Apple Pressing Service

Preparation

Pick your apples when they are ripe.

You can tell if the fruit is ripe by lifting the fruit gently and giving it a slight twist. If it parts easily from the spur, leaving the stalk intact, it is ready to be picked.

You do not need to wash your fruit as all apples go into a washing tank before entering the press.

Please do not bring apples with bird peck holes, large bruises or rotten/mouldy flesh.

Quantities

We can press as many or as few apples as you bring. The press is very large, so juice from small quantities can get lost in the pipework when pumping from the press to the holding tank, then to the pasteuriser and onto the bottling header tank. We therefore batch small quantities of similar apple varieties together to minimise wastage.

Approximately 1 kg of apples will give 0.5 litre of juice.

Instructions

Pick into baskets, boxes, trays or carriers with strong handles. Avoid using black bin sacks (they tear easily) and hippo bags (too heavy to lift by hand).

When you arrive, please contact a member of staff. You will be asked to unload your fruit into the bulk bin provided, and we will fill in the booking form with your details and label the bin. Your apples will be pressed as soon as we have a slot in the schedule, so if there's a wait feel free to grab a coffee and browse our farm stall!

Cider

We can supply you with unpasteurised juice, for making your own cider. Please bring your labelled fermenting container with your apples to the farm but specify you want cider juice!

Bottling

The juice will be pasteurised into glass bottles (so that you can keep it for up to a year) and boxed into cases.

We will then phone or message you to collect (please be prompt as we cannot box up other people’s juice until storage space becomes vacant).

The current waiting time is usually 3-4 weeks, but longer if we have a mechanical breakdown, increased demand or shortage of bottles.

Recycling

Unfortunately we are unable to steam sterilise and store bottles in sterile conditions so cannot reuse old bottles. We recommend that customers recycle their bottles according to local council instruction.

Notification of surcharge for small quantities:

Please note that there will be a surcharge of £10.00 for less than 100kg brought in for processing.

Summer 2023 Prices

Please contact us for this year's prices.

Booking Process

Please call or email us to book in your slot - we are open Monday-Friday, 7am - 3pm and are closed on weekends.

Payment

We can accept card or cash, but bank transfer is preferable.