Core of farm's apple pickers are over 60

A team of fruit fanciers are subverting stereotypes by swapping the laid-back nature of retirement for apple-picking jobs on a farm in Suffolk.

Moat Farm, in Woodbridge, employs around 30 fruit pickers during the picking season - and 25 of them are older than 66.

They are allowed to stay on the farm throughout the working period, with many doing so in their campervans or caravans. The pickers said they enjoyed the work, and the job gave them something to do in the fresh air.

"They may not be the quickest pickers in the world, but they pick with care and love, so our return of poor quality fruit is really low," said farm owner Henry Dobell.

"We have a reasonably short day, because I don't want to break them, and there is a fantastic camaraderie and friendship."

The working day starts at 09:00 BST and finishes at 15:00, before they all "relax and have a little get together in the evening".

"We have a quick drink afterwards and then we go our separate ways to make our meals," said one of the farm's pickers, 77-year-old Hazel Davis, from Yorkshire.

"We have really enjoyed it – we are out in the fresh air, picking apples, which are good for you, it is good for our mental health, and we are experiencing something different.

"The people have made us feel very welcome, so give it a go, I very highly recommend it."

She shares the activity with her husband, Roderick, 79, with whom she engages in some healthy competition.

"My wife is better at picking apples, but I am trying hard," he said.

"There are quite a lot of people who are retired and want something to do and get out, so it is about doing something different rather than being sat at home."

But it is not just this group that is flocking to the farm for a brief period of escapism from the modern world.

"I find it very therapeutic, and picking the apples and being out in the fresh air helps my mental health," said 58-year-old Allison Williams, from London.

"It is hard work, very hard work, but it is great - everyone gets on and it is really nice."

And Mr Dobell, who bought his farm 20 years ago, said he was grateful for the help, especially as it had been a bumper year for growing, helped in spades by the weather.

"Our customers are great, local trade is lovely and still doing well, and for fruit growers, it has been very good," he said.

"The fruit has loved it and we've had a really, really good crop - and it is eating really well."

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