A SOMERSET cider maker claims he has found the cure for coronavirus.

Roger Wilkins, 72, makes “proper scrumpy” at Wilkins Cider Farm near Glastonbury, which contains vitamins A, B, C, D and E with no additives or preservatives.

Mr Wilkins said: “My cider is pure apple juice, with no water, sugars or colours. It is purer than the water you get out of the tap.

“It contains vitamins A,B,C,D and E and kills the coronavirus in its tracks (it also has dissolved the concrete underneath my cider barrels).

“Well, I can’t prove that, but I have been drinking scrumpy since I was four or five years old and I shall be 73 this Christmas.”

Mr Wilkins has been making cider for more than 50 years – since his grandfather died when he was just 21.

Despite many other businesses struggling with the challenges created by the coronavirus lockdown, Mr Wilkins has many regular customers who have supported the business throughout this difficult time.

“I got a good regular trade, I was sending cider all over the country during lockdown - to Northern Ireland, Scotland,” Mr Wilkins added.

“This weekend the phone has been busy all the time, because all the pubs will shut.

“I have lost all my pub trade, and the shows, but my regular trade is fairly steady all the time.

“Hopefully we shall survive alright.”

Mr Wilkins has two orchards on the cider farm, but he also buys apples from local farmers.

This year, he is hoping to make an extra 5,000 gallons of cider with all the extra apples he has been given.