Dorchester Borough Gardens Cider Festival a hit with punters

People from near and far descended on the Borough Gardens where the Dorchester Cider Festival was being held on Saturday, August 17. 

Live music boomed out from the pavilion whilst plenty of local cider and food vendors supplied punters throughout the day. 

Dorchester Roundtable cider bar at the Dorchester Cider Festival (Image: Andy Jones)

The festival is run by  Dorchester Round Table and costs just £5 for a cup but entry to the garden is free. 

Organisers have raised more than £100,000 since its inception in 2015 and are hoping the weekend's event will raise £20,000 this year. 

Dorchester Round Table chairman Dan Singleton said: "Every time we do the event everyone loves it.

"All the vendors are local and this year we aim to donate around 50 per cent of the takings to the Youth Cancer Trust, our flagship charity as well as many other local charities.

"It gets busier every year and normally we run out of cider by 6pm. We just want everyone to have a good day and bring the community together."

Visitors travelled from near and far as they enjoyed their ciders and the live music. 

Joanne Main (centre0 with friends and family at Dorchester Cider Festival. (Image: Andy Jones)

Joanne Main from Weymouth was with her friends and family and said they come every year to enjoy the festival. 

Speaking to the Echo, she said: "It is really good for the community and it is really well run and a nice family event.

"We really enjoy it and it is great to try the local cider and food."

Chris McGowan in the white tee-shirt was attending the festival for the first time with with friends (Image: Andy Jones)

Chris McGowan was attending the festival for the first time and praised the Round Table for generating money for charity. 

He said: "It is good it is for charity and we can come and enjoy the sunshine, it's really busy and just a good event and a nice day out and the music is good, it suits all ages."

Ben May, Hannah Clark from Kent with friends Rebecca Bridge and Billy Cox and their children (Image: Andy Jones)

Billy Cox and his fiancée Rebecca Bridge, who live in Weymouth, even invited friends from hundreds of miles away to come and enjoy the day with them in the gardens. 

He said: "There are not enough of these types of things. We invited our friends down from Kent.

"It's great that everything is for charity and it is great for local businesses to promote themselves to local people - it allows them to sell local which is great."