival at Molewood Orchard on 27 April 2024.

When: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. each weekend from Saturday 2 March until the end of King’s Birthday Weekend.

Where: 17 Mole Street, Greytown, Wairarapa

Website: https://www.molewoodorchard.com/