Burton Conservation Volunteers

Cider Weekend at Broome Farm: Oct 2009

Here are a few pictures from our Cider-Making Weekend at Broome Farm in the heart of the Herefordshire countryside. The format of the weekend was simple: picking, camping, pressing, drinking and panking, although not necessarily in that order! A fabulous location in which to work, lots of opportunities to try the different skills involved in cider making, a really warm welcome, and plenty of sampling of the end product! What more could you ask for? Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and it may even become an annual event.


Firstly the apples are sorted and any rotten ones removed.	The apples then go into a mincer to create a pulp.


The pulp is poured into a series of layers, each layer enclosed within a hessian cloth. The tower is known as a "cheese".	The press extracts the apple juice which is decanted into plastic barrels and subsequently left to ferment.


Lunch break including cider, apple juice and the legendary home-made cider apple cake.	Gathering the next load of apples by machine.


Any apples missed by the machine are picked up by hand.	Panking: using a long wooden stick to dislodge any apples remaining high up in the trees.

	More details about Broome Farm are on the Ross Cider website. Broome Farm cider weekends have also been featured in various press articles: Observer (2008) Times (2009) Sunday Telegraph (2009)
A cider-tasting session in the cellar.