Parva Farm
Heck’s
9-11 Middle Leigh, Street, Somerset BA16 0LB Once upon a time, the roads of England’s southwest were lined with scrumpy farms that made cider for their own use and sold their surplus to passers-by. Then, in 2005, a new law made off-licences compulsory for anyone wanting to sell alcohol – but very few farmers bothered to apply for one.
One that did was Heck’s, whose location near both Glastonbury and the old Clarks shoe factory in the village of Street, now a popular shopping centre, persuaded the family to continue a tradition going back to the 1870s.
But the business had to become more commercial to survive. The family was already selling single-variety juices; now it broke with the orthodoxy that no single strain of apple was able to make decent cider, which could only come from blending. Today, Heck’s makes 15 single-varietal ciders; two of them, oh heresy, from eating-apples. That’s not the only change: you can still get your cider in ye oldeworlde plastic flagons if you must, but you don’t have to – Heck’s has a bottling line.
The place still feels nicely rustic, though: a working farmyard studded with odds and ends of equipment, ancient and modern; the shop no more than a barn, really, with bits of arcane ironmongery – bullticklers, troutspears and suchlike – hanging on rough stone walls; barrels in sturdy tiers; jars and jars of chutney/ pickle/ preserve; cheese – so much cheese! No interactive displays; no DVDs voiced in dramaschool ‘Mummerset’ accents – just stuff you want to eat, stuff you want to drink, all real, all good. www.heckscider.com – +44 (0)1458 442367
West Brewery
Templeton Building, Glasgow Green,
Glasgow G40 1AW
When Bavarian-born Petra Wetzel’s dad came to visit her in Glasgow and wasn’t all that impressed with the beer, she decided to put matters right by starting a brewery of her own. And to ensure that the old boy would like her beer, she stuck to the Bavarian Reinheitsgebot or purity law of 1516, banning the use of any ingredients except malt, hops, water and yeast.
She also tried to use ingredients as close to the German original as she could get. Soft brewing liquor comes from Loch Katrine; her malt is mostly British, but she does import some from Germany; her hops are mainly Hallertau, one of the ‘noble’ varieties used by German and Czech brewers. The house yeast is an imported bottom-fermenting strain that is skimmed and propagated after each brew.
‘Heck’s still feels nicely rustic: a working farmyard studded with odds and ends of equipment, ancient and modern’
West Brewery’s very striking home is an 1890s carpet factory designed in imitation of the Doge’s Palace in Venice, although it overlooks a green rather than a canal. It incorporates a stylish bar and restaurant, West on the Green, which has become a popular wedding venue. It also boasts a spacious courtyard and two separate brewhouses. There are a number of different tours to enjoy, including the West Experience, which ends with a three-course meal. Private tours can be arranged. www.westbeer.com – +44 (0)141 550 0135 (tours must be booked) Tintern, Chepstow NP16 6SQ
The Wye Valley inspired one of Wordsworth’s loveliest nature poems: Tintern Abbey. Perhaps when you visit Parva Farm, in south Wales near the river Severn, you might carry a copy as you stroll among the vines, for you may be as enraptured by the scenery as was the poet. It’s also likely that this spot enraptured the monks of Tintern: there are few sites nearby as suited to vines, so this may well be where they grew the grapes for their communion wine.
Today’s vines date back mostly to 1979, when the 1.6ha vineyard was planted with Bacchus, Müller-Thurgau, Seyval Blanc and Pinot Noir to become the first commercial vineyard in Wales. In 1996, Colin and Judith Dudley added Regent to make a Pinot rosé as well as a better red. Including a demonstration yard, Parva Farm now has 4,500 vines of 17 varieties. The Dudleys make an intriguing range including a sparkling wine, Dathliad (Celebration), and a mead (or more strictly a piment) based on Seyval Blanc, also the base for a dessert wine flavoured with summer fruits. More recently they’ve started cidermaking using apples from the farm and from the organic orchard next door, fermented in wine casks.
The shop doubles as a sampling room where tutored tastings are given after guided tours. It sells all the farm and winery products and other local provender. No café, but the Wye Valley Hotel is immediately across the road. Alternatively bring a picnic to enjoy while you:
‘...repose... and view These plots of cottageground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits, Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves ’Mid groves and copses...’ www.parvafarm.com – +44 (0)1291 689636 (tours must be booked)