ENGINEERS brought the past to life at the Richard Jefferies Museum with afternoons of apple-crushing.

Their vintage machinery fitted in perfectly with the museum's Victorian surroundings.

Colin Hatch and his Hatch Heritage Engineers team amazed visitors by showing off old-fashioned methods of apple-crushing while dressed in period-appropriate clothes.

Mike Pringle, museum director, said: "These engineers come to the museum quite often with their old kit because it makes a great partnership with our buildings.

"They were wearing flat caps and neckerchiefs, so they definitely looked the part and it was good fun.

"It really looked just as it would have 100 years ago, you could feel the atmosphere, hear the noise of the equipment and smell the apples, it was a sensory experience.

"It was great to see a constant flow of visitors enjoying the event on both days of the weekend.

"They loved the old gear and getting to see how the world once was and realising how much it has changed.

"We have an orchard here so it was nice to do something with the apples there.

"It would be a shame for them to go to waste.

"Apple crushing is a Wiltshire tradition and I think it's coming back into vogue."

The engineers crushed the apples into scrumpy, a traditionally-produced cider that's unprocessed, as the apples are left to ferment naturally into a strong alcoholic drink.

Unfortunately, visitors didn't get a chance to taste the fruits of the apple-crushers' labours.

Mike added: "We would have loved to make the scrumpy into juice or cider.

"However, food hygiene standards have moved on significantly from the Victorian era.

"It wasn't feasible - or advisable! - to do such a thing, as scrumpy isn't for the faint-hearted and certainly couldn't be served to the public."

Luckily, there was plenty of apple juice and cider from commercial providers on offer for visitors to taste while they watched the apple-crushers in action.

This marked the last event of the Richard Jefferies Museum's summer schedule.

The Swindon Poetry Festival kicks off tonight with a performance of Super Hamlet 64 at 7.30pm.

For more information, visit poetryswindon.org