East Lothian company will give you cider for your apples

AN East Lothian drinks company is calling on people to donate their apples - in exchange for cider.

Thistly Cross Cider will swap drinks for apples

Thistly Cross Cider has launched its ‘apple appeal’ as the company hopes to rediscover all abandoned, overlooked and neglected local northern apple trees and put their fruit to good use.

The cider producer will swap those apple donations, big or small, for real fruit cider or juice. Around 7kg of apples usually equates to a bottle.

Peter Stuart, head cidermaker at Thistly Cross said: “The apple season is the most important time year for Thistly.

“Despite frost resulting in devastating losses to European apple crops this spring - as much as 40 per cent in some countries - we’re lucky that the hardy Scottish apple thrives in poor weather, very much like our Scottish cider.

“We’re hoping for a bumper crop in 2017.”

In previous years, the firm has held a ‘bucket for a bottle’ scheme, which resulted in the collection of hundreds of tonnes of apples.

Apples can be handed over at The Store, Belhaven Fruit Farm, Thistly Cross Roundabout, Dunbar, EH42 1ST.