Ciderhouse News - Cidermaking 2014

Here's a short round-up of what's been happening at Rockingham Forest Cider recently. As you'll notice from the pic above, we have a new certificate for the ciderhouse wall, having gone one better than our previous Silver effort in 2011 and won Gold for a Green Horse/Red Longdon Perry in the East Midlands Cider & Perry Competition. Competition organiser Denise Wright can be seen taking the full weight of the certificate, whilst I stand idly by in front of the impressive East Midlands wall of cider at Nottingham CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival. A great day out, c/o of all the hard working volunteers, but particularly Ray Blockley of Torkard Cider who put together this years impressive collection of nearly 300 ciders and perries from throughout England and Wales. In the spirit of friendly competition I'm encouraging Susan to go one better and present 301 ciders and perries at the Leicester Beer Festival next year.

The innaugral Cottingham Village Apple Day was held at the end of September, organised by Green Horizons a Cottingham based project for families with children who are on the autistic spectrum. In addition to having Red Kite Cider on the pop-up bar we gave samples of a Vilberie Cider to a steady stream of thirsty cider fans on what turned out to be a proper Summer's day. A really great event, and very well supported by villagers and visitors.

Perry making is in full swing, which in the case of the 2014 season is quite a small childs swing with a sensible safety bar. No Green Horse or Malvern Hills this year, but some Blakeney Red, and a similar quantity of mixed pears which will hopefully make something tasty for next year. Needless to say this means there will be no repeat of our award-winning perry, and no Green Horse, which is particularly sad as this is my favourite perry of all. Sniffle!

The Blakeney Red has come out at a modest 1.049 this year, the mixed batch a more respectable 1.055. Fermentation is progressing at a nice even pace, and every day we pray for sub-zero temperatures in a bid to slow things right down and therefore retain some residual sweetness in the perries.

The very latest news from the ciderhouse is that the Yarlington Mill apples are in the process of being picked, and Dabinett (below) are still hanging on the tree. This year, in a break from tradition we will be collecting a tonne of Dabinett from a top cider and perry maker near Leominster.

Harvest Home

2014 looks to be 'set fair' for us here at Rockingham Forest Cider. Bumper crops and full-to-brim tubs were the theme of this seasons cider and perry making. So now seems as good a time as ever to take stock of what we've achieved so far, a kind of show-and-tell in the virtual ciderhouse. So come with me through the pear-shaped window, for a tale of bumper crops, broken branches, and more Wasps than you can flail an arm at, in the first part of this years Ciderhouse News Round-up. Mostly via the medium of pretty pictures:

The 2013 Picking and Panking team take a well-earned rest on a pile of bagged-up Yarlington Mill cider apples. From left: Me, Him, Her, Ooh-arr!

This is one of the mighty Green Horse perry pear trees. A very good crop this year, so much so that it took a couple of days to harvest just this one tree. Sadly the weight of fruit and some high winds had already brought down a large branch, seen to the left in this pic.

Karen & Susan draw breath and adopt the classic 21st Century Orchard Posture, all Posh Wellies and Android Phones. This pile of Green Horse pears required 'Tumping' in the orchard, mainly because Ninny-Boy Mark didn't bring enough bags on this trip. Oops! By the time the whole Green Horse harvest were finally hauled home to press, they were ripe to the point of pressing themselves under their own weight in the van, resulting in a trail of pear juice and Wasps all the way from Evesham to the Welland Valley. The damn Wasps still haven't left...

This is the Kingston Black crop, with Green Horse tree in the background. I don't know why I've included this, we simply didn't have time to pick these tiny but tasty cider apples.

A reflective moment on the final visit to the orchard in November. Those of you skilled in the techniques of road accident forensics may already have spotted this particular near-miss in the muddy tracks. It was at this point, heavily laden with over a ton of Yarlington Mill, halfway up the sodden hill in the pouring rain, that the Van got well and truly stuck. But thanks to the man-skills of John the orchard owner (and a LWB Landrover) we managed to save to day and get the van, crop, and a gently sobbing me out of the orchard and home. Thanks John, every home should have one.

More Android Phone action. If a jobs worth doing, it's worth photographing and uploading to Twitter immediately.

I've called this image, 'Man With Buckets Of Apples'.

What it's all about. Yarlington Mill cider apples, destined for a pint of Red Kite Cider.

Ale & Apples... though mostly Apples to be fair!

The Rockingham Forest Cider Apple Mountain continues to surge tectonically upwards, causing a good deal of interest in the village, particularly from horse owners! It's currently a single variety mountain, consisting almost exclusively of Yarlington Mill, a vintage quality bittersweet cider apple which we use to create our popular Red Kite Cider.

Every weekend is orchard/pressing time now, and I'm pleased to say that our compact picking team has risen to the substantial challenge ahead. We've even got a new trainee, young and fit, all the way from Grantham, a little wet behind the ears, but willing to get his hands dirty in the name of good cider. There he is on the right, taking a well earned nap on the trailer with one of our veteran pickers Susan. Consider yourself fully initiated into the Guild of Master Pankers sir.

Hard work like this should be rewarded with a bit of hard play, so with the Yarlys secured it was off to the Fleece Inn in nearby Bretforton for a relaxing drink in the orchard garden. The Fleece is a truly great destination any day of the year, but this weekend had the added attraction of their annual Ale & Apple Festival. Yowzah!


A fine display of Dessert and Culinary Apples in the Ale & Cider tent.



The Cider Bar - Favourite of the day was the Gregg's Pitt Aylton/Blakeney Red Perry, closely followed by the Olivers Medium Cider. The Fleece Inn Cider was good too. The Plum Jerkum.... interesting!

 

The press was fully wound down from an earlier pressing, and showing little activity other than a healthy population of local Wasps.

 

The antique Scratter, made in Somerset at the foundry of Albert Day.



Susan struggles under the weight of a Newtons Wonder from the Fleece Inn orchard. I think she may have taken this home...

 

The famous Sweet'n'Savoury Pastie, one half Meat'n'Veg, the other appropriately Apple'n'Custard. Delicious. Unless of course you're not expecting it to be sweet'n'savoury!



Yarly Mountain Visible from (Parking) Space

The time to stop fiddling around with a few bags of perry pears here, and a small batch of Blenheims there, has finally come. This is what we've all been waiting for, and what marks us out as proper grown-up cidermakers. The Yarlington Mill harvest has arrived...

Though not all of it, and we won't actually be pressing them for a week or two yet...

The van wouldn't take the whole load, so we're back in the orchard tomorrow, mob-handed and keen as mustard to get the rest of the harvest in, which includes a load of sweet apples for blending and some extra sharp-'uns for a bit of balancing acidity. I'm guessing a couple of tons at this stage, with maybe half a ton of Vilberie still to come. That should put us about where we need to be for the amount of cider we would like to make this year.

These Yarlington Mill apples are still quite hard, and need another couple of weeks to mature before they're ready for pressing. Maturing the apples like this ensures that all of the starch in the apples has turned to lovely fermentable sugar, and the flavour will also develop with the rising sugar levels. In the mean time, our wonderfully accommodating neighbours will be opening their curtains to a growing mountain of cider apples over the next few weeks. I think a few bottles of cider may help ease the situation...

Cluckin' Hell - Snoofy-Doof eyes up the Wall of Yarlington Mill Cider Apples

Cider Apples Are Go...

It's been a very productive weekend in the orchard...

Shaking down the very large crop of Yarlington Mill cider apples. Five of the seven trees are cropping heavily this year, though sadly some of the the trees have suffered as a result. The very dry conditions seem to have made the wood drier and less flexible and the very heavy crops and high winds have caused several large branches to break under the strain.

By the time we finish harvesting all the Yarlington Mill trees, we will have approaching 100 of these bags of apples to transport home. It will then be a couple of weeks or more before they have fully matured and are ready to press. Despite the large quantity of these 'vintage quality' bittersweet cider apples, it remains to be seen how much juice they'll actually yield, since the apples seem rather light in weight to us this year.

The Aylestone picking team take a well earned rest at the Crown & Trumpet after a hard day in the orchard. The illumination around Susan head is not an optical effect, that really is a Halo. Susan capped her performance on Sunday with a difficult perry pear picking session today.

Welcome Break - Nottingham

Home grown Dabinett cider apples

After a couple of weeks of cidermaking inactivity, it's nearly time to get back on the horse and make a bit of cider.

Putting our feet up last weekend, as we did, turned out to be less relaxing than I'd hoped for. With nothing much ready to harvest, and very little at home to press, it was hard to shake the feeling that we should be doing something. Anything really! We're in the cidermaking zone now, and a weekend off just doesn't seem quite right. I've missed being in the orchard, and I'm acutely aware that the nights are drawing in, and the clocks will be going back very soon. Daylight hours for pressing will become that little bit more... err... squeezed.

So we're off to Worcestershire tomorrow to get the Yarlington Mill harvest in. I'm hoping that most of the fruit will still be on the trees so we can shake them down onto a clean tarpaulin, rather than digging fallen apples out of the grass. It's a crucial difference since the sooner we get finished in the orchard, the sooner we get to the Crown & Trumpet for well earned refreshments.

Today would have perhaps been a better day for orchard work. The sun has been shining all day, and after the early shock of a ground frost, it's been a wonderful warm Autumnal day. Unfortunately, none of the harvest team were in the mood for the obligatory early start, largely owing to a day of intensive 'research' at the Nottingham CAMRA Beer Festival yesterday. It's taken a couple of weeks, but we're finally getting the hang of these 'days off'.


Ru in full flow

This was my first visit to the festival on its new site at Nottingham Castle, and I must say I was very impressed with the whole setup. Professionally run, and with a real 'Festival' atmosphere created by the various food stalls and outdoor music. The range of ciders and perries at the festival was so extensive it had been split into two (three if you include the bijou Castle Rock Bar). We started at the West Country & Wales bar, efficiently run by local CAMRA activists Dee and Ru. It was hard to know where to start, or indeed finish, but I particularly enjoyed the Raglan Barn Owl Perry, and the Dry version of the Dorset Nectar.



We then moved up the hill to the Main Marquee, if only for a change of scenery. The cider bar here included a range from the Three Counties, and the ambitiously titled Rest of the UK. I recall enjoying a Checkley Brook, and a Marches Cyder Circle Kingston Black, but perhaps the highlight of this bar was the extensive Local & East Midlands selection, which featured examples from every county in the region, and quite a few rarities never before seen at a festival. Congratulations to the cider bar organisers for assembling such a ridiculously wide range of quality ciders and perries.

The winning cider

Congratulations must also go to Ray & Gail Blockley of Torkard Cider fame for winning the Best of the East Midlands Ciders competition with their 256 Cider, just pipping ourselves into second place.



More Trouble With Tremlett's

A feature-length Horror Story about the consequences of not thinning heavy crops on fruit trees.

Featuring (in no particular order):

• Young Trees with Excessive Top-Growth
• Poor Crotch Angles*
• High Winds
• A Bit of Rain
• A Shamefully Neglectful Orchardist
• Hens

Since my last spot of bother in the orchard, I've been working myway through the trees, replacing some of the older rotten stakes with newer longer ones, weeding, tidying, and even doing a bit of Summer pruning. All seemed well. Some of the trees are carrying heavy crops, but thanks to the modest rainfall we've had this year, the fruits are generally small, and the branches seem to be coping with the weight well enough...

Then it rained... and the wind got up! Blissfully unaware of the rapidly swelling fruit, I felt secure in the knowledge that the new, taller, sturdier tree stakes would keep the slender trees fine and upstanding. Which they did, but what I hadn't accounted for was the increased weight from rapidly swelling apples pushing several branches to the point of breaking. As you can see from the photo above, one heavily laden Tremlett's Bitter couldn't take the strain, and has lost a branch in the most undignified of ways.

Quelle Disaster! This branch is obviously now beyond repair. I'll leave it hanging until harvest time since there's possibly enough bark intact to continue ripening the apples, but how I wish I'd thinned the apples in the first place, or propped up the branch with these (Karens) natty little crooks. Lesson learnt.

*The 'Crotch Angle' is the angle between the main trunk of the tree and a branch. Too acute an angle creates a weakness at the union, and leads to an increased likelihood of breakage under the strain of a heavy crop.

The Trouble With Tremlett's

It's a cry you'll hear all too often from orchardists, particularly at this, the growing time of year. You'll hear it emanating from orchards large and small, from the vast plantations of rural Herefordshire, to the allotments and gardens of the keen amateur. Needless to say, you'll hear it in the Welland Valley too...

'I've been neglecting the Orchard' they cry, these shame-faced orchardists. Giving in to weed, pest, and disease. Letting nature of all things, have its wanton way. Neglecting their fruity duties no less. There really is no excuse... and yet!... It's Summer. The cider and perry is ready, there's Festivals and Fetes and all manner of Fun and Frolicking to enjoy. Who the hell has the time for orchard work at this time of year I ask you?

Well, I suppose I have actually. I've been putting it off for far too long, the neglect is too great. The orchard is in a bit of a state to be honest, overrun with weeds and riddled with Aphids, so this evening I set-to with my trusty 4lb Lump Hammer, and a pair of Karens Old Tights, in an attempt to get things in the orchard back on track. So, in the first of an occasional series, I bring you 'Orchard Restoration - Pt.1', which looks likely to build week by week into a series of highly embarrassing insights into my orchard laziness... or your money back!

Tremlett's Bitter vs M26

Tremlett's Bitter (3 yo) - Thin rootstock,
 heavy top-growth, now staked higher.



The four Tremeltt's Bitter trees I planted in 2008 have been nothing but trouble. Tremlett's is a reasonably well regarded cider apple variety. Full bittersweet, lovely deep red conical fruit, a heavy cropper, great in a blend, particularly one lacking in tannin. I've used Tremlett's before, they crop quite early, and press well. It's not all good though. Tremlett's are notoriously biennial, that is to say they crop heavily on alternate years with practically nothing in the 'off' years. The tannin is very full, and certainly doesn't make a good single variety in my opinion. The variety is also well-known for it's high vigour, making it difficult to control in restricted growing conditions. In the small garden orchard, I'd have to say that Tremlett's Bitter is probably not the best choice, which begs the question, why did I plant them in the first place?

In cidermaking, variety is the spice of life. Really good quality single variety ciders are rare indeed, and it's really not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket with regard to the varieties you grow. Even the most renowned cider apple varieties can have 'off' years. Plant an orchard of Yarlington Mill for example, and you run the risk of having no crop at all every 3 or 4 years. In the case of Kingston Black, I know from experience that you'll be lucky to get a crop worth pressing most years.

Harry Masters' (5 yo) - Nice even growth,
this tree doesn't really need staking now.


I wanted a bit of variety, but being sold on the semi-dwarfing rootstock M26, which is ideal for a modest garden orchard, the choice was somewhat limited. For all it's faults, Tremlett's is still worth growing, but it's the choice of rootstock that's really dampened my enthusiasm for this variety. Tremlett's is a very vigorous variety, prone to putting on tremendous levels of growth right from day one. Not necessarily a problem, but what I've learned from my own experience is that this kind of vigorous growth doesn't sit well on a rootstock designed to produce a smaller tree. This year the problem has really hit home, a combination of excessive growth and a good crop of apples on a rootstock which is struggling to keep up, has left the trees extremely top-heavy. It's not a pretty sight, one tree had virtually fallen over with the weight. The rootstock is thinner than the main trunk, and simply can't support the vigorous top-growth.

The general consensus on the staking and tieing of trees is to tie the tree quite low down, allowing the trunk to bend in the wind, encouraging the production of a strong stem. This is how I've staked and tied all my trees, with generally good results. Not so the Tremlett's, which have just flopped over. There was nothing for it, I had to purchase some new, longer stakes, and I've now tied the trees higher up, with a few additional ties (Karens tights!), to help straighten the leader.

So, the moral of this story may well be, if you want to grow a compact apple tree, choose a dwarfing rootstock by all means, but be careful which variety you have grafted onto the top. Too vigorous a variety, and you could end  up with a very large 'step-over' tree, rather than the attractive bush form you'd like.

The Rockingham Forest Cider Guide to Orchard Pests & Diseases

Orchardists of a nervous disposition, look away now....

This gruesome catalogue of orchard pests and diseases were found during a single morning inspection earlier this week. There could be much more to find, I haven't managed to inspect every tree yet! We've now got over 30 apple trees planted around the garden, varying in age from 2-5 years old. Some of the older trees have put on a good bit of growth since planting, so keeping on top of potential problems like the ones shown here has become more of a task. The good news is that many of the more common pests such as Aphid seem to be much less prevalent on the more mature trees, so I'm hoping we may see less of this kind of thing in the future.

Rosy Apple Aphid - Vile purple sap-sucking critters. Working in tandem with Ants, which deliver them onto the tree, they cause leaves and shoots to curl in a most unattractive way, and stunt fruit growth. Yes, that's right, these bastards are quite literally stealing our cider! Control: Squish between thumb and forefinger, again and again and again...



Brown Scale Insect - My thanks to good folk on the Cider Worshop for helping identify these nasties. The warty shells shown here are the remains of a once thriving colony of sap-sucking insects which have now moved out ready to begin sucking again this Summer. Control: Removed with thumbnail but likely to recur, so vigilance (and possibly an insecticide) necessary.



Woolly Aphid - Ooh! I really hate these. More sap-sucking action, this time concealed within a blanket of candyfloss (Note the drops of honeydew). The damage these critters do can sometimes lead to incidence of Canker, one of the most deadly fungal diseases known to apple trees. Control: Rub out, remove, destroy, attack with a toothbrush if neccesary. Show no mercy!

 

Powdery Mildew - One or two of our Harry Masters' trees are susceptible to this nasty disease. Long, dry spells (like the one we're having now) encourage Powdery Mildew. Some trees being overhung by our mature Bramley probably doesn't help either! Control: Nothing for it but pruning out. Burn prunings, clean secateurs thoroughly.



Green Aphid - Not a major pest for us, but really bad infestation can lead to reduced vigour or even stunted shoot growth. Control: Squish, and hey, if a few Ants get squished too, what of it!



Grubs - Ok, not very specific I know, but this could be one of many orchard pests. Totrix Moth, Apple Sawfly, or most likely given the black, sticky 'frass' shown on this picture, the dreaded Blastobasis Moth. Control: Err! Still working on this one...

Ladybirds - Not a pest, but not much bloody use it seems. Less shagging, more chomping please...

Fruit Set - Looking Good

2011 Crop Predictions

Following our stroll around John's lovely orchards in Worcestershire last weekend, I can now give the Rockingham Forest Cider long-range crop forecast for the season ahead*

Cider Apples

Yarlington Mill (Bittersweet) - Last year we had a very good crop from two mature trees, the other three trees having an 'off' year. All five trees are in full blossom this year, and we expect Yarlington Mill to be our main cider variety again, with plenty of our Red Kite single variety cider available in 2012.

Dabinett (Bittersweet) - One or two trees are showing very well, but these are all quite small, so modest crops expected.

Bulmers Norman (Bittersweet) - This tree appears to be fully biennial, giving nothing last year, but looking to be cropping well this season. Bulmers Norman is not considered a 'vintage' variety, giving quite 'hard' tannins more suitable for blending.

Sweet Alford/Sweet Coppin (Sweet) - These trees cropped very heavily last year, and we're expecting a much smaller crop this season. Very useful varieties with good flavour, can also help tone down the harder tannic qualities of some other varieties.

Kingston Black (Bittersharp) - The three Kingston Black trees are back to their usual showing after last years bumper crop. We're expecting a bucketful or two. Incidentally, the 2010 Kingston Black ciders are still fermenting!

Tom Putt (Sharp) - Reasonable crop, good aromatic multi-purpose apple, Timing is critical with this one as they tend to rot easily on the orchard floor.

Perry Pears

Green Horse (Sharp) - This tree seems to be a very regular cropper, carrying a good, or excellent crop every year we've been coming to the orchard. This year looks like being a good crop.

Blakeney Red (Mild Tannin) - Patchy this year, with perhaps only enough fruit to make a small batch of perry, or possibly enough for blending with other varieties.

Malvern Hills (Full Tannin) - There are several huge Malvern Hills trees in the orchards, and it looks as if they may be carrying the best crop we've had from them yet. Malvern Hills perry is strong, and quite tannic so may need blending with a milder, or sharper perry.

Red Longdon (Full Tannin) - Little or no crop this year.

Other Perry Pears - There are sevearl unknown perry pear trees dotted around the orchard, all high tannin varieties, and for the most part carrying a good crop. We think this should be a good year for perry pears.

* Crop forecast is for guidance only. True cropping levels could be higher or lower than the figures quoted. This crop forecast is given for one specific orchard in Worcestershire, other orchards may differ. We can accept no liability for crops failing in other peoples orchards.

End Game

As the 2010 cidermaking season draws (slightly painfully) to a conclusion, with just one more day of pressing to go, I thought I'd post a few of Karen's pics of the weekend action. If I look half asleep in these photos, it's because I was, though sufficiently alert to operate dangerous machinery safely.... obviously!!!

We've been pressing our main Rockingham Forest Cider blend this weekend, consisting of mostly Yarlington Mill, some Dabinett and unknown Sweet cider apples, plus various Sharps to help balance the pH. We should end up with around 170 gallons of this blend, which we may blend in turn with the 100 gallons or so of Kingston Black which we pressed earlier in the month.

The specific gravity of the Yarlington Mill juice was 1.056, which is a little below last years figures. This reflects the sugar levels we've been getting across all of our apple and pear juices this year, which are generally very good, though not quite at the 'Vintage' levels of 2009. The blend itself is averaging out at 1.054, which should give an alcohol level of around 6.9% if fermented to dry.

Traditionally, the spent pomace (apple pulp) which remains from pressing would have either been spread on the land as a low-grade fertilizer, or fed to local livestock. We've a fair size garden, but it's certainly not big enough to deal with a ton or so of dryish apple pulp. As for livestock, the Rockingham Forest Cider Hens will have a peck at most things, but there's a limit to how much a flock of four can consume before the poor little cluckers develop the Chicken equivalent of IBS! I'd like to think they'd give it their best shot though, and it's probably worth a small experiment if only to see how good the eggs would taste!

Luckily for us, our friends Adam & Serena of Keythorpe Valley Farm have a real passion for Pomace. Actually it's their rare breed pigs that have the passion, in fact they go wild for the stuff. By close of play next weekend, these pampered porkers will have snouted out over a ton of pomace, and if you want to know what apple-fed pork tastes like, you know where to go. The latest load of pomace was picked up by Adam & Serena last night, and we were delighted to receive a Brace of Leicestershire's finest feathered game in return. I plan to hang these handsome beasts for a few days yet, which will give me ample time to 'pluck' up the courage for the messy business of dressing the birds. I think they'd benefit from some time spent in a pot, possibly with something sweet and alcoholic. Any excuse to open a bottle of cider.

Rain Doesn't Stop Play

I was quite concerned about the weather today. It was certainly cold, though the sun poked its head out for a brief spell, but the promised downpour around 3pm never happened, and I managed to get everything pressed and cleaned down in good time. It was a pleasure to be pressing perry pears again, awesome yield, and no clogging of cloths. The local dessert apples pressed pretty well too, possibly thanks to a slightly different pressing regime. Instead of firing up the press and waiting until the gauge reaches the maximum 320psi, I decided to apply a little pressure, turn the press off and wait a while for the juice to stop flowing, before repeating several times. The result was a good juice yield, and no pulp oozing out of the cloths. Result!

So it's back to work for a couple of days rest, before attempting to scale the foothills of the Yarlington Mill mountain next weekend.

Harvest Home

Yesterday was the final apple picking session of this years cidermaking season. Fittingly the orchard was bathed in Autumn sunshine, and whilst not exactly warm, it wasn't a bad way to finish things off considering the way the weather has turned today. It was a day of high emotion for me. I'll certainly miss the time we've spent in the orchard this year and I don't mind admitting that a small tear rolled down my cheek as the day progressed. That's stinging nettles for you! When exactly do these devils stop stinging?

Karen and Paul helped things along nicely, which was just as well really, as it turned out to be a very hard weekend's work. Recent gales had shaken virtually all the ripe apples down onto the ground. Not normally a total disaster, but the mild weather has encouraged the grass to continue growing, covering the (mostly greenish!) fruit and making the job several degrees harder. Oh, our aching backs & arms.... and knees & toes!

The haul included around half a ton of Yarlington Mill, some Dabinett, Sweet Alford, assorted Sweets and Sharps for blending, and enough late-season Perry Pears to fill the press one more time. The fruit is in very good condition, but rather too full of grass and leaves for my liking. This will make an already difficult job that much harder as we hand wash all the fruit which goes into our ciders and perrys. Sleepy Middleton will once again ring with the sound of loudly cursing cidermakers. It's becoming a bit of a tradition actually...

It wasn't all work, though to be fair, it mostly was! There was time for a spot of R&R, shopping for the ladies, refreshing lunchtime pints for the menfolk. I even found the time for a quick trip over the border to Gloucestershire for an old favourite, the New Inn at nearby Willersey. This is a Donnington Brewery pub, perhaps not the most exciting ales in the world, but the tied pubs are generally unspoilt classics, and rarely disappoint for local charm. The New Inn is no exception, buzzing with Sunday lunchtime trade, including the wellys'n'tweed of the local shoot. Donnington B.B. was pleasant enough, and a Cotswold-tastic £2.35 a pint, no wonder the place was heaving!

So that's it for another year. Nowt but pressing to do, and quite a lot of that to be sure. As raindrops freeze on the brim of my hat, and the cold seeps ever deeper into boots and gloves over the next few weeks, I'll be able to think back to warm sunshine, and cool English ales, in Gods Very Own Country, the glorious Cotswolds.

Things That Go Tump in the Night...

We're sticklers for tradition here at Rockingham Forest Cider, particularly when it comes to work in the orchard. Not for us the rattle and cough of petrol-driven apple harvesting machinery, or new-fangled tractor operated tree shakers. No, it's a good old fashioned panking pole, and hand-raulic picking and bagging-up for us, and don't our aching bodies know it!

John's trusty Series 3 Landrover assists with the removal of fruit from the muddy orchard, but that's about as high-tech as it gets. We'd happily use a Horse for the job if we could persuade one to work for Windfalls & Beer like Paul & Sue do, but they're a bit fussy these 'Orses...

Anyway, we were forced to get really old-fashioned this weekend when someone (who shall for the time being remain nameless, pending her cooking the dinner tonight...) skimped on the carrot sacks when she packed the car, and left us with a bit of a fruity dilemma. An afternoon spent shaking and picking in Worcestershire, apples everywhere, and not a single bag to receive the rosy harvest. We had a choice. Give up the job and retire early to the pub (verrrrry tempting I must say), or resort to the old Ciderland practice of forming an Apple Tump in the orchard, and bag it all up another day.

A Tump it was, and what a beautiful Tump it is if I do say so myself. The bigger pile of rosy apples are Dabinetts, a very high quality bittersweet cider apple which I spent most of the afternoon digging out of the long grass. The yellow apples are sharp, possibly bittersharp, and there to help lower the pH of the Yarlington Mill and Dabinett apples we'll be pressing in a week or two's time. Forming a Tump like this was a traditional way of 'sweating' the apples ahead of their journey to the ciderhouse. A week or two piled up in the orchard like this helped to ensure the apples were fully mature and ready for the press, with perhaps some moisture lost along the way to help ensure higher sugar levels in the juice.

Ours won't be there for long, and we've covered them over to protect from weather, wildlife and inquisitive walkers on the nearby Cotswold Way. We aim to collect them this Friday, and I've already posted a traditional Post-it note on the back door.... 'DON'T FORGET THE CARROT SACKS MISSUS'

The Ciderhouse is Buzzin'

Here's another mystery apple from the orchard in Worcestershire. The single tree that these orangey, speckled and striped apples come from is now mostly rootstock, producing a sharpish, green, ribbed apple of little value to us for cidermaking.

The original grafted variety produces a reasonable crop of early bittersweet cider apples, most of which have already dropped by early October. Once they've hit the ground, they have a tendency to rot, so we pressed them today along with some of our own home-grown bittersweets, the Sweets we harvested last weekend, and a few sharps to help lower the pH.

My best guess on these is Ashton Bitter, an early bittersweet usually grown alongside Dabinett as a pollinator. This tree is in the same part of the orchard as the Dabinetts.

We also pressed a small trial batch of Kingston Black today, finding very few rotten fruits, and giving a respectable gravity of 1.055. It will be interesting to see how this variety develops over the coming weeks. I'm hopeful that we may get closer to 1.060, and maybe improve the flavour if we can leave them a little closer to December.

The Kingston Black apples are producing the most wonderful candy-apple aroma as they mature, and the fragrance in the ciderhouse today has been quite heady. The Wasps find it very attractive too, and I had to fish several out of the juice as the afternoon wore on. Look carefully and you'll see a couple buzzing around the cheese on this short video of today's pressing.