It may have been a dismal summer for most of us, but farmers are celebrating a bumper crop of apples this year.

As the British apple season gets under way, farmers across the country are reporting a high quality crop, with fruit more juicy and colourful thanks to the wet weather and colder nights.

Early indications suggest this year's harvest will be up 15 to 20 per cent on last year, with around 300,000 tonnes of fruit being picked. Producers are reporting record-breaking crops of Gala and Braeburns, while yield for the world's favourite cooking apple, the Bramley, is up 10 per cent on last year.

Steve Mann, fruit farm manager at the Queen's Sandringham Estate on Norfolk, which harvests 65 acres of apples, said: "The weather's been very good - although it's been the wet of course that's made the apples bigger.

"We've finally got some sunshine just at the last minute and that has made the colour lovely. They're lovely and sweet."

Adrian Barlow, spokesman for trade association English Apples and Pears Ltd, said Britain's unseasonable weather was a blessing for this year's crop. He said: "They're very juicy apples this year thanks to all the rain in August, although because of the cold weather the fruit size is smaller than normal.

"We were very lucky the apples weren't affected by frost back in the spring, and the recent cold nights in September have given them a lot of wonderful colour. "Once again this crop has shown that due to our climate England has the finest tasting apples of anywhere in the world."

Demand for British apples plummeted in the 1980s and 1990s, resulting in many small farmers going out of business, but the homegrown market has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years. Mr Barlow said much of it was down to shoppers concerned about the environment who wanting to buy local produce.

Simon Russell, spokesman for the National Association of Cider Makers, said the cider industry was thrilled with September's unexpected Indian summer. He said: "As cider makers we are very grateful for the sunshine we are experiencing now.

"Firstly it makes harvesting conditions easier, but more especially it helps ripen the fruit which increases the sugar content in the juice and that is what we need to make good cider. "We are hopeful for more sunshine over the next few weeks to make up for the cold and wet summer we had."

Source: Telegraph