Families flocked to a Weymouth beauty spot for an apple-themed community fun day.

A pumpkin carving and apple pressing day, where visitors were shown how to make juice, was held at Radipole Gardens on Saturday.

The event was free to attend – and families were told to bring apples from their gardens to turn into fresh juice. This was done by an apple press which was brought along by local councillor and GP, Dr Jon Orrell.

There was also pumpkin carving and biscuit decorating to keep youngsters busy.

Mike Goulden, Chairman of the Friends of Radipole Gardens, said: “It’s been marvellous. We purchased around 20 pumpkins for the event, but they were all gone pretty quickly. People were going to Aldi to buy more, so they could carve them. We have Dr Jon Orrell and his apple press. The children get to taste the apples being squeezed. It’s a great way to show youngsters how traditional apple juice is made.”

Dr Orrell said: “It’s been very successful. This year even more people are taking part, especially children. They’re able to watch the apples turn into juice and then taste the juice. They bring along their own apples and containers. It’s been a great day, we’ve been very lucky with the weather forecast, the weather has been fantastic.”

Mum Natasha Hardy said: “We have been to a few of the events before. We always like to support the local community and we heard about it, so thought let’s go down and see what’s happening – we brought lots of apples from the garden. It teaches the children; we don’t have something like this (apple press) at home.

Another visitor was Ben Harris and his family who said: “We took all the apples from our garden and brought them down here and got them pressed, it’s great fun for the children and it has been completely free.”

Visitors were also able to find out more about the Friends’ plans to transform the gardens. They are putting in a bid to The Heritage Lottery Fund for £1.4m. If successful, the funding will be used to develop paths around the gardens and to improve some open spaces and the children’s playpark. There are also plans for a sensory gardens and a new café.