Vergers du Vallon

The “Vergers du Vallon” association, created in 2015, has a 1.12 ha area located on a limestone hillside to the east of the city under an agreement with the Rouen municipality. The first fruit trees and shrubs were planted by the town’s green spaces department in 2014.
Since then, new trees have been planted every year (almost 300 in total) to increase the range of species and varieties. An apiary, installed in 2018, currently comprises 5 hives, two of which are occupied by certified black bee colonies, and is managed by members.

In addition, the association is part of the urban gardening network and has signed the urban gardener’s charter issued by the city of Rouen, but is the only association in this network to manage a participatory orchard.

Since the creation of the association, the diversity of fruit trees has increased, the orchard is managed ecologically, a better knowledge of general biodiversity, harvested and processed the fruits of the orchard.
The aim is to increase knowledge of biodiversity, and in particular of the biocenoses of pollinating insects, whose role in an orchard is essential, even if the essential objectives of the orchard are not necessarily intensive fruit production.The plan for 2023 is to carry out a highly detailed survey of the main insect groups involved in pollination.

In August 2023, 6 SOCAPS employees were able to take part in a half-day of discovery and awareness-raising through skills sponsorship, and also helped pick fruit from the orchard.