Green-fingered pupils from Pewsey Primary School brought Broomcroft Road to life on Friday when they planted the village’s community orchard.

It was the idea of Terry Eyles, chairman of Pewsey Parish Council’s environment committee, who was inspired by a Wiltshire Wildlife presentation.

Pewsey parish councillors dug holes for the 15 Wiltshire apple trees before the youngsters planted them in.

Mr Eyles said: “When I saw the presentation I thought ‘we could do something like that’, and I thought the land that the parish council have up at Broomcroft would be perfect.

“Gary Lamont from Wiltshire Wildlife came to see it and he thought it was ideal, so he sorted out the trees and I spoke to the head teacher at the school to see if they would like to be involved.

“I’m so glad I did because she was delighted.

“Gary came down and spoke to the kids and they were so excited and interested in what he had to say, it was brilliant.

“It was a good morning, it was a bit cold but it was really nice to have the children there getting involved. Everyone had a great time.”

The orchard will be overseen by the parish council but residents are welcome to help out with maintenance and can pick the apples.

The trees are expected to bear fruit in two years and the apples will be fit for consumption the following year.

Mr Eyles said: “It’s a community orchard, so it’s for everybody to come and pick apples and I hope people will. As far as I’m aware, the village hasn’t done anything like this before so it should be a really good thing for the community and for the people of Pewsey.

“People who saw the planting came over and said what a great idea it was.

“I’m going to look at getting a sign to go up there to say it’s a community orchard so everyone knows what it is and will go and use it.”