Westons Cider Mill
23rd October 2010
I’d been to Much Marcle a couple of decades or so ago, stopping off for a pub lunch while touring the area. This time it was to spend a little longer looking at a local attraction, with a tasting thrown in for good measure.
Nestling in the rolling hills of this rural border county you can imagine yourself back in time. Indeed, at the entrance to the lane up to the cider mill there’s a garage that looks as though it’s been transported from the between-the-war years. Dilapidated it is not, as good as the day it was built, and LPG is available too. It sets the mood and atmosphere. Much Marcle, Miss Marple. Alliteration there, though you could imagine yourself in a setting for an Agatha Christie story.
But I digress! Let’s go further back, to 1880. Henry Weston set up his cider mill in that year. He bought three vats of uncertain vintage that had been used for sherry making. These are still in use and have between 100 and 200 years life left in them, so they’ll see us all out. These vats are named Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester.
There are newer and larger vats (all named, as is the tradition here), the latest acquired when the larger cider makers were going over to stainless steel tanks, which means the cider here does have a much better taste. One vat is called Hereford United and the other Wembley. Hereford United will be moved to the front when the team reach Wembley! If you had one of the large vats to yourself, and you drank four pints a day, every day, it would take you over 200 years to empty it.
Apples come from their own orchards as well as from other farms. Travelling along the A449 out of the village you see numerous orchards. This area of the country is very suitable for fruit growing and vineyards too (the Three Choirs vineyard is just a few miles away). They have perry pear trees too, from which perry is made. Perry differs from pear cider in that only perry pears are used in perry whereas pear cider can be made from any pears. The perry pear trees are very old but are kept going as there are not very many of these trees in existence.
The air is full of the smell of apples at this time of year as you approach the mill. This comes not just from the orchards, but from the store of apples and from the juice form the pressing process. Westons use so many apples (and pears) that pressing to produce juice takes three months. The press is an adapted olive press – there aren’t many purpose built large apple presses around. The press cost £250,000 to buy and the same again to convert. That’s a lot of cider!
The juice is left to ferment for anything up to 9 months or so depending on the type and style required. Once fermentation is complete the cider is cloudy with bits in, so it has to be filtered using a machine that looks like a series of giant spaghetti containers. The cider is then stored ready for bottling.
Westons ship their cider to many countries, so it’s not just in England that you can enjoy the smell and taste of an autumn day in Herefordshire. Talking of tasting, if you take the tour around the mill there is free tasting at the end.
Cheers!
The tea room with a grand display of cider bottles from around the world.
Nestling in the rolling hills of this rural border county you can imagine yourself back in time. Indeed, at the entrance to the lane up to the cider mill there’s a garage that looks as though it’s been transported from the between-the-war years. Dilapidated it is not, as good as the day it was built, and LPG is available too. It sets the mood and atmosphere. Much Marcle, Miss Marple. Alliteration there, though you could imagine yourself in a setting for an Agatha Christie story.
But I digress! Let’s go further back, to 1880. Henry Weston set up his cider mill in that year. He bought three vats of uncertain vintage that had been used for sherry making. These are still in use and have between 100 and 200 years life left in them, so they’ll see us all out. These vats are named Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester.
There are newer and larger vats (all named, as is the tradition here), the latest acquired when the larger cider makers were going over to stainless steel tanks, which means the cider here does have a much better taste. One vat is called Hereford United and the other Wembley. Hereford United will be moved to the front when the team reach Wembley! If you had one of the large vats to yourself, and you drank four pints a day, every day, it would take you over 200 years to empty it.
Apples come from their own orchards as well as from other farms. Travelling along the A449 out of the village you see numerous orchards. This area of the country is very suitable for fruit growing and vineyards too (the Three Choirs vineyard is just a few miles away). They have perry pear trees too, from which perry is made. Perry differs from pear cider in that only perry pears are used in perry whereas pear cider can be made from any pears. The perry pear trees are very old but are kept going as there are not very many of these trees in existence.
The air is full of the smell of apples at this time of year as you approach the mill. This comes not just from the orchards, but from the store of apples and from the juice form the pressing process. Westons use so many apples (and pears) that pressing to produce juice takes three months. The press is an adapted olive press – there aren’t many purpose built large apple presses around. The press cost £250,000 to buy and the same again to convert. That’s a lot of cider!
The juice is left to ferment for anything up to 9 months or so depending on the type and style required. Once fermentation is complete the cider is cloudy with bits in, so it has to be filtered using a machine that looks like a series of giant spaghetti containers. The cider is then stored ready for bottling.
Westons ship their cider to many countries, so it’s not just in England that you can enjoy the smell and taste of an autumn day in Herefordshire. Talking of tasting, if you take the tour around the mill there is free tasting at the end.
Cheers!
The tea room with a grand display of cider bottles from around the world.
