Very dry soil

Hi Scottydog
I'm sure that the moisture content will improve a bit following the removal of your brambles, especially over the winter.
Whilst the established apple trees will obviously soak up a lot of water, and the soil around them will be drier, as a general rule, the roots are the same distance from the trunk underground as the branches are above ground, so beyond that you shouldn't notice too much difference.
What you will find is that the brambles and the grass have taken a lot of the goodness and fertility from the soil, so now that you have the area cleared, you could dig it over then spread a layer of compost or FYM over the dug up area and leave it over winter for the weather and worms to pull it down into the soil. Then in Spring it should be easy to fork over and you will not nly have increased the fertility but also the moisture retention properties of your soil.
Of course if you are going to go down the route of raised beds, put these in firdst before putting the FYM / compost in place - no point fertising areas that will be used solely as paths.
As for the trees - put a mulch around the base of the trees as this will help conserve moisture and in a small way stop the roots having to travel further afield in search of water.

Thanks for the advise Rat. That's my job for next Saturday sorted then!!

Scotty