Monday 26 April 2010

Newton Abbot

In the absence of any hard facts emerging from Paul & Sue's Grand Tour of the West Country, I'll have to make some up...

This first pic shows a mixed double of ciders being enjoyed in Ye Olde Cider Bar in Newton Abbot. The smaller of the two appears to be Thatchers Cheddar Valley, a garishly orange cider known locally as Diesel! The larger, man-size glass contains local speciality Sam's Dry Cider, from the Winkleigh Cider Co. This is an exceptionally clean, low tannin cider in the Devon style, made by a former worker at the Inch's ciderworks.

I don't think it would be overstating the case to describe the Cider Bar as a national treasure. One of only a handful of genuine 'cider houses' in the UK, where cider (and fruit wines) hold sway and beer doesn't get a look in. The Cider Bar is notable for it's range of ciders (naturally), and basic but atmospheric interior, which if Paul had been more of a tourist and less of a 'local', I might have been able to show on here! Instead here's a video of Cider Bar owner Richard Knibbs, talking about Darling's recent attempt to increase duty on cider by 13%:






Last heard our intrepid cider tourists were overdosing on clotted cream scones and something called 'Real Ale'! It now looks as if they've 'gone native', so here's a couple of pics from the Newton Abbot archive.


Henley & Sons was a sizeable regional ciderworks at Abbotswell near Newton Abbot. They were taken over by Whiteway's Cyder in 1933 and eventually closed. The picture below is from a small exhibit at Newton Abbots other treasure, Tuckers Maltings, where Henley's Cyder was formerly bottled.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Cheeky sod! We're risking life&liver drinking the southwest dry and all you can do is take the mickey. Do yer own research next time.

BTW I'm due to turn local tomorrow, spent too much time in Cornwall to pick up Devon ways yet :)