Apples maxed
FIONA WHITTY looks on the bright cider life on a family trip to pretty Herefordshire
‘THIS wasn’t something I intended to do – I just slipped into it,” mused Alex Culpin, a one-time musician who supported The Pretenders and Radiohead, and played at Glastonbury before turning to craft cider making.
Surrounded by an abundance of lush countryside, it’s hardly surprising that Herefordshire folk frequently seek to turn nature into business.
Alex’s stepfather James grew apples for Bulmers, and on a whim, Alex and wife Laura decided to give up their London jobs and follow the rural dream.
Nowadays their Ty Gwyn Cider – pressed and matured for up to 12 months on their farm Pen-Y-Lan in Pontrilas – helps Herefordshire produce more than 50% of all the UK’s cider (free tastings available, tygwyncider.co.uk).
It’s also on the Sip Drink Tour, a trail around the county’s innovative drink producers (eatsleepliveherefordshire.co.uk/sipdrink-tour-trail).
During a short break, we popped into their farm shop for tastings. Their fulsome on-tap Festival Ferret was pure joy.
Afterwards we headed up the road to Rowlestone Court Farm, where dairy farmer Mark Williams diversified into making ice cream to supplement dwindling income from his cows.
Now the morning’s milk ends up ready to serve that same day in the busy on-site ice cream parlour – from field to freezer within hours (rowlestoneicecream.co.uk).
The lip-smacking cones – salted caramel and chocolate chip for my 15-year-old daughter Rosie and me, Oreo for Freddie, 12, and apple and cinnamon for husband Tim – rivalled the best.
holiday cottage Teal Barn lay off the beaten track near a tiny village called St Weonards, nine miles from Rosson-Wye.
Part of a converted barn on a working arable farm, the twobedroomed home was kitted out in crisp whites and cool greys, with country-themed pheasant and tartan furnishings and exposed timber beams.
The views were idyllic. On the adjacent lake we watched Canada geese nurturing their yellow-furred goslings.
Sykes Holiday Cottages, who we booked through, were great at emailing updates – accommodation may no longer contain books and games, for example – and reminding us to reserve restaurants and activities in advance.
Nearby Hereford – full of independently owned shops and a beautiful cathedral – beckoned, a highlight being cool restaurant The Beefy Boys, the result of four friends’ BBQ
passion (thebeefyboys.com). After scooping Best Burger at 2014’s UK Grillstock competition, they went on to be crowned runners-up in Las Vegas’s World Food Championships, using their winnings to launch the restaurant.
Their enormous Herefordshire beef ‘dirty’ burgers come with different patties and toppings.
My amazing Oklahoma-style Pastrami Boy had two slim burgers ‘smashed’ with onions plus house cured and smoked pastrami and two types of cheese. Tim opted for a Blue Boy with blue cheese mayo and pickled jalapenos, while the kids kept it simple with bacon burgers, but added frothy milkshakes. Rosie quipped it was the best burger she’d ever
tasted.
Back at the cottage we took delivery of a basket full of glorious goodies from Field Fayre, a family-run organic store in Ross-on-Wye (fieldfayre.co.uk).
Pam Barnes and her son Luke Miller hand select and deliver orders from the 2,500-plus products they stock, from fruit and veg to meat and fish to drinks, gifts and toiletries, mostly sourced from Herefordshire and its surrounds.
Our hamper included seeded sourdough bread, cheese, gravadlax, honey, salads, fresh juice, cider and yoghurt as well as a few treats like lip balm and a shampoo bar. The food was perfect for a picnic on the banks of the River Monnow in nearby Skenfrith, where Freddie enjoyed a dip.
Back on the cider theme, we sampled landlord Matt Slocombe’s tasty homebrew at The Crown Inn, Woolhope’s popular village pub (facebook.com/Crowninn). Matt ferments his own Kings Sparkling and Kings Cloudy onsite from locally grown and pressed cider apples.
With pinch-yourself countryside views from the decked terrace, you couldn’t ask for a better setting.
A pint of each cider for Tim and I were the ideal match for the HereOur
ford Hop soufflé made from local cheese, and its cod with local asparagus.
The kids gave a big thumbs up to the pizzas, baked in the outdoor wood-fired oven.
The next day we headed over to Ewyas Harold, where Kevin Michael’s paintball and laser clay shooting business Battlelands operates from the family sheep grazing farm.
During lockdown Kevin kept himself busy devising new activities…and came up Viking Games, a series of traditional Nordic contests (thevikinggames.co.uk, £9.99 for a two-hour session).
All of us loved molkky, a bowlstype game which involves throwing a small log at 12 numbered wooden skittles and adding up the scores of the ones you knock over. Bullrings involves tossing rope loops over hooks, stige tests your ability to fling weighted ropes around poles, while kubb involves knocking down the opposing team’s blocks with batons. The games were novel, fun and suited all ages.
That evening we visited The New Inn in nearby St Owen’s Cross, a former coaching inn from the 16th century that’s famed for its fine locally sourced food (thenewinnherefordshire.co.uk).
Our starters of beef carpaccio and asparagus both hailed from the Wye Valley, as did my delicious ribeye steak that followed. All the beef had been aged for at least 30 days and tasted divine. Tim’s Welsh lamb – served three ways as slow braised shoulder, roasted loin and faggot – was also top-notch, while the kids’ burgers, made from Hereford Longhorn steak, were wolfed down. Stunning food and setting.
Before leaving Herefordshire we visited the Lemore Estate for a falconry experience.
Pre-lockdown, the estate was a plush wedding venue but owners Margaret and Ben Owen decided to reopen as a hotel as well, also adding cool glass outdoor dining pods and upmarket shepherds’ huts (lemore-estate.co.uk).
Our birds of prey encounter kicked off its newly-curated events programme. Luke Mammatt from Wye Valley Falconry introduced us to some of his birds, including peregrine falcon Beatrice, turkey vulture Reggie and northern whitefaced owl Trench.
Then we donned special leather gloves so Luke could entice the beauties to fly on to our hands. Freddie’s favourite bit was when a Harris hawk called Chester chased after him as he trailed a fake rabbit. It was amazing to see such an incredible creature so close up.
With so much on offer, we’re prey-ing we’ll be back in Herefordshire soon.