Munsley fruit farmer Phil Hunt, of Rectory Farm, is the first grower in the UK to be harvesting his 32 acres of cider apples with a revolutionary new apple picker.

The Tuthill Centipede apple harvester was officially launched at Bulmer's open day last Friday (November 2).

But Mr Hunt has already put the machine through its paces in a trial to cope with rainy autumn days.

He said: "It's got to the stage that we need to pick the fruit up a lot quicker. The weather seems to have changed and the season seems to be wetter now."

The new harvester, which sweeps up fruit from the ground, has increased his average daily bag of apples from 20 tonnes to around 80 tonnes.

Mr Hunt said: "The new picker makes a huge difference. It just scoops the apples up but with little damage to the fruit."

Designer George Tuthill said: "The machine allows the fruit to be moved horizontally across the floor and is therefore very gentle on the fruit itself.

"So far it has exceeded all my expectations. When it's wet, that's when you prove the worth of a harvester."

The new machine can pick up fruit in rows of up to 6m wide in just one pass. It automatically cleans the apples and delivers them to trailers.