THE county's new £500,000 Orchard Centre at Hartpury is officially opening with three days of celebrations starting on Thursday (May 14).
On May 14, the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Henry Elwes, will open the centre.
On Friday, renowned cider and perry maker Peter Mitchell will be talking about the range of courses being run at the oak-framed Orchard Centre and its surrounding orchards.
On Saturday, visitors will be welcomed to an open day giving people the chance to taste locally-produced perry and to look around the orchards.
The Orchard Centre is part of the Collection of Historic Orcharding Trees (COHORT) project – a village initiative run by the Hartpury Historic Land and Buildings Trust, aiming to preserve Gloucestershire's orcharding heritage.
The new purpose-built Orchard Centre and surrounding orchards are being developed thanks to almost £100,000 from Gloucestershire Rural Renaissance, which helped draw in a further £234,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £50,000 from the Gloucestershire Environmental Trust as well as ongoing support from Natural England, other grants and donations.
Jim Chapman from the Trust, who has spent over ten years creating an orchard of more than 100 different varieties of perry pear in Hartpury – granted National Collection status – said: "We were delighted with the response to the cider and perry making courses. We appear to have already gained an international reputation as a training centre of quality – even though we aren't officially opening until May 14!"
James Lloyd from Gloucestershire First, which managed the Gloucestershire Rural Renaissance scheme, said: "We recognise the economic potential of this sector, so we were delighted to support this unusual and innovative project to help revive traditional orcharding skills and fruit production in the Forest of Dean."