After the apple pressing at Symon and Jon's

Woodpeckers got a message yesterday inviting us to visit Symon and Jon today to press some apple juice.  They have 25 acres of land lying just below the edge of Selsley Common where they had a house built eighteen years ago.  Now they have extensive floral and vegetable gardens, orchards, a variety of hedges and a stream running down the valley beside the house.

At this time of the year they need to pick and press the many apple types before the birds get them all.  Helena brought various plastic containers and after a quick coffee we took turns turning the handle of the shredder which prepares the pulp for the pressing machine, all of which is hand operated.  I was amazed at how much juice we got from the pile of apples.  We needed to pick another load of apples from several different types in the orchard which were then tipped into a container to wash them before the shredding continued.

Half way through Jon made us tea to accompany the delicious cookies and cakes he had made earlier and then we returned to work.  I took a few pictures of the various stages of the work but for some reason those images are a little soft.  I then changed the lens to this zoom and it is a bit better.  Here is a view from the rear patio looking past the mulberry tree towards Pen woods on the edge of Selsley Common.  The Cotswold Way, a long distance footpath runs through the wood from which a small spring feeds the stream that has formed this valley and it now runs down past the house.  

The stream is now carefully managed in a stone trench in which Jon has introduced watercress in abundance.  He gave us a huge carrier bag full to bring home, which I hope to cook into a soup tomorrow.