Sampford Courtenay Cider
Home grown from blossom to bottle
We're a small family cidermaker in the heart of Devon, making cider from the 14,000 cider apple trees that grow in our own orchards.
We make our cider using only the apples grown on our farm. We are one of the very few cider producers who grow 100% of the apples they use themselves. Most cidermakers buy in their fruit or use concentrate - we don't. Every apple in every bottle was grown right here at Solland Farm.
A FAMILY BUSINESS
There's just four of us here at Solland Farm, and we do everything ourselves - from looking after the orchards to pressing the apples, from bottling the cider to running the shop. It's proper hands-on, the way cider making should be.
We started making cider here at the farm in 2009, but the story really began over 25 years ago when we first searched for the perfect bit of land to plant our orchards. We were lucky to find this beautiful spot, and in the late 1990's we planted all 14,000 trees ourselves, choosing traditional Devon varieties that would let us make proper cider from just our own apples.
Every bottle of our cider is made by us, on the farm, from apples grown in our orchards. When we say "home grown from blossom to bottle" on our labels, we really mean it. No bought-in juice, no concentrate, just our own apples.
TRADITIONAL DEVON METHODS
We're proud to use the same cider making methods that were described in Devon over 250 years ago. These old ways are what make Devon cider special - softer and mellower than cider from other counties.
The way we make cider hasn't changed much since the 1700s. While some cidermakers are pressing apples in August (we joke they'll be pressing the blossom next!), we wait until our apples are properly ripe. Usually we start pressing in late October, but if the apples aren't ready we wait - sometimes we're still pressing in January. Our Michelin apples are particularly stubborn - they won't ripen until they're good and ready.
For our naturally sweet ciders, we use the traditional Devon keeving method. The freshly pressed apple juice is repeatedly racked from the lees to arrest fermentation, leaving behind some natural sweetness in the cider. No added sweeteners, just the natural sweetness from the apples themselves.
OUR CIDER APPLES
Each of our traditional Devon varieties brings something special to our ciders:
Ellis Bitter - a famous old Devon variety grown extensively on our farm. It has full, quite hard tannins, but a lighter body and a more acidic finish. Given time it mellows into a delightfully complex cider.
Dabinette - adds natural sweetness and soft tannins, helping create that typical Devon mellowness.
Michelin - a late ripener that takes its time. Delicate flavour with earthy, oak, lime and cut grass notes. Only rewards those willing to let them ripen properly.
Fair Maid of Devon - contributes to the unique character that makes our ciders unmistakably Devon.
We also have some of the oldest Bramley trees in the country, planted in the 1870s, though Bramleys aren't traditionally a Devon cider apple.
OUR ORCHARDS
We've never used herbicides or pesticides on our trees. Never used artificial fertilisers either. This means we get less fruit per tree than intensive orchards, but what we do get has bags more flavour and character. It's better for the wildlife too - we've got bats keeping the moths at bay, dormice in the hedgerows, and horses grazing between the trees.
Come next month, we'll be officially organic certified, though honestly we've been farming this way all along.
HOW WE MAKE OUR CIDER
We don't shake the trees or rush things. The apples fall when they're ripe, and that's when we gather them.
Each autumn we ferment our cider in small batches - just 1000 to 1200 bottles at a time. Some batches use wild yeast from the orchards, others use a traditional champagne yeast. Then we wait. At least six months, often twelve. Our vintage cider takes two years. We don't add sugar to boost the alcohol or water to dilute it. What you get is as close to pure apple juice cider as it's possible to be.
Every bottle is numbered by hand. Proper limited editions.
COME AND SEE US
Pop into our farm shop, The Firkin Cider Shop, or book onto one of our orchard walks. We love showing people around - there's always something happening in the orchards through the year.
A BIT OF DEVON HISTORY
Solland Farm has been making cider since Victorian times - the "new" cider house was built in 1878! There's even a bit of gold in our stream - the British Geological Survey found it back in 1994. Not enough to make us rich, mind, but every year a few hopeful souls turn up with pans. They usually leave with a bottle or two of cider and reckon they've struck gold after all!
We're members of the Small Independent Cidermakers Association - it's good to swap stories with other small producers who understand what it's like doing everything by hand, the traditional way.
Sampford Courtenay Cider
Solland Farm, Sampford Courtenay, Devon, EX20 3QT
01837 851638
www.devoncider.com
sales@devoncider.com
Sampford Courtenay Cider is a family business making craft cider on our farm