Discover the craft of cider-making from blossom to bottle. We’ll show you everything -with an expert guide leading the way. See where we harvest, weigh and wash apples. Venture into the heart of the mill where we press, ferment and mature before blending and packing. See all we do, why and how – and hear a little bit of home-spun history, too. When things return to normal, we’ll be here ready to show you around.

https://www.westons-cider.co.uk/experience/

Our Scrumpy House Restaurant is currently offering a simplified take away menu with the usual delicious, locally-sourced offerings and shorter opening hours. From Monday 12th April we will be open for outside dining, booking advisable. We have strict measures in place to ensure that our customers and staff are kept safe during this time and we are operating a one way system for takeaway collection. We are also able to process both contactless and cash payments for food and drink orders.

Take the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust walk from our Cider Mill.
Enjoy the local countryside around the cider mill with a walk through the orchards using the nearby footpaths.

For more information please call our Visitor Centre Team on 01531 660 108 or email Visit@westons-cider.co.uk .

At Sheppy’s House of Cider & Fine Foods we specialise in giving customers our personal attention. The staff in our shop will help you find everything you need.

Our ciders are available to taste from our tasting counter where our shop staff can give you expert help to find the perfect cider for your palate.  Alternatively, you might like to stay a bit longer and enjoy our special our ‘cider flight’ board, giving you the chance to try 4 different ciders in our Apple Bay Bar.

Whilst you’re here, why not take away a gift for someone? We have lovely gift hampers available and we can even make them to order, whoever it’s for and whatever your budget.

Sarah, our shop manager, has sourced all sorts of locally made produce including Somerset cheeses, jams and chutneys, biscuits, Somerset cider brandy, chocolates and sweets, and all manner of other temptations. We hope you get a chance to take a look at our products and take away some treats.

As you may already know, we have beautiful Longhorn cattle on our farm and, as part of our development, we wanted to bring you a butchery counter specialising in rare breed meats as well as our own beef. We will also be selling home-cured bacon, homemade sausages and much much more.

Alongside our cider shop and butchery, we also have a bakery and deli selling freshly baked goods.

Make your visit even more memorable with walk around our stunning orchards and historical museum.

The museum collection was put together by Richard Sheppy in the 1970s. It includes many farming and cider making exhibits, as well as tools from associated crafts. Your visit begins with a short film about the cider-making year at Sheppy’s, followed by an exhibit depicting the late Autumn season, with ploughs, harrows and seed drills.

You progress through the museum to the summer season, where implements and machinery for grass mowing, corn cutting and binding can be seen. Passing a variety of barn equipment and machinery, you will arrive at the kitchen and farm dairy section. The cider-making exhibits follow and include the giant old wooden press, apple scratters and presses, and a great deal more.

A small charge applies to our museum, but the orchards are free for our visitors to enjoy. We also have picnic benches and a children’s playground as you walk down toward the orchards, so please use our facilities freely. When you’re finished we would be delighted to welcome you into Sheppy’s House of Cider & Fine Foods for some well deserved refreshment.

Blossom Tours, Spring Tours, Summer Tours, Harvest Tours and Twilight Tours are available for booking now, just follow the link below.

Join us during the most exciting time of year, our cider pressing season! A real treat for all the senses.

Come and learn all there is to know about Sheppy’s with on of our Guided Tours and Tastings! Your experienced tour guide will take your group to visit one of our orchards, before showing you one of out vat houses, where we ferment and age our ciders and our press house. Finally you will have the chance to experience the 200 year history of Sheppy’s Cider in our rural life museum, including a DVD of our cider making year.

Your tour will finish off with a fully tutored tasting of a selection of Sheppy’s award winning Somerset ciders and you will receive a gift of a branded half pint glass to take home with you to remember your visit.

Tours are approximately 1.5 hours long and are ideal for cider enthusiasts or the inquisitive.  This visit offers you a dedicated guide for the duration of your tour. The tour will include a walking visit to our orchards, our press house, vat house and rural life museum with a DVD of our cider-making year.  The culmination of your visit will be a fully guided tasting of a selection of our award-winning ciders and a complimentary gift to take home.

2021 Tour Dates NOW AVAILABLE.

All of our experiences include an orchard tour; find out about our trees, the types of apples we grow, and how we founded The Big Bear Cider Mill.

You’ll then visit our Cider Barn to discover how our apples make their journey into our handcrafted cider; we explain how our apples are pressed, the juice fermented into cider and finally how it’s packaged into the final products. There will be opportunities to ask our knowledgeable team questions throughout your experience, and an opportunity to purchase gifts.

You will finish your experience with unlimited cider tasting in our Tap Room; you can tailor this to your requirements, please select from the below options:

Tours and Tastings

We are always pleased to cater for groups who may wish to have a tour around the Farm and learn more about what we do here. We can tailor these to your particular interests and to what may be happening at Butford Farm at different times of the year. Tours are available on any mutually convenient day.

For example we have a magnificent display of daffodils in a strip of woodland next to our perry pear orchard which is normally at its most resplendent in early Spring. The pear trees together with damsons and plums are the first to come into blossom followed by the dessert apples and finally the cider apples. Timing of the bud burst is much dependent on the weather in the first part of the year. The cold Springs we have had recently have pushed the full blossom on the cider trees almost to June. However we find most tours take place in the autumn during cider and perry making time. There is always something going on then!

We have designed a gallery for small groups (maximum about 15) for tutored tastings in our oldest barn but COVID requirements preclude its use. However our courtyard and our open sided barn both provide excellent settings for summer and warmer weather visits and we are using these for the time being. Subject to your particular interests our tours normally follow this pattern:

• Discussion of our approach to cider and perry making whilst walking around our facilities.
• Orchard walk through our perry pear and mixed fruit orchards.
• Tasting of a selection from our cider and perry range – usually 5 or 6.

We charge £12/person for our tours which usually take 1 to 1.5 hours depending on how much we chat! Subsequent purchase from our shop enjoy a 10% discount.

Please contact us if you are interested in a Tour and Tasting and it would be helpful to let us know how many are in your party and when you would like to visit.

Information

We have eight 4m bell tents located in the fruit garden that surrounds our 16th century Thatched Barn at Woolton Farm.

The tents are well spaced along the back of the garden nestled in a row of cobnut trees with views into the fruit garden and onto the barn.

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All tents are equipped with:
Coconut matting carpet, 6 x single camping matresses , rechargeable 500 lumen torch, central table.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, soft furnishings have been removed.

Bring pillows, sleeping bags, bedding and towels with you

The Barn Garden Bar and Shop

There is a bar on site serving our own wine and multi award winning cider. There is also a selection of local beers, wines, G&T, as well as ice cream and strawberries (strawberries from Woolton Farm).

At weekends there is a BBQ from 11am to 7pm.

All drinks and food can be taken away.

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Facilities

Each tent sleeps 4, and for your comfort there are 6 single camping matresses

These are ready inflated 5cm thick foam matresses

Bathrooms: Shared toilet and shower building

Other Facilities: Washing up area; shared gas BBQ;

locker with mobile phone charging points inside; festoon lighting; WIFI

Check In: 14:00 Check Out: 10:00

Minimum Nights: 1

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Information
A beautiful conversion of a Grade 2 listed former 16th century tannery, situated on the picturesque village green in Littlebourne, five miles outside the historic city of Canterbury.

The rooms consist of a master ensuite kingsize bedroom with a dressing room (+cot) a second ensuite kingsize bedroom and a twin with a bathroom on the landing. Downstairs there is a hall with cloakroom, large sitting room, separate dining room, well equipped kitchen and separate utility room.

All the downstairs rooms have french windows leading out to the sunny garden which leads down to a small river, a great spot for birdwatching. There is a covered area in the garden with garden table and chairs and a BBQ. To the front of the house is the old village green.

There is private parking in a bay outside the house Weekly rates are for Saturday to Saturday. Please give us a call to ask about alternative start days.

Note that out of the 6 guests a maximum of 2 children are allowed. In addition there is a cot available for 1 baby.

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Sleeps: 6 Beds: 2 x King, 1x Twin Room

Bathrooms: 2 x Ensuite, Family Bathroom

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Check In: 16:00 Check Out: 10:00

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Minimum Nights: 3, 7 Selected Weeks