Super excited to announce the return of the SOMERSET CIDER FAYRE!
Held in the picturesque yard of @westcombe , some of the best of Somerset’s (and arguably the UKs) cider makers will gather to pour their finest ferments.
Bottles will be able to buy too, direct from the makers.
@lucashollwegfood and Lucy will be back, serving up the tastiest of lunches, @westcombe cheese and charcuterie will be available and baked goods from @landracemilling too.
You could not ask for a better line up!
Tickets “on the door” £8 to taste and you get to keep the glass.
See you there along with these fantastic makers:
Bratton Seymour (@gimletbar ) who are our co-conspirators in this event
@wildingcider (us!)
@stockleycider@dowdings_applejuice_cider@wildwestcider@rawlins_family_cider@somersetciderbrandy@thornfalconwinery
Beautiful poster thanks to @annahodgson.harrydarby These will be available to purchase on the day.
Sunday 31st May, 11am - 5pm £8 for tasting and glass. Please bring some cash as the internet can be temperamental. Card payments hopefully, but not definitely available!
Parking available, follow the signs (no parking in the yard).
Based in Somerset, Beccy and Sam of Wilding Cider are widely regarded as some of the region’s most innovative producers. Their craft is defined by a commitment to minimal intervention and a deep respect for the landscape.
They hand-harvest fruit from traditional, biodiverse orchards that serve as chemical-free grazing land for livestock. In the cellar, this philosophy continues with fermentations powered exclusively by wild yeasts, entirely eschewing the use of sulphites, filtration, or pasteurisation to produce ciders that are poised, clean, and full of character.
@wildingcider will be joining us for the London Cider Salon and the Trade Day at the Tate Modern later this month!
We are also delighted to present seven new releases, ranging from food-friendly dry ciders to rare and unique high-ABV perries.
✨ Burlands 2024: An approachable, soft single-orchard blend featuring hints of cinnamon and ripe berries.
✨ Stoke Red 2024: Their first single-variety SR release in four years; a medium-sweet cider with delicate rosewater and strawberry notes.
✨ When The Fieldfares Come 2024: A full-bodied, bittersweet blend offering bright acidity and notes of orange and leather.
✨ Burlands 2023: A robust and lightly sparkling medium cider defined by notes of red apple, leather, and baking spice.
✨ November 2024: A luxurious sparkling perry with notes of poached pear, sweet almond, and sticky date flavors. A very limited release this time!
✨ Major / Minor 2023: A structured, still, and bone-dry cider with a food-friendly mineral finish.
✨ Moorcroft 2022: A bold, rare single-variety perry with a high ABV and a character reminiscent of lemon marmalade and honeydew.
In addition to these bottles, we have two new curated selections for you, one featuring the latest releases and another offering a vertical tasting of the Burlands single-orchard blends.
Head over online for more info and the tickets.
See you at the Salon!
NEXT CIDER SATURDAY: 13th June
🍏 Come visit us on Saturday. The gate will be open from 10:30, we will have more new releases open to taste and a luscious orchard for you to wander and picnic in.
🐑 Listen out for the euphony of chicks in the nest boxes and happy lambs eating wildflowers.
🦆 The annual, greatly anticipated @chewmagnasociety duck race is happening at noon too.
Two reasons to visit the Chew Valley this Saturday!
O P E N D A Y 11/04/26 (NEXT OPEN DAY 09/05/26)
We are breaking a bit of an instagram silence to let you know that this Saturday is our first open day of the year! As usual we will have the whole range available, and we have some NEW RELEASES open to taste. The weather isn’t looking brilliant but you should still come and enjoy that bit of spring before the cider blossom comes. For the blossom spotters we currently have pears, plums, amelanchier and blackthorn. There may be some honey cake on offer too… 11:00-16:30 are the times, look forward to seeing you there.
This month, our friends and neighbours at @theponychewvalley have been trading for 20 years. This is a HUGE feat, especially in the hospitality industry that has faced a disproportionate amount of hurdles and set backs over the last few years.
To celebrate this amazing achievement, we have collaborated with Holly and Josh to create a suitably special, celebratory Perry.
The pears that make up this Perry are hand picked from a magnificent orchard a stones throw from The Pony in the Chew Valley. Planted in 1909, the orchard is a rare gem of cultural and agricultural history, towering cathedral like above the cows that graze it.
We feel that this Perry represents two things evidently important to The Pony and at the heart of its 20 years success - local community and quality local produce.
Congratulations team Pony and thank you for working with us to create The Pony Perry - a fittingly special and celebratory fizz!
A blend of Claret, Oldfield, Blakeney Red, Hellens Green, New Meadow and Pine, this sparkling Perry is full of poached pear aromatics, delicately floral with gooseberry acidity making it the perfect aperitif or drink to accompany a meal.
You’ll be able to drink this Perry at The Pony and other restaurants in the Pony group soon.
With a label this beautiful, we cannot go without giving huge thanks and credit to Nick at @theletterpresscollective . We are so lucky to work with him and adorn our bottles with such artwork.
Totally in love with these beautiful little bowls made by the super talented Alice @wild.and.wasted with wild clay from the orchard.
The same clay that makes up our wall in the house, used as a backdrop!
We have some of these bowls and some gorgeous beakers available for sale tomorrow from the farm 💙
CHRISTMAS CASE 🎄
A little later than planned, we are pleased to announce the 2025 Christmas Case, a perfect starter pack for your festive drinking with a bottle for every moment.
First up we have the last few bottles of *September* we have been hoarding away for these cases, a lovely aperitif for Christmas Day with some oysters or cheese straws.
For the main course we are proposing *Burlands Reserve*, a big and bold cask aged cider with the body and tannins to stand up to all your Christmas plate can throw at it.
As an alternative, and perhaps to carry over for the cheeseboard, we have a new release, *Wood for the Trees*, a soft, medium sweet and very drinkable cider which will stand up to lots of different foods and great with a cheeseboard.
We have to have something for the Stichelton, and this year we are going to be drinking *Keeved Claret*, a luxuriously sweet and sumptuous single variety perry.
For the Boxing Day ham and stuffing sandwich it’s nice to have something dry with a bit of fizz and tannin to rebalance yourself. This year it is *Porter’s Perfection and Dabinett*, an ancestral method cider which is just great with any of the cold cuts, cheeses or leftover nut roast.
And no Christmas store cupboard is complete without some *natural cider vinegar* for your green salad, coleslaw and cranberry sauce.
£69
Collection from the farm on Saturday 13th 10:30-16:30 or by arrangement before the 22nd December.
Limited availability.
T H I S S A T U R D A Y ......
Is our C H R I S T M A S O P E N D A Y at the farm 10:30 - 16:30 where you will be the first to be able to buy our Very Fine Five-Year-Old Cider Brandy. A long awaited release that we are super excited about.
We will also have our second release of Pyrus available that is tasting totally delicious and a our first release from 2024, a sumptuous Rural Method "Wood for the Trees 2024"....along with all the usual favourites.
There will also be mulled cider a plenty...
In addition to all of this we will have a some be beautiful pieces from @wild.and.wasted for sale, all made with wild clay from Wilding Orchard.
Alice will be running a Wild Clay Vase Workshop here on Saturday 16th May, including lunch - vouchers for this will be available and would make an awesome gift. Link to tickets in bio.
Photo of Chisel Jersey in Burlands, late November by the wonderful @benjaminpryor 😍
Pressing is done, the tanks are full and the last of the spent pomace is shovelled out for the cows. It’s been a hell of a harvest. The quality of the fruit has been superb and is such great quantity too, we were fairly ready for it with some new tanks and so we ended up pressing more than ever before, 27,000 litres all in, which is quite a bit more than I expected. There is a lot to be excited about here: lots for distilling, lots of perry, some single variety tanks we’ve not tried before, and a steady evolution I hope on some of the regular blends that we do.
This year’s team who make everything possible have been superb: Rob, Sam and Martyn all back for another season, together with new faces Julie, Holly and Malachi. Great work, great company all round, the fruit has been super clean and carefully picked. We are so lucky to have such a high calibre crew and are so grateful for all their hard work and for putting genuine care into the work.
As every year it’s all been hand picked from the floor, and I’m proud that we are able to do it and to pay everyone for their time. For me it makes a huge difference to getting fruit in the right condition at the right moment for pressing, and it leaves any bad fruit in the orchard where it will be gratefully appreciated by the birds, the deer, the badgers and earthworms, and ultimately the soil.
There will be news soon on this year’s Christmas case, as well as the new vintage of Pyrus and the first Cider Brandy. Stay tuned!
Taking our spent pomace to feed the cows. These cows live (part of their lives) in the pear orchard, and appreciate a little apple pomace in return for the pears, mixed in to the daily silage ration. If you have a waste product and you can’t make something of it, you’re doing something wrong.
