Pressing times

Heritage and rare apples pressed for juice

We are extremely grateful to the Cyder team from The Newt who very kindly helped us with the production of a wonderful apple juice this winter.

The collaboration has enabled us to use our own produce, along with The Newt's expertise and facilities, to create a local product which is being sold in support of our charity. 

The Carymoor orchard was created on a south facing hillside overlooking the Dimmer landfill site and is just one of many habitat creation projects on the site.  The orchard began life in 2005 when we were awarded a grant under the Somerset Landscape Scheme from Somerset County Council.  This grant was designed to encourage the restoration of Somerset’s ancient orchards and it made it possible to create our orchard using traditional varieties. 

We chose to plant varieties that were commonly used before the Second World War and each variety has its own character and uses, as well as having unusual names such as Slack-Ma-Girdle and Brown Snout.

Over the autumn our regular volunteers picked and sorted all the usable apples from the different trees and they were carefully transported down the road to The Newt where the Cyder team worked their magic.  The apples were washed, pressed and the juice carefully blended to produce a wonderfully clear and delightfully tasty result which has been bottled and labelled with The Newt's usual flair.

The apples that were not good enough to be juiced were left in the orchard for birds and other wildlife to feed on over the winter. 

Our Somerset Apple juice is for sale to visitors to our centre as well as being available at The Red Barn Farm shop and Take No Wrap in Yeovil. 

Read more about the wildlife and biodiversity benefits of orchards here