We are making plans to produce over 3,000 bottles of juice. This is a big logistical task and relies on a huge effort from our staff.

If you want to donate this year, we are encouraging donors to collect crates in advance in order to make drop off smoother.

Donations will be taken on Tuesdays & Thursdays between 4:30-6pm. On the dates below.

• Tues 11th Aug 4:30-6pm
• Thurs 13th  Aug  4:30-6pm
• Tues 18th  Aug  4:30-6pm
• Thurs 20th Aug  4:30-6pm
• Tues 25th Aug  4:30-6pm
• Thurs 27th Aug  4:30-6pm
• Tues 1st Sept  4:30-6pm
• Thurs 3rd Sept  4:30-6pm

Please note that we can take a maximum of 5,000 KG of apples and if donations are significant we may have to close early.

We can only accept cooking or eating apples – no crab apples.

When you bring your apples to us we will weigh them, this is called the ‘Dry Weight’.
We estimate that we can extract 50% of the juice from your donation and this is called the ‘Wet Weight’.

When apples are donated to us we will give you 25% of the volume of juice produced back, pasteurised in glass bottles. We then sell the rest throughout the year to cover the costs of the project.

All apples must be in good condition, only minor bruising and not rotten.

Minimum donation = 12kg of apples

Maximum donation = 200kg of apples

Please remember we cannot process rotten or mouldy fruit. Freshly picked, ripe fruit is best. Super soft fruit is also very difficult to process.

If you pick and store your apples before we can use them then please check for any rotten or mouldy apples. Some light bruising, stalks and leaves are all fine.

We generally try to avoid windfall apples where possible, especially if there are pets roaming the garden. All types of apples are great, a good mix of varieties gives the best results. Cookers and eaters are all welcome as they help balance sweetness and acidity. Even apples you wouldn’t consider eating are good (as long as not rotten of course). We can’t take any pear or other fruit donations as we don’t have the right kit to process them.

Picking Apples Methods: (suggestions from The Orchard Project)

These methods are offered as suggestions only. The individuals picking the fruit need to make sure their activity is safe.

1. Use telescopic apple pickers to reach individual apples. This is pretty slow!

2. Shake apples into a tarpaulin or sheet – an experienced and competent person climbs the tree and shakes it, or grip the tree with a hook on a long pole and shake it from the ground.
Wear protective head gear! Gets lots of apples out of the tree quickly. You end up with twigs and leaves in with the apples which are a pain when washing the apples.

3. Shake the tree as above, but just let them hit the ground. This is pretty quick, but lots of bending over. You can get all the windfall at the same time, and sort apples you want from those you don’t.

4. Pick any you can reach off the branch. Easy.