Graham Fieldhouse’s initiation into the world of home-brewing began more than 60 years ago – with a clip round the ear.

“My mother used to brew damson wine in the kitchen. I saw the bottle with this lovely looking liquid in it,” he explains. “Next thing I know, she found me on the floor giggling my head off.”

Today Graham is the longest-standing member of Telford Wine Making and Home-brewing Club, which meets fortnightly for demonstrations – and, of course, tastings.

“It is very sociable, after all!” says Graham.

With rising beer and wine costs, along with a lifestyle changes and a move towards crafting DIY food and drink, home-brewing and wine-making has once again become a growing trend.

Retailers have reported a rise in sales of kits and equipment to brew tipples in the home.

John Trott, treasurer of the thriving homebrewing club, explains: “A lot more people have been making their own beer and wine since prices have shot up.”

As a result, clubs like this are going from strength to strength with new members coming forward. Today it has around 40, both men and women, with ages ranging from 30 up to 70.

It’s a resurgence that has echoes of the trend that was emerging when Graham first began brewing.

“When I joined in 1978 home-brewing and wine-making was very popular,” says Graham.

“Wine and beer were both quite expensive to buy and for a fraction of the price you could make your own.

“And today if you go to the local pub, a pint of beer is about £2.70, and you can easily pay more than £3. But with home-brew you can make a good pint for about 20p. You can get 40 pints from a £16 kit.”

And far from being a bit of a hit-and-miss business, Graham reckons literacy is probably the only skill you really need to start out as your own kit brewer.

“As long as you can read the instructions on the label you can make beer and wine,” he says. “Most of the kit you need for making wine you have got in your kitchen.

“And you need not buy your equipment new – go to a car boot sale or look in the small ads of the Shropshire Star – people are always getting rid of stuff.”

People can start making wine with five pounds worth of kit and with a six gallon kit can be in business. Gear needed to make home-brewed beer costs as little as £15, plus the kit.

The other thing is the taste.

John Trott says: “If a bottle of wine is made right, I defy you to tell it apart from a £9 commercial bottle. But it’s far cheaper to make country wine where you go out and pick the fruit yourself, such as damsons and blackberries.

“Part of the fun is in the picking.”

John is never happier than taking a walk from his home in St Georges to Granville on a nice sunny day, picking a few fruits, then tootling back to his kit.”

Graham Fieldhouse offers a variation on the theme.

“I just chose picking sites where there’s a pub nearby,” he says. “But sometimes I have to explain why my hands are all red!”

But wines can be made from all manner of fruit – and more besides, including leaves, carrots and blossoms.

Graham’s recipe for a good quality batch of fine country wine involves nothing more than “4lb of blackberries, a couple of pounds of sugar, a spot of yeast and Bob’s your uncle”.

“Then it’s just a case of being patient – it will clear and you can store it away for a couple of months. But to get a drink with quality you might need to leave it six months.”

With home-brewing beer from a kit there’s less to go wrong, and you can tailor the flavour to tickle your fancy.

“It’s all in the can,” says John. “I can ‘doctor’ the end flavour because I like a ‘bitter bitter’ that will bite you back, so you add hops.

“My wife cannot stand beer, but she will drink apple or peach flavoured beer, and you can add those flavours.

“One big benefit of doing it yourself is that you can make it to your own taste.”

On club night, ideas are shared and there are beer and wine making demonstrations.

Someone might open a bottle of wine purchased from a supermarket and members will taste it an offer their opinions.

Says Graham: “I once took a Chilean Merlot with all these fancy words on the label to describe it, and everyone thought it was rubbish.

John pours out a few glasses of one of his award-winning reds. It’s not a quaffing wine, but it would be churlish not to sample the fruits of his labour.

“Now that is rather good,” says Graham.

And as he says of his homebrew: “If I can do it, anybody can do it.”