Pressing need for Clyde Valley apples - video

The stall selling the juice as the apples were pressed proved a hit at last year’s Fruit Day (see video) and, in the months since, sales have increased to the point that the Clyde Valley Orchards Cooperative (CVOC) members need more apples than they can grow themselves!!

They are looking for donations from anyone who has apple trees with crops they are unable to use.

They can arrange picking, if needed, and collection from local orchards.

In return, they will ensure that those donating fruit try some of the delicious pressed apple juice.

“Clyde Valley Orchards Cooperative are a community based group dedicated to turning the area’s fruit into products that people want,” says Duncan Arthur of CVOC.

“We’ve been producing local apple juice for seven years now – last year we were able to offer it for sale in local delis and farm shops.

“People have developed such a taste for it that our group, made up of volunteers, can’t keep up with orders.”

As the leading commercial fruit producing area, the Clyde Valley was once known as the Fruit Basket of Scotland. Although substantially diminished in number since their heyday in the 19th century, South Lanarkshire still has the largest number of orchards in Scotland, with over 200.

CVOC is involved with a number of projects which look to revive the Clyde Valley orchards with support of Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership (CAVLP), Central Scotland Green Network Trust (CSGNT) and Rural Development Trust.

Since 2011, 207 individuals have received training in orchard management and received support to develop orchard products leading to the launch of Clyde Valley Orchards apple juice in 2015.

CVOC will be demonstrating live apple pressing at the seventh annual Fruit Day, on Saturday October 1 at Overton Farm, Carluke.

If you have unused apples that you’d like to donate, to arrange a collection or a picking, contact CVOV at [email protected] or phone 01555 860 533 or 07807 077 341.

Visit the website at www.clydevalleyorchards.co.uk or the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ClydeValleyOrchards.