FOREST of Dean Pagans visited the ASHA Centre retreat near Mitcheldean to perform their annual wassailing ceremony to bless the orchards.

Wassailing refers to the custom of visiting orchards in cider-producing regions of England and singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year.

Notable traditional wassailing songs include Here We Come a-Wassailing, Gloucestershire Wassail and Gower Wassail.

Set in the middle of the countryside in the heart of the Forest of Dean, ASHA is an educational charity and retreat centre established in 1996 by humanitarian campaigner and author Zerbanoo Gifford.

The centre encourages and supports philanthropy worldwide and works for interfaith and intercultural understanding, promoting peaceful co-operation between people of different religions and cultures.