James Meller, managing director and founder of the company, said ‘people from all over the island who have apple trees on their property love this scheme which enables us to collect enough apples to make our cider unique and truly local’.

For the six Saturdays from September 15th until October 27th between 10am and 12 midday islanders can deliver their apple crops, however large or small in volume, and collect their cider or cash in exchange. James confirmed ‘we expect a lot of interest this year as growers have already been in contact to confirm their commitment, all we ask is that the apples are free from pesticides or foreign bodies and are not bruised’

Rocquette Cider Company is Guernsey’s only commercial cider maker and is based on the family farm at Les Fauxquets de Haut, Rue des Fauxquets, Castel, GY5 7QA, and all apple variants are welcome from every Parish.

Remaining true to the traditional Rocquette cider roots, which focus on natural, organic production techniques at the family farm in the Fauxquets Valley, both new products are pure. The apple juice is simply that fresh pressed apple juice (with a touch of vitamin c to prevent oxidisation) and the honey only travels from the field, to the barn, to the jar to your home…a journey of no more than about 10 miles (max!).

Managing Director, James Meller stated “both new products are an obvious extension considering the need to keep bees for pollination purposes, and the opportunity to look at expanding on our apple harvest in the coming years. This year we are trialling both products, which will soon be available at Forest Stores and at farmers markets. We are really excited about our growth and hope that the local community supports our efforts to create a great range of Guernsey products. We are also looking to expand our cider range in to the UK market. It’s going to be a tough nut to crack, but we are confident that the quality of our products combined with the strong Guernsey heritage and sustainable appraoch will be enough to generate some momentum.”

Managing Director James Meller Stated “We’ve been delighted with the turn out from the local community over the past six weekends. People really got behind the apple drive and we managed to generate more than eight tonnes, which, combined with our own orchard harvest and the bumper crop last year has set us up well for the cider making season, despite the inclement summer.

We are passionate about the local roots of our cider and believe that community involvement protects our product from the impact of the weather and means that apples don’t go to waste. We knew that we were unlikely to achieve the same volumes as last year because the apples simply didn’t grow in size or number, but so many more members of the community turned out to help us that we almost matched last years’ strong harvest. We started 2012 with plentiful stocks and the increase in community involvement and our on-going tree planting programme means that we will soon be looking to expand in to new markets to really get Guernsey Cider on the map.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to all of the local people who got involved in the apple swap this year. We’ll be holding a Wassail party (an ancient Viking ritual intended to ensure a good cider apple harvest) early next year and would welcome community involvement once again.”