Traditional Cider Apples

Bowhayes Orchards is a working cider apple orchard at Bowhayes Farm in Venn Ottery, East Devon. The established orchards grow Dabinett, Browns and Michelin.

These varieties matter. They bring structure, tannin, acidity and balance — the character you need to make proper cider, not just something that tastes vaguely of apples.

The Established Orchards

The New Traditional Orchard

A new traditional orchard is being planted with Twenty Pip, Major, Tom Legg and Kingston Black. Young trees take years before they crop in any meaningful way, so this is a long view rather than next season's fruit.

The point of it is straightforward: keeping South West cider apple growing alive, and keeping these varieties in the ground where they belong.

Why the Varieties Matter

Tannin gives cider grip and length. Acidity gives it lift. Sugar decides how far fermentation can go. Get the proportions wrong and you have something thin, or flat, or both — which is why traditional cider is usually blended rather than made from a single variety.

Harvest timing matters as much as the varieties themselves. Early and late varieties spread the work through autumn, and each comes off when it's ready rather than when it's convenient.

This is South West cider tradition in practical terms: particular apples, grown in a particular place, picked at the right moment.

Common Questions

More on how the fruit becomes cider in what makes good cider, and on the work through the year in orchard seasons in Devon.

Or read how the orchard came to be.