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Until the end of the 1970s, orchards shaped the landscape of Franconia and Upper Palatinate. Orchards surrounded the villages, avenues of fruit trees ran through the wide hilly country, making the landscape more colorful and increasing its diversity. Until the end of the 1970s, orchards shaped the landscape of Franconia and Upper Palatinate. Orchards surrounded the villages, avenues of fruit trees ran through the wide hilly country. The expansion of rural communities and towns, the conversion of orchards into arable land, and the redesign of rural path networks and road construction have caused the splashes of color that the fruit trees gave the landscape to disappear. At the turn of the millennium, Ulrike and Hubertus Meckel traveled around the area around Bad Windsheim and Burgbernheim in Middle Franconia and filmed some of the remaining orchards from blossom to harvest. Up to 40 species of birds breed in the orchards. They are refuges for particularly endangered species. The fallen fruit in autumn provides food for dormice, hedgehogs and various types of mice. The filmmakers also visited the “Orchard Day” in Burgbernheim. A festival where everyone can learn about types of fruit and the possible uses of their own apples, pears and plums.