The 2015 harvest was certainly one of our most challenging due to the English weather.  Cool temperatures and a lack of sunshine in July/August made many fruits smaller than usual, reducing overall yields and delaying harvest dates for some orchards. Just as we got going, heavy rain turned our orchards to mud and interrupted many picking days. Even our four wheel drive tractors struggled on some of the hills. Overall, the apples were down on estimate but quality was good.  Our pears surprised us, with better yield than expected and excellent shape and skin finish.

We had our maximum number of pickers in the accommodation and therefore harvested in good time, before fruit quality worsened.  At the end, we did a final pick for cider/juice so that nothing was wasted and the orchards have a very bare look now.