HEREFORDSHIRE'S tradition of apple growing and cider making has been celebrated over two weekends of events across the county.

Leominster's 16th annual apple fair, at the town's Priory Church, was one of the busiest yet attracting a steady flow of visitors who sampled rarely-seen varieties of apple, freshly pressed apple juice, apple cakes and tarts and to see the work of local artists and crafts-people.

Experts from the Marcher Apple Network were kept particularly busy in their task of identifying 'mystery' apples brought in by members of the public and there were 180 varieties of locally grown traditional apples on display.

Organiser, Felicity Norman, said: "It's a lot of work to get all the varieties gathered in for the fair but the end result displayed in the Norman nave of the Priory is greatly appreciated by visitors. One of the main aims has been to revive interest in local fruit and local fruit growing."

Among the successes of the day, they were able to identify a dozen varieties of apple from a borders community orchard where tree name labels had been lost.

And popular two-day event, the Big Apple, pulled in around 1,000 people to help celebrate English apples

and cider in the parishes of the Marcle Ridge.

Eight venues in total were offering a variety of apple-themed events, including cider heavy-weight Westons.

Jackie Denman, secretary of the Big Apple, said: "We had two aims – to make sure lots of people came and that people went to as many different venues as possible. There were eight different venues open over the weekend and there was a tractor and trailer that Westons provided that linked some of the venues.

"We know that there were lots of people moving around and looking at different cider makers and perry makers. It was a fantastic opportunity to go and enjoy seeing the same thing being done in lots of different ways."

Money was also raised for local causes over the weekend and a number of volunteers were on hand to help.

Another highlight was the Big Apple's link-up with Ledbury Poetry Festival in the Poetry Orchard.

Paul Henry, Herefordshire Poet in Residence, lead the event but was joined by around 20 contributors who all read their apple-inspired verses.