A year in the orchard

Beginning in January 2024, the artists documented a year’s cycle at Crapes – a 16-acre orchard near Aldham where over 200 varieties of apple, as well as pears, plums, gages, quince and medlar are grown and distributed nationwide.

Walking the orchards with farmer Andrew Tann, they recorded sounds and captured photographs that reveal the quiet rhythms of farm life.

What to expect

Now this captivating world of Crapes comes to Firstsite. Step into the orchard and journey through the seasons in an immersive audio-visual installation created by the two artists.

Through projected images and sounds drawn from the audio field recordings, experience birdsong, the rustle of leaves, and the changing sights of soil, trees, tools and fruit.

You’ll explore the daily work, seasonal changes and rich biodiversity that make Crapes so unique.

Alongside the installation, archival material traces the story of this century-old fruit farm, nurtured through three generations of the Tann family since 1922.

Over this time, it has evolved into an extraordinary place through Andrew’s curiosity and experimentation focused on a partnership with the ecosystem, rather than seeking its domination.

About the artists

Hana Loftus is a writer and designer with a focus on rural places. Her work has encompassed architecture, landscape design and planning as well as writing and documenting places and people in a range of media.

Hana is co-director of the architecture and planning practice HAT Projects, based in Colchester and working in communities across East Anglia and beyond. Born in Suffolk and of Japanese and English parentage, she is currently working on her first book, which was shortlisted for the Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize earlier in 2025.

Maddie Persent takes photographs, mostly on 35mm film. Born in Colchester and shaped by formative years in Tokyo, she is interested in photographing places and built forms.

After years of working with her phone as a medium, she returned to film in 2023. For her, the process is as important as the image; in an age of instant access and endless screens, film offers space to slow down, listen and capture what could otherwise be overlooked.

Photography by Maddie Persent, Apples ripening in the orchard.