The man who planted (the) trees

The orchard was planted in 2001, by Dr Iraj Poostchi and his daughter, Pooneh.

Iraj came to Britain after the Iranian Revolution. He was a member of the Ba’hai faith and a man of great spiritual integrity. Before retiring to Henley he devoted his life to the poor of the developing world – working as an international rural development consultant on over 800 projects in 25 countries.

In 2001, at 68, he decided to put down new roots and created the orchard from a strip of pasture land.  His aim was to grow “good, good value fruit for the local community”, at which he succeeded.