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We are artisan producers at the heart of Somerset’s cider-land making whole juice sparkling cider by the old English method of keeving.
Apples are collected from traditional cider orchards in and around the parish of Pilton and slowly fermented for six months in our cool Victorian cellar before bottling.
Our cider is available to buy at specialist shops and online.

Keeving

Keeving is a method of cider-making practised in England as far back as the mid 1600′s but long since replaced here by large-scale factory techniques.  The process has survived in France, however, due to their more stringent rules on cider manufacture.
Fully ripe, bittersweet cider apples are collected and milled as usual but the pulp is left to stand for 24 hours.  This maceration period allows the pulp to oxidise and for pectins to be released from the cell walls. The pulp is then pressed to give a thick, dark juice; rich in flavour.
After a week the pectin gel has formed and is lifted away from the clear juice by the first CO2 bubbles of a gentle wild yeast fermentation.
After a few days, a pectin gel, called the chapeau brun in France, floats to the surface and clear juice can be extracted from below.  The gel is discarded along with most of the actively fermenting yeast and the nutrients it needs to fully ferment the apple sugars into alcohol.
The result is an only partially fermented cider, that retains much of its refreshing apple flavour and soft taste.
We bottle the keeved juice, before it has completed its long fermentation and allow it to mature into a superb cider.

Our Orchards

WORTHY FARM
For fifty weeks of the year, the orchard at Worthy Farm is a very quiet place.  Old cider trees stand gracefully in a narrow strip of land by a stream.
But for two weeks every year, things are very different.  Glasto arrives!

 MORLEYS ORCHARD
Morley’s is our own brand new orchard that has just been planted with the latest generation of cider apple varieties. Developed by Liz Copas and the National Association of Cider Makers from the best of traditional varieties, these have been chosen for their disease resistance, early cropping and regular harvest.
The orchard lies in the Pylle valley, just off the Fosse Way, with views beyond to the famous cider regions of East Pennard and West Bradley.

PYLLE HALT
Pylle Halt was the old Somerset and Dorset railway station at Pylle, and is now a private house.  The orchard contains traditional varieties, planted to a wide standard spacing on the old railway sidings.

Varieties at Pylle Halt:
Chisel Jersey
Kingston Black
Harry Masters Jersey
Yarlington Mill