Jun 26, 2025
The National Association of Cider Makers (NACM) brought together around 200 apple growers, orchard managers, and cider producers this week at Sheppy’s Cider in Somerset for the 2025 Growers Orchard Walk, a key opportunity for technical exchange and sector-wide discussion amid growing pressure from policy changes affecting farm businesses.
The event was hosted by David Sheppy, NACM Chair and sixth-generation cider maker at Three Bridges Farm, which manages 90 acres of cider orchards alongside a pedigree Longhorn herd. The farm operates under an SFI agreement and has invested in sustainability measures including a 39kVA solar installation, a closed-loop wetland waste system, and a biomass boiler to support the farm’s hospitality operations.
In his opening remarks, Sheppy did not shy away from the impact of recent regulatory changes.
“The last 12 months have been some of the most disruptive I can remember,” he said. “Inheritance tax uncertainty, the abrupt closure of SFI options, cost burdens from Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR), and changes to excise duty have all hit hard. Add to that wage and National Insurance increases, and our margins are under real strain.”
The pEPR charge alone is estimated to have added 7–10p per bottle of cider from April 2025.
Despite these challenges, Sheppy was resolute in the cider sector’s long-term outlook.
“This industry is worth £3 billion a year. Over 700 million litres of cider are produced annually, supporting around 15,500 acres of orchard across the UK. We are the largest cider market globally, and growers are central to that success.”
Attendees took part in technical orchard tours, equipment demonstrations and heard from experts on orchard management practices and innovations. The event also gave growers a chance to speak directly with industry leaders and peers about navigating policy and market shifts.
The NACM, which represents over 90% of UK cider production, has joined forces with other drinks producers to raise concerns with government about the cumulative impact of new legislation on rural enterprises and supply chains.
“Partnership between growers and makers has always underpinned this sector,” Sheppy added. “It’s vital that we continue working together to preserve this industry for future generations, and to ensure British cider remains competitive, sustainable, and rooted in our farming heritage.”
Apr 28, 2025
British Cider Week will feature events from a wide range of producers, from new young startups to traditional producers with generations of heritage. There will be celebrations across the country; from the cider heartlands of the West Country, to the apple gardens of Kent, from country orchards to urban cider works.
View the events happening during British Cider Week.
Dec 6, 2024
It is important that you check you are correctly registered with HMRC before February next year. On 1st March their new digitised systems will go live and if you are not correctly registered now, you will be unable to use the new system.
You will need to check that your registration is correct for both Cider (for ciders that currently conform to HMRC Notice 162), and for Other Fermented Products (for Flavoured ciders).
Full details from HMRC are provided below. If you need more information or have any questions, please contact HMRC via the contact details on this link or via mailbox.alcoholpolicy@hmrc.gov.uk.
Ensure that you have the correct HMRC alcoholic production registrations and licences
HMRC’s new digital alcohol duty returns and payments service goes live from 1 March 2025. The digital service will replace the EX606 return form for cider, wine and other fermented products (OFP – previously known as ‘made-wine’) producers.
Currently:
- Producing cider (as per the definition in Finance (No.2) Act 2023) requires a cider registration.
- Producing fruit-flavoured, spiced or other “cider” variations requires an OFP licence, and such products pay duty at the OFP, and not cider, duty rate.
- To produce both cider and OFP products prior to 1 February 2025 you should have applied for, and been granted, both of the above.
Existing alcoholic product producers will have their current registrations and licences migrated into the new service by HMRC. The new service will only allow duty payment for those alcoholic products you are approved to make on 1 February 2025.
Failing to have the correct licences in place prior to 1 February 2025 could result in delays with submitting your alcohol duty returns in the new service. If you require an OFP licence to make OFPs, please apply by completing and issuing a WMW1 form as soon as possible.
Jul 4, 2023
PHOTO: Martin Thatcher visits Weston Hospicecare, meeting community fundraisers Abi and Kirsty, to see apple trees planted for the Thatchers Community Orchard Project [Copyright Neil Phillips Photo and Film Ltd]
Community groups around the country have been planting apple trees this spring thanks to The Thatchers Community Orchard Project.
Attracting hundreds of applications in the project’s third year, from as far afield as Aberdeen to Worthing, the Somerset cider maker has supported over 100 groups wanting to enhance their communities, with 500 apple trees donated this year.
Including residents’ associations, parish councils, allotment groups, and care homes, five apple trees were donated to each of the successful applicants. To apply, they needed to explain why planting apple trees would make a difference to their communities.
Thatchers Community Orchard Project – Martin Thatcher meets Emma, Nicky, Elaine and Bethan from Weston Super Mare Cricket Club who received apple trees through the project.
Copyright Neil Phillips Photo and Film Ltd
“It’s always a real pleasure to distribute apple trees to organisations who really care about the community around them,” says Martin Thatcher, fourth generation of the cider making family. “We’ve been brought up with trees all around us at Myrtle Farm – so through this project we’re looking to spread apple tree love across the UK.
“With applications from the North of Scotland to the South West, from both rural and urban communities, by donating apple trees we can help communities in so many different ways – from helping green urban residential communities, providing an area of peace and solitude to care homes, and an educational resource to schools and colleges.”
With leading ciders such as Gold and Haze to its name, and over 500 acres of its own orchards in Somerset, Thatchers knows a thing or two about planting apple trees.
“There’s no better tree than an apple tree,” continues Martin. “From the tree’s beauty in spring when in full blossom, to the fascination of seeing the fruit develop throughout the summer, to the excitement of harvest, there’s always something new to see in an orchard.
“The enthusiasm we’ve seen amongst volunteers supporting their communities is inspirational, and we’re delighted to be playing our part with this community tree planting project.”
This is the third year the Somerset cider maker has run its Community Orchard Project, and brings the total number of organisations supported since launch to 175, with almost 1000 apple trees so far donated and planted across the country.
“The project shares our family’s passion for apple trees, building communities and constant support of the environment and ecosystem around us today and for the future,” Martin concludes.
Thatchers Community Orchard Project was first run in 2021. The project attracted such demand in its first year, the family run cider maker decided to more than double the number of trees it gave away in its second year, and in its third year doubling the number of organisations it has supported.
Mar 22, 2022
The specially created wildlife area, which will extend to approximately an acre in size, will run alongside the popular Strawberry Line cycle and footpath in Sandford, with family-run cider maker Thatchers hoping it will make a real contribution to the local environment and the biodiversity of the area.
Emma Pyle, Thatchers Cider, helps plant wildflowers in a new conservation area being planned by the Somerset Cider Maker
Two areas of coppice woodland will border a central grassland plateau. Planting of 169 trees and hedges includes native species such as hawthorn and hazel, English oak and field maple, together with more planting of grasses and nectar-rich wildflowers. This planting will help create sheltered micro-habitats, and will aid the important retention of a dark corridor for bats and other wildlife.
A special group of ten trees along The Strawberry Line has been planted and dedicated to the Queens Green Canopy campaign, celebrating the Platinum Jubilee in 2022.
Eleanor Thatcher, right, and Andy Jones, Avon Wildlife Trust, plant wildflowers in a new conservation area being planned by Somerset cider maker Thatchers
With its 500 acres of Somerset apple orchard, Thatchers is already home to a diverse habitat, and at Myrtle Farm has recorded 13 species of bat, as well as birds which are on the BOCC (Birds of Conservation Concern) Red and Amber lists, including house sparrow and redwing, grey wagtail and mistle thrush. It is hoped that the new conservation area will become a familiar home to many of these species, with the trees and plants selected to create a protected and foraging-rich haven.
“It’s important to us to maintain the biodiversity of our site here at Myrtle Farm,” says Gary Delafield, Operations Director at Thatchers. “As a cider maker rooted in the rural community, we’ve always been surrounded by trees and farmland, and recognise the role that a biodiverse environment plays. Myrtle Farm is already a very vibrant place for wildlife, and with this new conservation area, we’ll be increasing its biodiversity by over 85%.”
The habitat is expected provide a picturesque and interesting stop off point along the Strawberry Line, which is designated as a public footpath running alongside Myrtle Farm.
Thatchers has been working closely with the Avon Wildlife Trust in creating the area, together with arboricultural consultancy Cambium.
Fifth generation cider maker Eleanor Thatcher has been closely involved in the planning of the conservation area.
“Myrtle Farm is where I’ve grown up, and I’ve been used to seeing animals such as deer and hare in the orchards from an early age. It’s so important for us to encourage wildlife at Myrtle Farm,” she says. “This new conservation area will bring the wildlife right into the heart of Myrtle Farm, and we can’t wait to see which visitors will be the first to arrive in the Spring.”
Thatchers and the Avon Wildlife Trust will be erecting information boards alongside the conservation area, featuring more detail about the planting and resident wildlife.
Eleanor concludes, “We are no strangers to planting trees – in fact over the last decade Thatchers has planted some 158,000 apple trees in our orchards. And in 2022 we’re continuing to donate hundreds of apple trees to organisations and charities taking part in our Community Orchard Project. Our orchards are already havens for wildlife, but this conservation area is extra special, creating a new protected habitat for birds, animals and insects here at Myrtle Farm.”
Nov 3, 2021
With the largest and most diverse collection of apples used in cider making under its care, Somerset cider maker Thatchers has been partnering with the University of Bristol in a ground-breaking project that is using DNA fingerprinting techniques to identify apple tree varieties.
With many old and heritage varieties of apple trees beginning to disappear, the project is using genotyping – a process that compares DNA to find the differences in genetic make-up – to identify different varieties of cider apples.
Prof Keith Edwards, University of Bristol, left, with Chris Muntz-Torres, Thatchers Cider, collecting leaf samples for a ground breaking project that uses DNA fingerprinting techniques to identify apple tree varieties.
Led by Professor Keith Edwards from the School of Biological Sciences and post-graduate student Alex Graham [pictured main photo], scientists from the university visited Thatchers’ Exhibition Orchard to gather leaf samples for genotyping and thus identification. The biggest collection of apples for cider making in the country, Thatchers’ Exhibition Orchard contains hundreds of different varieties of apple tree, many of which were saved from the Long Ashton Research Station when cider research stopped in 1985. The researchers have also been out to other Thatchers’ orchards to gather samples, helping them create the largest database of apple tree fingerprints in the world, with over 2,500 genotypes present.
Chris Muntz-Torres, Thatchers Farm Manager has been involved in the project since its inception. “This is such a fantastic piece of research which will help us understand even more about the trees in our orchards. As with any research, you’re not always sure what’s going to be found. Although we think we know about the trees in our Exhibition Orchard with detailed plans we’ve compiled over the years as new trees have been planted, you never know, the research may identify variety that’s been lost and now rediscovered. That would be such an exciting find!
“By using the DNA technique to tell us more about the pedigree of each variety in our Exhibition orchard, we hope to be able to start creating new varieties of apple for cider making with the characteristics that we love as cider makers.”
Professor Edwards says, “By taking a leaf and fingerprinting it, we are in effect creating a barcode for that tree. And from that we are able to produce a reliable process for easy identification in the future.
“By visiting the UK’s most influential orchards, such as at Brogdale, The National Botanic Garden of Wales, and the Thatchers Exhibition Orchard, we’re creating a database that will be a valuable resource like no other for all cider makers.”
The researchers also asked local communities to send in leaf samples from unidentified apple trees in their gardens or allotments to help in the project.
“This is a 20-30 year process,” adds Alex Graham, who has collected some 2,500 leaf samples for the research. “The results will tell us what varieties we have now and the pedigree of each, assisting with future breeding of new varieties, perhaps high in tannin, or disease resistant. We need to make sure this knowledge is secure for the future of cider making.”
Family cider maker Thatchers Cider has over 500 acres of its own orchard in Somerset. By choosing its apple varieties carefully, and ensuring an exceptionally high standard of fruit grown in its orchards, Thatchers cider makers have created a distinctive style for its products, helping it grow to be the largest independently owned cider maker in the UK.
www.thatcherscider.co.uk
