A Celebration of Apple Harvest at Middle Farm
The Cider Barn at Middle Farm is a cider-lover’s dream with established favourites and regular new introductions.
Director of Middle Farm, Rod Marsh, says, “Autumn brings the apple harvest when we celebrate our national fruit in all its manifestations!”
“We’re proud to offer an ever-evolving range of ciders and perries in our Cider Barn. New this month five ciders from Wilding Cider, lovingly crafted by Sam and Beccy Leach on their 4.5-acre smallholding in Somerset, and the latest releases from Albert Johnson of Ross on Wye Cider and Perry’s including his collaboration with the Queer Brewing Project – Dancing Required”
The Celts are thought to have brought cider making to these islands. Some 5,000 years later, half of all the apples grown in the U.K. are used to make cider for the largest cider market in the world. The varieties of apples used, natural or cultured yeasts and an individual makers’ process all create a distinctly unique and characterful finish, as do the whisky, oak and port barrels sometimes used for maturation.
Middle Farm sells straight from the cask, affording visitors the unique opportunity to taste and compare before they buy.
As the nights draw in and the temperatures drop, the change of season is welcomed with steaming hot mulled cider, a perennial favourite, to enjoy whilst you shop, or to take home in a container.
Apples from local orchards are hand-pressed for fresh juice daily and, by appointment, customers can bring their own fruit to have it pressed every day of the week. There are also between forty and fifty bottled varietal apple juices made by local growers– a flavour for every palate.
Apple-based drinks aren’t the only thing on offer. “Every year we celebrate the unparalleled diversity of our national fruit with as big an array of freshly-picked apple and pear varieties as we can fit in our farm shop. From now until after Christmas there will be upwards of twenty varieties to delight our customers, some from our own farmhouse orchard, but all from within a thirty-mile radius, sourced from low-input, often organic, sustainable orchards.”
About Middle Farm: https://middlefarm.com/
Nestling at the foot of Firle Beacon on the South Downs in Sussex, Middle Farm is a 625 acre working family farm. Six generations of farming have given us a unique insight into British food production. The highest standards of animal welfare and environmental care show in our farm produce. We demand those same high standards from everyone whose produce we stock.
