IT is all hands to the pump bringing in the harvest at a south Shropshire vineyard.

Kerry Vale Vineyard near Churchstoke is looking for volunteers next week to help it pick what owners Geoff and June Ferguson say will be a high quality crop.

The fine weather has led to good growing conditions for British vineyards and the five-year-old vineyard is optimistic about its harvest and expects to pull approximately 10 tons of grapes from their 6,000 vines.

Kerry Vale Vineyard has three grape varieties; Rondo, Phoenix and Solaris. Each grape variety ripens at different times which means the workload can be spread over a number of weeks.

The most important criterion determining the time for harvesting is the acid level in the grapes. Too high and the wine is sharp to the taste, too low and it is flat and uninteresting.

Harvesting takes place in the final week of September and into early October.

Kerry Vale Vineyard is a small family-run vineyard, so volunteers are essential at this time of year to bring in the vintage.

Volunteers will hand pick the grapes, cut them off the vines in whole bunches, then they will be put in trays which will be transported to the winery.

They will be asked to start on the vineyards from 8am and will pick until 10.30 when coffee and biscuits are served to provide energy to keep the pickers going until 1pm when they will be rewarded for their efforts with a hearty lunch and a glass of wine on the vineyard.

Those enthusiastic volunteers who wish to pick for the remainder of the day are welcome to do so and will have tea and cake at 4pm.