An Orchard Landscape Worth Knowing

Devon's cider tradition is older than most of its farmhouses. Long before anyone planted a vineyard here, smallholders were setting out apple trees in the deep red clay and granite-edged valleys that run from the Blackdown Hills down to the South Hams. These were never tidy commercial orchards. They were rough, grazed, hedge-bound strips beside the lane — what locals still call a "cider orchard" or, on the western side of the county, a "mow".

What makes Devon distinct is the imbalance of the fruit. Roughly a third of the trees in a traditional Devon orchard are bittersweet and bittersharp varieties grown purely for pressing: Kingston Black, Dabinett, Yarlington Mill, Tremlett's Bitter, Sweet Alford, Chisel Jersey. You cannot eat most of them — they are tannic, dry and bitter enough to make you wince. That bitterness is the whole point of the drink.

How Traditional Devon Cider Is Made

The process has barely changed in three centuries, only the scale of the kit involved. Most farmhouse cider in Devon is still made in this order:

• Picking and sweating: Apples are knocked or shaken down from late September, then left in a heap for a week or two to soften. This "sweating" concentrates sugars and makes milling easier.
• Scratter and press: Fruit is crushed to a pulp — a "cheese" — then layered between cloths and slats and pressed. Traditionally this was a screw press turned by hand or a horse-driven stone mill.
• Straight to the barrel: Devon cider is fermented slowly in oak or, more often now, in stainless or food-grade plastic, with wild yeasts doing the work. No added sugar, no dilution.
• Keeving (the tricky bit): A technique more associated with Devon and Somerset than anywhere else, where the juice is allowed to throw a brown froth and then racked off it repeatedly, leaving a naturally sweet, gently sparkling cider without added sugar or pasteurisation.

Fermentation runs cool through the winter and the cider is usually ready to drink by late spring. Proper farmhouse cider is cloudy, still or lightly petillant, and tastes of the orchard rather than of apples.

Understanding What's in the Glass

If you are new to West Country cider, a little vocabulary helps before you buy.

• Dry: Fully fermented out. Bone dry, tannic, sometimes bracing. Best served cool, not cold.
• Medium: Sweetened with apple juice or, in the old way, by keeving. The Devon style tends towards a soft, rounded medium.
• Farmhouse: Unfiltered, unpasteurised, often from a single farm. This is what to seek out at a market stall.
• Single variety: Bottled from one apple type, usually Kingston Black or Dabinett. Excellent for understanding what each variety actually tastes of.

Serve farmhouse cider at cellar temperature — around 11–13°C. Straight from a fridge it loses almost all its aroma, and the tannins turn harsh.

Where to Find and Buy It

The best cider rarely travels far. Devon producers sell close to home, and the practical route to finding them is through markets and farm shops rather than supermarkets.

• Farm shops: Look along the A38 corridor, the Exe Valley and around Crediton, Tiverton and Newton Abbot. Many stock cider by the bottle and, increasingly, in 5-litre or 10-litre bag-in-box.
• Farmers' markets: Exeter, Totnes, Tavistock, Okehampton and Barnstaple's Pannier Market all have regular cider stalls. Arrive early; the small producers sell out by midday.
• Cider farms with a shop or tap room: A growing number open a barn on Saturday mornings. You can taste before buying and fill your own containers — often at a useful discount.
• Pubs: Any Devon free house with a proper cellar will list a local farmhouse cider alongside the beer. Ask who made it; the landlord usually knows the family.

If you are driving, buy a bottle rather than a draught-proof container, and remember that farmhouse cider often has no keeving stabiliser — it will carry on fermenting if it gets warm, so store it somewhere cool and dark.

Orchard Traditions Through the Year

Devon's orchard calendar is worth planning a visit around. The season opens properly in January, when wassailing ceremonies are held — Old Twelfth Night, 17 January, is the traditional date in these parts. Villagers gather in an orchard, sing to the oldest tree, hang toast soaked in cider in its branches, and fire shotguns into the canopy to wake the tree spirits. It is louder and friendlier than it sounds, and most events welcome visitors.

May brings the blossom — brief, worth a walk, and the moment beekeepers and cider makers both worry about frost. Through September and October, many orchards run apple days with pressing demonstrations and a chance to bring your own fruit for juicing. Late autumn is picking time, and if you offer a few hours' help on a smallholding you will usually go home with cider.

Supporting Producers and Keeping Orchards Standing

Traditional orchards have declined sharply in Devon over the last sixty years, mostly because the trees stopped paying their way. The most effective support is straightforward: buy the cider, and buy it from the person who made it.

• Buy bag-in-box or refillable containers rather than single bottles where you can — better value and less waste.
• Choose farms that graze their orchards. The mix of old trees, long grass and livestock is what makes Devon cider orchards such rich wildlife habitat.
• Ask at your local shop whether they will stock a nearby producer. Small farms usually need one more outlet, not one more festival.
• Try the obscure local varieties when you see them. Every bottle sold is an argument for grafting the next tree.

Drunk slowly, bought locally and kept cool, Devon cider is one of the county's genuinely living traditions — and one you can taste your way into in an afternoon.