Round and Round the Orchard

Bronwen Owen, just retired at the age of 60, is considering a proposal of marriage from Ben, and this leads her to remember his first proposal more than forty years earlier.


At that time, during the exciting years of the 1930s, an invitation to a party in London by her friend Madelaine leads to her meeting the type of person she had never encountered before, thus prompting her to reflect that Ben might be a bit dull by comparison. On top of this she is plunged into another world away from home when she is sent to Devon at the beginning of World War II.


Joining the Women’s Land Army, Bronwen’s experiences with the different farms and families for which she works are quite an education and also expand her possible relationships with men. But although there are times when she meets men she likes, it seems she always draws back at the last minute. These circumstances lead to a landlady in Devon pointing out that if she went round and round the orchard too many times she would find only windfalls left. A statement which will haunt Bronwen many times over the years.


This mainly wartime story draws considerably from the author’s own experiences in the Women’s Land Army, giving it an authentic and captivating appeal.