The UK has the highest per capita consumption of cider in the world and although there are other areas of the UK such as East Anglia that have a tradition of producing fine cider it’s generally regarded that the counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire in the West Midlands and the West Country in general are the areas with which it is most associated.

The county of Devon has had a long history of cider making, and although there are no really large commercial businesses down here these days, there are still a number of smaller producers dotted about – including Hunts of Yalberton.

Yalberton is a small village on the outskirts of Paignton, and although the nearby industrial estate and new housing have started to encroach on the once serene countryside, there are still plenty of apple trees growing in the fields. In years gone by, many of these apples were used by the famous Whiteway’s Cyder firm of Whimple, but they also spawned a couple of local Yalberton cider farms as well – namely Churchward’s and Hunt’s. The friendly rivalry between them ceased to exist after Churchward’s closed down sometime during the 1990s, the exact date of which I can’t quite remember.

Fortunately, Hunt’s is still going strong, and it was in 2018 that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to have a look around Higher Yalberton Farm to see where the apples came from and how their cider was made.

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Originally posted 2018-06-23 14:54:51.