A VILLAGE is planning to turn itself into one big community fruit and vegetable patch.

Campaigners in Clapham want to involve the entire population in growing fruit and vegetables which they can exchange with each other to become self-sufficient.

Farmer John Dawson, of Bleak Bank, has already given an acre of land for the village to grow potatoes on, and, as well as using money from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority to plant trees and bushes around the village, residents plan to introduce bee hives to help plant pollination.

Eddie Leggett of Clapham Sustainability Group said members were already surveying the village for fruit trees and bushes and that some of the YDNPA’s £450 grant would pay for different varieties to be planted in the gardens of interested residents in the New Year.

“It’s an experiment to see how far we can take this but we need the support of all the villagers,” he said.

“The idea is for residents to swap or share fruit and the survey will help show up where there are gaps in fruit varieties.”

The list of produce which the villagers aim to grow for themselves includes apples, pears, plums, damsons, gages, red and blackcurrants, raspberries, blackberries, loganberries, gooseberries and nuts, along with a range of vegetables.

“Our aim in the long term is to be as self-sufficient as a community as possible,” said Mr Leggett.

“We have started with fruit trees, helped a lot by the Ingleborough Estate which is said to have planted a fruit tree in the garden of each house in Clapham.

“We are also looking at bee-keeping and plan to have at least eight hives in the parish next year following training in May.

“We already have an allotment which we will be using to grow produce.”

The village is streets ahead on green issues as the sustainability group has around 40 active members and a co-operative group has been providing members with bio-diesel for two years.