THE WEATHER may have become more unsettled, but hundreds celebrated the arrival of autumn with an apple festival.

Apple Day was held at Stanmer Park in Brighton yesterday.

Attractions included tours of the park’s orchards, food displays, edible plants and fruit trees on sale, music, and arts and crafts.

Meanwhile youngsters got to grips with the skill of scything and pressing the apples to make delicious juices.

There were of course the traditional toffee apples to enjoy, while there were also some treats for adults with scrumpy ciders. The event was organised by the Brighton Permaculture Trust, with help from hundreds of volunteers.

Volunteers launched the Scrumping Project, which uses unpicked fruit from orchards and gardens in Sussex, making fruit juices as well as jams and preserves. The trust is creating a Fruit Factory at Stanmer, and could process up to 40 tonnes of fruit each year, as many as 250,000 apples.

Volunteers said: “At Apple Day visitors had a go at using our traditional press and watched our team make huge quantities of juice throughout the day with apples from our orchards and scrumped from Brighton and Hove.”

Brighton and Hove City Council says the trust is an activity partner as part of its plan to restore Stanmer Park.

Previously the authority won £3.75 million in funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Big Lottery Fund to rejuvenate facilities at Stanmer, including the Grade I listed stately home. In June building work started on a walled garden. To find out more about the project visit brighton-hove.gov.uk.