A Glastonbury community group has successfully bought the orchard once owned by local farmer Wilf Peddle, following a high-profile fundraising campaign.

The Friends of St Edmund's Well CIC placed the winning £62,000 bid at a Greenslade Taylor Hunt auction held at Sedgemoor Auction Centre. The orchard, located off Edmund Hill Lane, was one of several lots in a 1.74-acre collection of land which sold for a combined total of £217,000 — more than three times the overall guide price.

Campaigners had been raising funds to secure what they described as a "precious part of Glastonbury's heritage". The group said it believed other bidders had withheld bids out of support for the cause.

The CIC says it plans to restore the land as a community space, plant commemorative trees, enhance local biodiversity and honour Mr Peddle's legacy.

Known locally as the "Egg Man", Wilf Peddle delivered eggs around Glastonbury in his Morris Minor van for decades. He died in June 2023 aged 74.

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