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Late-season apples: tree-ripened and full of flavour

In The Lost Orchard, Raymond Blanc captures the magic of orchard-fresh apples (vs. other apples) perfectly:“…[apples] picked green and helped in suspended animation, can never compare to fruit that is allowed to linger on the tree and tasted at the optimum moment.”We couldn’t agree more. Our late-season apples stay on the tree longer, soaking up the last of the autumn sun. They’re picked only when they’ve developed their full flavour, texture, and sweetness, and you can taste the dif...

Remembering Harold Woolford

We share sad news that Harold Woolford, head orchardist for many decades at Newstead Orchard, passed away this week.His funeral will be at 11 am on Tuesday. His daughter Jean Darby ran the orchard shop until the end of last season, and his son John Woolford is the current head orchardist.  Below is his obituary, where you can find details of his funeral and how to send messages to his family.There will also be a condolences book in the orchard shop from next week. Harold WOOLFORD ...

Collaboration with Volare

Good things happen when locals pull together and support each other. We are super excited to be supporting these rockstar Waikato bakers....

Waikato Times Article

Thank you to the Waikato Times for sharing our story. Richard Walker, you did a great job capturing a little bit of the history and character of the orchard authentically and beautifully.'Don’t bother asking orchardist John Woolford about the numbers. How many fruit trees? How many hectares? How much fruit is sold through the shop?Woolford laughs. He doesn’t know. In a way, he doesn’t care.Annie Perkins has been asking those questions as well, as she starts taking over Newstead Orchard fr...