THERE?were apples everywhere in Buckland Monachorum as the Apple Festival got underway.

Apple and pear pressing was going on outside the Drake Manor Inn on Saturday and children from St Andrew's Primary?School had a apple-themed cooking competition and apple celebration day last Friday.

Today (Thursday) there will be a National Apple Day dinner at the Drake Manor Inn. Landlady of the pub Mandy Robinson has received the Bramley Apple Challenge Cup from Celia Steven for all her work supporting the community.

Celia, the great grand-daughter of Henry Merryweather, the founder of the Bramley Apple, said Mandy had just celebrated her 25 years at the pub and was a great stalwart of the community, holding events and helping community initiatives and events.

'I introduced the Bramley Apple Challenge Cup in 2009 to celebrate 200 years of the Bramley apple being in existence,' she said.

'The cup has, in the past, been mostly given to children but it is a community award and over the past 25 years Mandy has done an awful lot for the community.

'She holds event for clubs in the village and once a week holds a coffee morning for the elderly ladies on a Thursday morning.

Celia created a community orchard 15 years ago which is the focus for many apple-themed events and village occasions.