Our orchard is a traditional Somerset orchard containing a wide variety of full standard trees that range from over 50 years old to under 5 years. Lambrook Pippin, Yarlington Mill, Harry Masters Jersey, Sweet Coppin, Bramley, Hoary Morning, Russet, Tom Putt and James Grieve are just some of the wonderful varieties we use to produce our apple juice and cider.
We only use apples from our own orchard and other selected local orchards so we can be totally sure of using quality local fruit.
Autumn is a busy time on the farm as this is when we harvest and press the apples. Using traditional methods to turn this simple fruit into such delicious and natural drinks is a very rewarding and enjoyable process and is something we get a huge amount of pleasure from – especially on sunny October days!
At this time of year the days are spent harvesting, preparing and pressing the apples – preparing the ‘cheeses’ of chopped apple and watching the pure golden juice appear as it is squeezed out under the huge weight of the press. All of the apples for our apple juice are hand selected to ensure the quality of the fruit and carefully washed by hand.
We are committed to the regeneration of our orchard by planting new trees each year as the older ones die. The orchard is maintained on as close to an organic basis as possible without any tree spraying, but it is not currently Soil Association approved. We have bee hives in the orchard to help the natural pollination process of the blossom.
