How it started

In the autumn of 1877, a cricket ball struck the boundary fence at the village ground with such force that it split clean in two. What Reginald Jaffa found inside was not cork and twine, but bright, fragrant citrus flesh. He said nothing to anyone. He simply collected the halves, walked home, and planted the seeds.

The grove that grew from that afternoon has been in the family ever since. Five generations of quiet, careful cultivation. The trees are not like other trees. The fruit is not like other fruit. Each piece grows encased in hand-stitched red leather, with a raised seam that runs from pole to pole. Inside, the flesh is orange, fragrant, and unmistakably cricket.

Five Generations of the Grove

The second generation planted the Lower Orchard in 1912, expanding the grove beyond the original boundary. The third saw it through two wars, hiding the harvest from requisition officers who could never quite understand what they were looking at. The fourth introduced the Farm Shop, finally sharing the estate's produce with the village. And the fifth, the current custodians, have simply tried to do what every generation before them did: tend the grove, respect the fruit, and never, ever explain it.

The Terroir

The terroir here is unique. Something in the soil, something in the proximity to the pitch, something in the way the afternoon light falls across the square leg boundary produces a citrus of extraordinary character. Bright, sharp, with a hint of leather and linseed. Our growers call it "unplayable." We have never found reason to disagree.

The Method

The estate's cultivation methods have raised the occasional eyebrow. Since 1954, the groundsmen have played Test Match Special on loudspeakers throughout the orchard. The Head Grower insists the fruit responds to commentary: Aggers and Bumble produce a particularly sweet harvest, while anything involving a review of the batting collapse tends to sour the crop. Boycott (the dog, not the batsman) leaves the orchard whenever Tufnell is on air. We have learned not to question any of this.

We do not advertise. We do not explain. The grove has been here since 1877 and it will be here long after. If you have found us, you were meant to.