DROVE ORCHARDS HERITAGE

DROVE HOUSE

Drove House was originally built in 1710, as the rectory for the villages of Thornham and Holme-next-Sea. Sold in the mid-C19th, it was extensively added to in the 1880’s by Major G (Joey) Legh, a great golfer in his day who helped found the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club at Brancaster. Archie Jamieson first came to the Drove House in 1910 but it was not until after WW1 that the Jamieson family moved to the property where David Jamieson grew up. A keen bird watcher and naturalist, David fell in love with the North Norfolk coast and with the peaceful village of Thornham in particular. Warned by his father of the imminence of war, he relinquished a place at Cambridge to join the 7th battalion of the Royal Norfolk Regiment in May 1939.

DURING THE WAR

Meanwhile, his father became Chairman of Vickers-Armstrong, the manufacturer of the Spitfire and major UK armaments manufacturer during the war. Although heavily involved with the British Expeditionary Force in France in 1940, David (now Captain) Jamieson’s first major test came on 1944, shortly after the Normandy landings, where he secured a bridgehead over the River Orne at Grimbosq. The image of him directing operations from a tank, exposed to enemy fire, became an iconic image of the Norfolk’s epic stand (click here to see picture) (click here to read the citation accompanying the announcement of Captain Jamieson being awarded the VC).

LIFE AFTER THE ARMY

Retiring from the army, Major Jamieson pursued a successful business career. However, his main love remained the Norfolk Coast where he started Drove Orchards and planted the first apples in 1952.

From selling wholesale to the ravages of supermarkets, from pick-your-own as a plentiful and cheap provider of fruit in winter to PYO as a nice day out, from focussing on three varieties to introducing over 150, Drove Orchards has evolved over the years. Representing one of the last commercial orchards in Norfolk, we are proud to be thriving (and planting new trees) on the basis of a renewed consumer interest in the diversity and history of English fruit and in the immense success of our apple, pear and quince juices, grown, made and bottled here at Drove Orchards.

NEWS & EVENTS