Broomhill Park, hailed as Strood’s hidden gem, is set to get another jewel in its crown – a nine-acre orchard.

A campaign has been launched to raise £50,000 to buy the land in Brompton Lane which would the double the size of the neighbouring park.

The owners of the privately-owned orchard bought it about 40 years ago and are prepared to sell it to the Friends of Broomhill Park. However, the volunteer group needs to stump up the money in a year.

Friends’ chairman Ben Cooper described the potential purchase as a “chance in a lifetime” and one they had been looking at for years.

Mr Cooper, a teacher who lives near Broomhill, is reasonably confident of getting the cash having received cross-party support from Medway councillors.

He is starting his fundraising push at an event at the Guildhall in Rochester tonight attended by the Mayor of Medway, Cllr Stuart Tranter.

Mr Cooper, a father-of-two, said: “It is important that we preserve this land and prevent it being developed for housing like so many other pockets of land in the area.”

To this end the site has been declared an asset of community value and has a public right of way through, both of which would throw obstacles in the way of a developer.

Mr Cooper added: “The orchard of pear, apple and damson trees has been allowed to go wild since it was bought about 40 years ago. We want to preserve it as an orchard and help to preserve wildlife.”

The next stage of the Friends’ scheme would be to submit an application for lottery funding.

Mr Cooper said: “At the top there are views of the Medway and the Thames. It’s on a hill, so there is no disabled access. We would want to have a zig-zag route so disabled people could to use it.

“We are also looking at educational usage with pop-up schools as well as perhaps a recreational, sports facility.”

The park was run down when the Friends, which now has 150 members, was set up 10 years ago. It has since won the green flag environmental award for six years running.