AN orchard advice centre in the Tamar Valley has scooped a £5,000 windfall to help its work of preserving the area?s unique fruit.

Tamar Valley Orchard Volunteers secured the grant under the Awards for All lottery schemes. It will go towards two apple presses - one small, one large - for use by residents in the valley and beyond.

The volunteers, Caroline Vulliamy, of Stoke Climsland, and Sheila Camplin, of Calstock, give advice to help people make the most of their orchards. They can also put people in touch with various volunteer groups.

Caroline said the volunteers? principal aim was to track down trees and orchards and discover whether there were any particularly interesting varieties that might have been lost. They then give advice to preserve them by grafting and growing them as new young trees there or on neighbouring orchards.

?More and more people are out there trying to do work on their orchards now,? said Caroline. She added that this had been a ?terrible? year for apples because of fierce gales that struck when apple blossom was at its best.

She said the £5,000 award would help pay for two presses and people would be able to hire them, including a steriliser.

?They can take a press off to their garden and press the juice or turn it into cider.

?It?s amazing how much juice even one tree can produce,? added Caroline.