Dumfries & Galloway’s 2026 Regionwide Apple Medley
Do you have apples growing which will go to waste? Would you like to participate in the gathering and central pressing of apples, and receive bottles of lovely juice in return?
If you own or have access to apple trees, the best way to get the juice is often to work with one of the brilliant local groups in the region that run local pressing days or let you borrow equipment. For info on groups, see local networks and social media.
If that doesn’t suit, the new Dumfries & Galloway Regionwide Apple Medley Project gives the opportunity for apples to be gathered from across the region and transported to Steilhead Cider’s apple presses near Auldgirth. The apples will be processed, pressed, and returned to you professionally bottled, with a 12-month shelf life.
Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands, a local charity working on a range of tree-related projects, is partnering with the team at Steilhead Cider (https://www.steilheadcider.co.uk/) this October to deliver an exciting project that aims to reconnect people with the wonder of juicing apples, and fruit harvests.
McNabb Laurie, from Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands, said:
“We are approaching the Apple Harvest – a time of celebration and importance in the historical calendar. Many people are getting ready to press their own apples, and we are so lucky to have a number of groups and options in the region.
For some people, pressing their own apples just isn’t possible and this ‘Apple Medley’ project gives an option to contribute to a region-wide pressing of apples, receiving bottles of juice made from your own apples. This project aims to celebrate Autumn’s Apple Harvest, make use of apples that might otherwise be wasted, and highlight the potential from our under used apple trees! What can be better than having a jar of apple juice on your shelf from your own trees?!”
Max from Steilhead Cider added:
“We at Steilhead Cider love apples and apple trees and we’re very excited to be a part of this project. Much of Dumfries and Galloway’s apple crop goes to waste every year and if we can help to turn this into healthy and delicious apple-juice for the Region’s folk to enjoy, we’ll be very happy!”
Project milestones:
28th September onwards – begin to pick your apples. The ideal is to pick them off the tree, and collect them as soon as possible before we collect them - the fresher the better. Treat them delicately, we can only process apples that you think look good enough to eat! Discard any damaged apples.
Take apples to one of the 2 collection points:
Tuesday 29th September 3-5pm @ Castle Douglas Market Hill Car Park.
Wednesday 30th September 3-5pm @ Brooms Road Car Park, Dumfries.
At each collection point, the apples are decanted into sacks (see photo). Each full sack will result in approximately 8 x 1 litre jars of lovely apple juice. Ideally the minimum contribution from each household = 1 sack. Note: Each sack equates to approximately 1 trug (see photo) – and can hold approximately 40lbs of Apples. We only have capacity to gather and process 100 sacks in total.
In addition to these public collection points, DG Woodlands team will be touring the region with a car and trailer to collect apples. Ideally these are for the larger collections of apples – i.e. 6 trugs/sacks or more. This will be limited by capacity on 29th and 30th September, and will be booked in on a first-come-first-served basis. We only have capacity to process 100 sacks of apples.
All sacks are taken to Steilhead Cider for processing (See Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands social media for what happens to them!).
The juice is returned to each of the collection points in 1 litre glass bottles, with a shelf life of 12 months. Each sack of apples provided = 8 bottles.
Bottle return dates – details TBC – probably late October.
To contribute towards cost of the project, a £1 per litre bottle of apple juice will be charged at time of juice collection. (Payable in October to Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands – in person or online here: https://dgwoodlands.org.uk/donate/).
For more information about Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands, follow them on social media, visit the website: www.dgwoodlands.org.uk or sign up for the newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/iAlL6k. Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands is registered in Scotland as a SCIO, number 052525. Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands received a grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund in 2024 which has allowed the organisation to accelerate progress and development.
Dumfries & Galloway Woodlands is a membership organisation. If you’d like to join as a member, visit the website. For any further info, please contact: mcnabb.laurie@dgwoodlands.org.