Touch and go
for flood-hit
cider makers

The damp weather has meant that many of the million apple trees planted over the past decade in an attempt to restore one of the UK’s native crops will be lost.

Farmers across the West now face an agonising wait until 
May to see if the water has destroyed their livelihoods, or if the fruit will defy the odds and blossom.

Julian Temperley, one of Somerset’s most famous growers, said it was hard to remain upbeat and described his 170 acres as “touch and go”.

“We’ve had an appalling late December, January and February – trees over the whole of the South West have taken a hammering,” Mr Temperley, from Martock, Somerset, said.