Ventons Devon Cyder

Two overgrown apple orchards, uncovered while clearing a Clyst St Lawrence smallholding in 2006, are the reason any of this exists. Mark and Sharon Venton borrowed a hand-turned crusher and a small basket press and made their first batches in an old stable. By year three Mark had found Victorian press ironwork on a reclamation site, bought a freshly felled oak and built a twin screw press capable of holding over a tonne of crushed apples per cheese.

The apples are unsprayed heritage cyder varieties from their own and neighbouring East Devon orchards, many of which once supplied Whiteways at Whimple, two miles away. Fruit is hand sorted, washed, milled, pressed through barley straw, fermented on wild yeasts and matured in oak. Excess becomes apple cyder vinegar; the pomace is fed to animals. The full range travels by courier across the UK, but collecting direct from the Cyder Barn is the better move.