Proper Cider, Made By Proper Folk

The Best Small-Batch
Cider In Britain

Ey up, and a gurt big welcome to thee. They call me t'Yorkshire Cider & Perry Connoisseur — forty-odd year spent supping owt that's come off an apple tree (and a pear tree an' all). This 'ere is my list of the small makers doing it proper: real fruit, wild yeast, and not a drop o' concentrate in sight.

🍎 100% pressed juice, nowt else 🛢️ Wild yeast & patience 🚜 Real farms, not factories 🍐 Perry is perry — not pear cider

The Big List

The 14 Best Small-Scale Cider Makers In The UK

No factory zider 'ere, my luvver. Every one of these is a small outfit pressing proper fruit from proper orchards — England, Wales and Cornwall's finest, and most of 'em will post a box to thy door.

1

Tricky Cider Best Overall

Top o' the heap, and by a fair chalk an' all. Tricky have been at it since 2004 down at Netherham Farm in Low Ham, near Langport, pressing apples gathered from orchards right across the Somerset Levels. It's 100% juice — no concentrate, no additives, nowt — open-fermented wi' the wild yeasts floating about the place, same as God intended. Still and sparkling farmhouse ciders, single varieties, blended bittersweets… every bottle tastes of a Somerset orchard, not a laboratory. Matt Gillett's run the show since 2018 and the man's cider-daft in the best possible way. Proper job.

📍 Netherham Farm, Low Ham, Langport, Somerset · Farm open most weekdays · Delivers nationwide · trickycider.com

2

Gregg's Pit Cider & Perry Perry Royalty

If perry had a throne, this lot 'ud be sat on it wi' their boots up. Making cider and perry at Much Marcle in Herefordshire since 1994, James Marsden and Helen Woodman press vintage-variety fruit from traditional tall-tree orchards on a stone press that's been squeezing apples since the 1700s. Small batches, wild yeast, slow natural ferments — and a trophy shelf that'd make thee dizzy: thirteen Big Apple Champion Perry titles and CAMRA's UK Gold Champion Perry among 'em. Reyt special stuff.

📍 Gregg's Pit, Much Marcle, Herefordshire · greggs-pit.co.uk

3

Butford Organics Best Organic

A family outfit at Bodenham in Herefordshire that started twenty-odd year back fermenting forty gallon in an old whisky barrel — and tha can't get more proper than that. These days they've their own apple and perry-pear orchards and do the whole lot themselves: harvesting, milling, pressing, fermenting, bottling, all on t'farm. Organic through and through, wild yeasts only, no added sulphites — plus a cheeky triple-distilled cider brandy for when the weather turns. They do orchard tours an' all.

📍 Butford Farm, Bodenham, Herefordshire · Tours & tastings · butfordorganics.co.uk

4

Oliver's Cider & Perry The Legend

Tom Oliver is the name folk whisper in cider circles the world over, and they're not wrong to. From Ocle Pychard in Herefordshire comes award-winning cider and perry matured in a barrel store full o' casks that once held whisky, rum, sherry, red wine, even calvados — all of it lending summat to the glass. Cutting-edge and old-fashioned at t'same time, which is a trick very few can pull off.

📍 Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire · oliversciderandperry.co.uk

5

Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry Co Family Farm

A family-run orchard and cidery at Broome Farm, Peterstow, turning out award-winning whole-juice ciders and perries — and rated by them as knows as one of the very best in t'country. Grand range o' single varieties, plenty of still and dry stuff for the purists, and a farm well worth calling in at if thee's passing through the Wye Valley.

📍 Broome Farm, Peterstow, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire · rosscider.com

6

Gwatkin Cider The Trophy Cabinet

Down in the Golden Valley at Abbey Dore, the Gwatkin family have been filling flagons and winning gongs for donkey's years — CAMRA's Champion of Britain among 'em, for their world-famous Yarlington Mill. Summat like thirty-five different ciders and perries on t'go, in bottle or proper draught flagons from the farm shop, including a Farmhouse Perry pressed from old-fashioned pears off the last few pear orchards of rural Herefordshire. Farmhouse cider as it's meant to be — big, honest and gurt good fun.

📍 Moorhampton Park Farm, Abbey Dore, Herefordshire · Farm shop · gwatkincider.co.uk

7

Little Pomona The Fancy One

James and Susanna Forbes make cider the way posh folk make wine — and before tha scoffs, taste it first. Bottles that belong on a dinner table, ferments that push the boundaries (they've been known to bring hops, cherries and quince to the party), and a cult following as big as any in cider. When thy mate says cider can't be elegant, pour 'em this and watch their face.

📍 Near Bromyard, Herefordshire · littlepomona.com

8

Artistraw Cider Small & Mighty

Tom Tibbits and Lydia Crimp started out in 2017 wi' a release of 550 bottles, and every drop since has been made the hard way: fruit hand-picked from unsprayed, biodiversity-rich traditional orchards round Hay-on-Wye, spontaneous wild ferments, and nowt added — no sugar, no water, no sulphites, no pasteurising. They're even planting their own orchard o' rare apple and perry pear varieties, every tree grafted by their own hands. Award-winning, low-intervention, and honest as owt.

📍 Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire · Tours April–September · artistraw.co.uk

9

Cwm Maddoc Cider & Perry Perry Wizards

From a farm just south o' Broad Oak in Herefordshire comes perry that's spoken of — and I'm not exaggerating, mind — as some o' the best in the world. They do the whole job themselves from picking to labelling, wild-fermented and unfiltered, wi' the perries kept as single varieties so tha can taste exactly what a Betty Prosser or a Pig's Face pear is about (aye, them's real pear names — perry folk don't mess about). Ciders are grand an' all.

📍 Cwm Maddoc Farm, Broad Oak, Herefordshire · via hollow-ash.co.uk

10

Wilding Cider Wild & Natural

Beccy and Sam Leach farm and ferment in the Chew Valley, North Somerset, and went at it full-time in 2018 after years o' happy tinkering. Fruit's picked up off the ground the old way, left to ripen proper, then pressed and fermented slow wi' wild yeasts — no sulphites, no rush, no messing. Cider and perry from their own orchard and a handful of others round Somerset. Honest as the day's long.

📍 Chew Valley, North Somerset · wildingcider.co.uk

11

Monnow Valley Cider Pride O' The Borders

Kevin Garrod's been at it since 2015, hand-harvesting fruit from small traditional orchards along the Monnow Valley west o' Monmouth — sheep-grazed, no sprays, and some o' the perry pear trees well over 250 year old. Think on that: trees older than most countries, still filling bottles. Full-juice, award-winning ciders and perries, including pears so rare (Betty Prosser again — she gets about) that drinking 'em counts as conservation work.

📍 Penperlleni, Monmouthshire, Wales · via tccpa.co.uk

12

Welsh Mountain Cider Top O' Britain

Bill and Chava make cider eleven hundred feet up in the Cambrian Mountains near Llanidloes — Britain's highest ciderworks, wi' a museum orchard of over 450 apple varieties and 50 o' pear. Everything's 100% fresh juice, wild-fermented, cellar-aged, unpasteurised and unfiltered, wi' no added sulphites — live cider wi' proper depth to it. They graft and sell orchard trees an' all, so tha can take the mission home wi' thee. Hardy folk, hardy trees, grand cider.

📍 Near Llanidloes, Powys, Wales · Orchard tours · welshmountaincider.com

13

Redvers Cider & Perry Bottle Magic

A proper heritage job, this: Redvers is named for t'founding family's forebear, whose Herefordshire orchard the family still picks today — same trees, generations on. It's 100% juice fermented slowly over many months, wi' the sparkle made naturally in the bottle rather than pumped in by machine. That's the old way, the slow way, and — tha'll not be surprised to hear me say it — the right way.

📍 Herefordshire · redverscider.co.uk

14

Vagrant Cider The Wanderer

James Fergusson has no orchard of his own — hence the name — so he's mapped nigh on 800 wild seedling trees across a corner o' Cornwall and rescues the forgotten fruit of neglected orchards instead. Some mornings it takes him hours to gather thirty kilo. The result is tiny batches o' cider (and perry, bless him) from trees nobody else on Earth is pressing — tha literally cannot drink these apples anywhere else. Romantic? Aye. Delicious? That an' all.

📍 Cornwall · vagrantcider.co.uk

Who's Behind All This, Then?

The Yorkshire Cider & Perry Connoisseur

No name, no photo, no fuss — just a Yorkshireman wi' strong opinions, a well-stocked cellar, and forty-odd year o' field research in the orchards and cider houses o' this fine country. I've supped the good, the bad and the downright criminal, and this site is the good — nowt else makes the cut.

Nobody's paid for a spot on t'list and nobody could. These fourteen are simply the best small makers going, in my honest and frankly well-lubricated opinion.

The big plan? To help cider grow right across the UK — more orchards in t'ground, more small makers pressing, more pubs pouring the real stuff, and more o' you lot drinking it. Britain's cider industry deserves to be gurt big again, and every bottle bought from the folk on this list is a brick in that wall. Now go and get thysen a box.

Get This Into Thy Head

Perry Is Perry — Not "Pear Cider"

Let's have this straight, once and for all: perry is not "pear cider", and it never were. Perry is its own noble drink wi' centuries of history, made from proper perry pears — gnarly, tannic little things grown for nowt else — not from eating pears, and certainly not from "pear flavouring". Call it pear cider in front o' the wrong farmer and tha'll get a look that could curdle milk. Nearly every maker on t'big list presses the real thing — here's the roll of honour.

1

Gregg's Pit

Much Marcle, Herefordshire

Thirteen-time Big Apple Champion Perry makers and CAMRA UK Gold champions. Vintage pears, an 18th-century stone press, and nowt left to chance.

2

Cwm Maddoc

Broad Oak, Herefordshire

Single-variety perries reckoned among the world's finest — Betty Prosser, Pig's Face, Red Longdon and more, wild-fermented and unfiltered.

3

Oliver's Cider & Perry

Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire

Tom Oliver's perries are spoken of in hushed tones from Hereford to half o' the world away. Barrel-aged wizardry.

4

Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry Co

Peterstow, Herefordshire

Whole-juice perries from a proper family farm — single varieties that show thee exactly what each pear's about.

5

Gwatkin

Abbey Dore, Herefordshire

Farmhouse Perry blended from old-fashioned varieties off the last few pear orchards of rural Herefordshire. Draught flagons available, lucky thee.

6

Monnow Valley

Monmouthshire, Wales

Single-variety and blended perries from sheep-grazed border orchards, some off trees more than 250 year old.

7

Butford Organics

Bodenham, Herefordshire

Organic perry from their own perry-pear orchards, wild-fermented wi' no added sulphites. Gentle, honest stuff.

8

Redvers

Herefordshire

Perry off the family's own heritage trees, bottle-conditioned so the fizz makes itself. Patience in a glass.

9

Artistraw

Hay-on-Wye, Herefordshire

Low-intervention perry from hand-picked, unsprayed fruit — and they're grafting rare perry pears into their new orchard for t'next generation.

10

Wilding

Chew Valley, North Somerset

Natural perry alongside their cider — ground-picked fruit, slow wild ferments, and a Somerset accent tha can taste.

11

Little Pomona

Near Bromyard, Herefordshire

Table Perry, pét nat perries and a traditional-method Brut de Poiré — perry dressed up for dinner, and reyt good it is too.

12

Vagrant

Cornwall

Aye, even the wandering Cornishman makes perry — tiny batches from fruit nobody else touches.

(Tricky stick to apples, and Welsh Mountain's perry pears are still growing up their mountain — we'll let 'em both off. For now.)

Get Thysen Down There

Top 5 Farm Gates Worth A Visit

Cider always tastes best stood in t'yard it were made in, wi' a farm dog sniffing at thy boots. These makers welcome visitors — but ring ahead or check t'website first, mind.

1

Butford Organics

Bodenham, Herefordshire

Guided tours of the organic orchards and traditional ciderhouse, finishing — as all good things should — wi' a tasting.

2

Tricky Cider

Low Ham, Somerset

The farm's open most weekdays and the odd Saturday — fill thy boots (and thy boot) straight from source on the Somerset Levels.

3

Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry Co

Broome Farm, Peterstow

A proper working cider farm in the Wye Valley wi' a grand range to taste and take home.

4

Bratton Seymour

Near Wincanton, Somerset

A tiny maker in prime cheddar-and-cider country — their fruit comes off two old orchards at North Cadbury and Woolston, either side o' Montgomery's famous cheddar dairy. No visitor centre, so look 'em up before tha sets off — but what a corner o' Somerset to spend a day pootling round.

5

Gregg's Pit

Much Marcle, Herefordshire

A small place, so get in touch before tha turns up — but Much Marcle in blossom or harvest time is worth the trip on its own.

Owt For Beginners?

Top 5 For Thy First Box

New to proper cider? Start 'ere. Five makers whose bottles will spoil thee rotten for the fizzy yellow stuff forever. Tha's welcome.

1

Tricky Cider

The proper farmhouse

A mixed case o' their still and sparkling farmhouse ciders is a crash course in what Somerset actually tastes like.

2

Gwatkin

Spoilt for choice

Wi' summat like thirty-five ciders and perries to pick from, there's a Gwatkin for every taste — start medium and work thy way dry.

3

Little Pomona

The dinner party

Take a bottle instead o' wine and watch eyebrows go up in the good way. Elegant as owt.

4

Oliver's Cider & Perry

The eye-opener

One barrel-aged bottle from Tom Oliver and tha'll understand what all t'fuss were about.

5

Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry Co

The mixed case

A gurt spread o' single varieties and styles from one family farm — the easiest way to find out what tha likes.

Bonus List

5 Bits O' Cider Wisdom

Forty year o' field research, distilled — so thee doesn't have to make my mistakes. (Make thy own, they're more fun.)

1

Look for "100% juice"

Read t'label

If it don't say it were pressed from fresh apples, chances are it's concentrate wi' fizz and sugar. All fourteen makers on this list press the real thing, every drop.

2

Still ain't flat

Serving it right

Proper farmhouse cider is often still, and that's by design not neglect. Serve it cellar-cool — not buried in ice like some lager — and it'll open up lovely.

3

Cloudy is nowt to fear

Trust the haze

A bit o' haze from a wild ferment is flavour, not a fault. Crystal-clear and dead-fizzy usually means it's been filtered within an inch of its life.

4

Perry is perry

Say it wi' me

Not "pear cider". Never "pear cider". Made from proper perry pears grown for nowt else, it's delicate, gurt lush, and criminally overlooked. Start wi' Gregg's Pit and thank me later.

5

Buy from t'farm gate

Keep 'em going

Every box bought direct keeps a small maker pressing and an old orchard standing. Most o' this list ships nationwide — and go steady, it's stronger than it lets on.