AN opportunity to savour the taste of Worcestershire is being offered at Clive's Fruit Farm this weekend.

The Upton business is celebrating Apple Day tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday, with a series of special events, at which visitors will be able to taste and buy apple juice made from home-grown fruit.

Charlie and Jane Clive currently produce around 950 bins (122 tonnes) of apples a year. A steady decline in sales over many years prompted the couple to think of alternative ways of marketing their fruit. So, they bought pressing and bottling equipment with the help of a Defra grant.

"In 1998 we bought apple juice from a supplier and sold almost 500 bottles in the farm shop," said Mr Clive.

"By last year, this had risen to over 7,100 bottles a year. So there was clearly a demand."

The Clives are also planning to install an industrial drying oven for the production of single variety dried apple rings.

"We intend to produce apple rings as a speciality food because we feel there's a gap in the market," said Mr Clive.

"With 18 different kinds of apple growing on the farm, we have plenty of raw material which previously had a very limited market potential."