THE traditional apple is taking centre stage at the National Trust's Brockhampton Estate, near Bromyard, this weekend.

Estate teams have been busy harvesting fruit from its orchards this week, ready for pressing on Saturday and Sunday, October 10 and 11.

Ledbury's Little Cider Press will be bringing their along their press, ready to turn the fruit into delicious Herefordshire cider.

From 11am to 4pm, visitors are invited to bring their own apples to be pressed or make use of the estate's apples, at a cost of £40 for 50kg of apple.

The resulting juice will ferment over the coming year and slowly and naturally turn itself into cider. All types of apples can be used, whether they are eaters, cookers or cider apples.

Harvesting apples is one of Herefordshire’s most ancient traditions and ancient estates like Brockhampton often have a range of unidentified apple varieties growing in their orchards.

In recent years the range of apples grown for retail has shrunk dramatically and it is so important to help preserve these old varieties by making use of the fruit and ensuring the crop is harvested from the orchards which helps to keep the orchards healthy.

To book a squeezing session at this event, contact the Little Cider Press on 07445 253367.