Cider Apples Return To Their Dorset Roots

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March 20 2011

On Saturday 19^th March, Mrs Anthony Pitt-Rivers, Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, assisted by Henry Best (aged 3), great, great grandson of the Hon. James Best of Hincknowle, Melplash, planted a Golden Ball cider apple tree, propagated from a tree in the Warren Orchard in Netherbury, to complete the planting of the Linden Lea Dorset Cider Orchard. The occasion marked the end of three years work on the Dorset Apple Project, provided the opportunity to distribute some 20 varieties of Dorset cider apple trees to orchard owners and community groups and celebrated the fruit of a county which may well have been the first to produce cider in England.

The day was gloriously sunny and warm, the Dorset flag (the Cross of St Whit) fluttered from the tower of Melplash Church and from poles around the orchard, as about 70 people came to take part in the event, many of whom later lunched at the Half Moon Inn, beside the church on the opposite side of the Bridport-Beaminster Road.

This was very much a family occasion. Anthony Pitt-Rivers did his farm pupilage with Peter Tiarks at Melplash Court in 1958 and Bower Hinton apple grower, Edward Landon, Peter’s grandson, was there to meet him. John Warren, grandson of the late Harry Warren of Highfield Farm and son of Hubert Warren, and his Aunt, Mrs Mary Poole, represented the cidermaking family who swept all before them in the competition at the Bath & West in 1928, the last time the then peripatetic show was held in Dorchester. In the 1930s, Harry, James Best and two Stoke Abbot cidermakers sold their ciders under the Linden Lea brand. It was Hubert’s experience at the National Cider Institute (later Long Ashton Research Station) that introduced him to the emerging science of cidermaking and the techniques to improve quality. 1928 was also the year in which the Bath & West’s journal noted with approval, as founding sponsors of the Institute, how much Long Ashton had done for the industry. It was entirely fitting, therefore, that one of the two driving forces behind this new project should be Liz Copas, one of the last Long Ashton pomologists, technical adviser to the National Association of Cider Makers and author of several authoritative books on the subject, who was at Melplash to distribute some 300 trees of traditional varieties to their new owners. Paradoxically, it was Liz, then working for Ray Williams, who was largely responsible for the latest generation of cider apples developed to meet the needs of today’s industry and, hot off the press, she also produced her new pamphlet, 21^st Century Cider Apples.

The other project leader, Nick Poole, West Milton cidermaker and originator of the hugely successful Powerstock Cider Festival, was offering mulled cider and glasses of Marlpits Late, one of the previously unknown varieties tracked down by the project, which Nick reckons to be up with the best amongst the few apples capable of making a good single variety cider. Others present on Saturday included the family of Betty Scott Daniell who, 10 years ago, identified a Buttery D’Or in her garden in Bridport, grown from a cutting from a tree in Romsey that itself had been propagated from a tree in West Dorset. Before the Bridport tree was felled, graftings were taken and the progeny live on. Amongst other luminaries of the craft, were James Crowden, poet and author of books on cider custom and practice, including his most recent, Ciderland, which is will stand as the most authoritative book on cider past and present for some years to come, and one of those featured in the book, Rose Grant, of Winterbourne Houghton, who in 2009 won the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers’ Cup for the Supreme Champion Cider at the Royal Bath and West Show – and very nearly pulled of the same trick the following year. Arguably, Rose has been the most successful Dorset cidermaker at the Show since Harry and Hubert Warren eighty years earlier.

The opportunity was taken to promote three cider events. Tickets were on sale in the village hall for the Powerstock Cider Festival (30^th April) and there were boards in the orchard with the dates of the Royal Bath & West Show (1^st-4^th June), home of the country’s leading cider event, and the Melplash Show (25^th August), at which Nick Poole will be organizing, this year, the Society’s first cider competition.

Rupert Best, owner of the orchard, which lies on the Brit Valley Way’s Hills Walk, expressed his pleasure at having the opportunity to promote the splendid work done by Nick Poole and Liz Copas and to bring to public attention Dorset’s poet William Barnes, whose statue stands in the centre of the County Town and who wrote the poem Linden Lea, subsequently set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Nick Poole is delighted at the success of the project which has exceeded their expectations and will provide information for future generations. With the help of the Mother Orchards being grown by the National Trust and other landowners, the future of Dorset’s traditional cider apples is assured.

Liz Copas pointed out that she will again be visiting ancient orchards this September, looking out for varieties yet to be rediscovered. They include Long Stem (a large red, sharp apple), the Dorset version of Somerset Crab (a large green and red striped late sharp apple), and Tom Legg (a medium sized, conical yellow apple with a sweet taste) and she looks forward to hearing from anyone who might know of them. Meanwhile, she is taking orders for apples to be planted in winter 2012/spring 2013 - and the advice is to get a bid in early.

At the end of the 18^th Century, records show that there were 10,000 acres of orchards in Dorset. All agreed that County’s cider heritage has been hidden for far too long and, with the renewed popularity of cider and apple juice, the growth of commercial orchards and the explosion of interest in community orchards and home planting, there could not be a better time than now, encouraged by the Sovereign’s representative in Dorset, to trumpet the revival and work for a prosperous future.

The following Dorset varieties have been planted in the Linden Lea Orchard. Some also have an association with neighbouring Devon and Somerset.

Variety

Buttery D’Or

Warrior

Cap of Liberty

Fillbarrel

Golden Ball (Netherbury)

Golden Ball (Dashayes)

Sour Cadbury

Marnhull Mill

Golden Bittersweet (Thatchers)

Golden Bittersweet (Haines)