THE village of Colwall is the venue for a day of family fun and games to mark National Apple Day and to celebrate Colwall Orchard Group's tenth birthday.

The event, held in Colwall's village garden on Saturday, October 21, includes the chance to have a go with the new apple catapult, turn your own apples into juice and much more.

Running from 10.30am to 4.30pm, the event includes apple-based crafts and children’s activities at the crafts and games stall and story telling in a new tipi.

There will also be grapple the apple games, an apple pinata and a display of apples from the orchard;s surrounding the village.

A rare-breed pig roast will be operating at lunchtime with local home-made apple sauce, and a pop-up cafe in the apple packing shed, will be serving delicious fresh apple juice, teas, coffee and cakes. Beer and cider will also be available.

Anyone with spare apples is welcome to bring them along and join the orchard group's volunteers in scratting and pressing them to make apple juice.

Helen Stace, event organiser, said: "Fresh apple juice has a fantastic fresh zingy flavour, which varies according to the varieties being pressed. We generally make a mixed juice, but will do some single variety pressings if we get enough of any one sort. We also juice pears if anyone has enough to make a batch. If you have lots, let us know so that we can book you in”.

"We hope to have over 100 local apple varieties on display, all with different flavours and uses. Our apple expert Tim Dixon will be on hand to explain the wonders of the different varieties and to identify unknown apples.

"Apple identification costs £5, and we need at least three undamaged apples, picked from the sunny side of the tree, with a spray of mature leaves and a new shoot of leaves."

Colwall Orchard Group owns and manages Colwall Village Garden where it has created a community orchard.

Among its achievements are creating the allotments, which are rented to Colwall Allotment Association, and planting 244 trees in the orchard and 47 fruit trees in the hedges and around the allotments.