Meavy Based Dartmoor Border Morris are carrying on the winter festivities with three wassails and a traditional mummers play in January, the first of which is being held on New Years Day at Cornwood from 3pm.

The event will start with some traditional Morris dancing outside the Cornwood Inn before the musicians lead everyone to the Millennium orchard.

From there, kids of all ages in wellies will bang pots & pans, make loud noises and place pieces of toast in the trees & pour apple juice, collected from last year's crop, around the roots. Then it's back to the Cornwood Inn for much cider and Morris music.

Wassailing is an ancient custom of visiting orchards in cider-producing regions of England, reciting incantations and singing to the trees to promote a good harvest for the coming year.

More on wassailing events in next week's Times