A resourceful Macclesfield apple business is celebrating their seventh year of operation - and they can use your unwanted apples from your garden!

The Random Apple Company, established in 2014, have weathered the storm of the pandemic by adapting their business, and have seen unexpected growth in demand for their delicious apple-based products.

The enterprising apple experts are located on Macc's Swanscoe Lane.

They currently have 280 apple trees planted, spanning 60 different varieties.

The Random Apple Company employs seasonal workers from the Macclesfield area for pressing and picking.

Owner Sarah Simpson (37), who has lived in Macclesfield all her life, runs The Random Apple Company, and was kind enough to invite Macclesfield Nub News to her farm for a fruity adventure.

"My mum and dad have lived at the premises for fifty years now and when they first moved in there was an orchard here," said Sarah.

"They took it apart for grazing land. But in 2014, I tried to reestablish the old orchard and that was the start of planting apple trees."

"We noticed lots of people in the local area had apple trees in their garden. But during apple season lots of them fell to the floor and just rotted. However lovely they are. There's only so many crumbles that you can eat.

While the company have currently run out of juice, in anticipation of this autumn's crop, Macclesfield businesses can email to register their interest to stock Sarah's delicious products.

"So we started inviting people to come up here and bring their excess apples, where we were using a very small apple press at the time, and they got a bit of juice in exchange from otherwise wasted apples.

"And it has grown from there, some might say blossomed haha."

Anyone who brings excess apples from their garden to the farm as they start to fall this year, will receive apple juice in return.

The juice is a random mixture of varieties that have come in, and that are grown on their site, hence their business name.

Their apple presser can squish up to 120 kilograms of apples at once. They can press up to sixty litres of apple juice before having to change their juice tank.

The Random Apple company supply many delis, cafés, and farmshops in the local area.

If you've drunk or eaten something with an apple in around Macc, it may have come from Sarah's farm without you even realising.

"I actually used to do an office job, and I have to say the comparison between what I used to do and what I do now couldn't be more to the extremes," Sarah added.

"I love what I'm doing now, I love being outside, I love the fresh air.

The Random Apple Company are experts in apple tree tidying and planting. If your garden has an apple tree needing some TLC, they will come prune and plant trees at your direction.

"As corny as it sounds, I love being surrounded by nature.

"Seeing the trees at their barest through winter, to beautiful blossom, which is what we have now, and through to full and juicy apples."

Helping to preserve the English tradition of the apple tree, Sarah has recently shared her expertise with the people of Macclesfield, from homeowners to children.

The company helped establish five orchards across the local community in Macclesfield in lockdown, as well as one at King's School to be used to teach infants food provenance.

Sarah grows up to 60 varieties of apples. From the Kent Red Devil variety, to Katja, a type from Sweden.

Sarah had this to say about how her core business has changed over the past year.

"When the first lockdown started, we lost all of our lovely stockists who would take our apple juice," she recalled.

"But after an initial 'what do we do' period, me and my husband started doing home deliveries of our apple products which were absolutely lovely.

"Particularly in the first lockdown where people really liked having other people come to their door, standing at their windows and waving.

It is currently apple blossom season. Fruit will start to ripen close to September.

"It was such a lovely feeling as a business to be taking something to someone that would make them so happy. And that's something we never would've done if not for the pandemic.

"Unfortunately we are out of juice for now, but we're planning to do deliveries again for this upcoming apple season across the SK10 area.

"We have also done a pop-up farm stand with products from last year's apple season, it was a sort of a once-a-week deal and January and February this year went amazingly.

"Those months normally tend to be our quietest but we were really really busy. People just wanted to come out and have a destination to walk to with their family and then pick up an apple juice to keep them going on their walk home.

The Macclesfield applery is just under two miles from the town centre.

"A lot of small businesses have managed to twist and adapt like us. So thanks to the people of Macclesfield, we've survived it."

Pressing season is from September to November, when you can book for a slot to visit Sarah's business to get them pressed and take away some juice in return.

While the apple blossom has occurred slightly later this year due to 2021's wild weather, the mum-of-one is elated for the future of her business.

They even have an event happening at the farm on May 31.

Macclesfield mum Sarah Simpson has spent the better part of a decade devoting herself to all things apples, and cultivating a business known across the county for their high-quality apple products.

"Soon we hope to get back to doing events, which we started doing before COVID. We've started off gently with local businesses like Yas Bean," said Sarah.

"Also for Bank Holiday Monday we've got Tom coming up from Happy Place Pizza and Brew Box alongside Nia's Vegan Delights to set up in the orchard for a walk-in, walk-out 'random' event.

"Finally, we are getting to the stage where we might be branching out to cider as well within two years.

"Obviously it uses different types of apples, but it allows us to use even more varieties that would otherwise go to waste, as some varieties just aren't suitable for using in our juice."

If you want to donate your excess apples as they ripen in autumn, please head to their website for contact details and more information.

Flour Water Salt in Macclesfield's Market Place are currently selling their apple juice in take-home bottles at £4 per litre.

They have over 2,000 fans on Facebook @therandomapplecompany.

The Macclesfield fruit company can also be found on Instagram @therandomapplecompany.

You can also find the Macc applery on Twitter @randomjuices.

Sarah also sells homemade jams under the brand 'The Kitchen Swanscoe', which does include apple jams.

You can find their conserves, cordials, fruity cheeses, jellies and sauces here.

Macclesfield Nub News is in awe of their Swanscoe orchard.

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