Herefordshire has more cider orchard per acre than anywhere else in Britain, and the useful thing for a visitor is how tightly the good ones cluster. Much Marcle alone has three, and you can walk between two of them.
Start at Much Marcle
Whole-juice cider and perry from vintage varieties grown in traditional standard orchards, pressed on an eighteenth-century stone press with wild yeast and a slow ferment. Small, and worth the detour for the perry.
Organic, with a cider barn and more than thirty varieties of cider apple in the orchard. There is somewhere to stay on site, and a gathering each autumn.
The big one, and the one set up for visitors — tours, tastings, food and a family programme. Their own site is where the tour dates live.
Then the ones that keep odd hours
This is the part people get wrong. Several of the best Herefordshire makers open for a few hours a week, and turning up unannounced means a locked gate.
The ciderhouse shop opens most Saturdays from 11am to 1pm, and otherwise by appointment. Their site asks you to phone ahead, and they mean it.
Shop and bar at Penylan Farm, Wednesday to Saturday afternoons, with free tastings. Bottled and draught, plus local produce.
A farm shop with around thirty-five ciders and perries on draught and in bottle, open seven days. Outside those hours, by prior appointment.
Where to end up
The one with an actual programme — market fayres, Ciderganza, a summertime soiree, the Ross Cider Festival, and a monthly quiz and open mic. There is food, a shop and somewhere to stay.
Café, restaurant and bar, a cider shop and a farm shop of Herefordshire produce, and it is step-free throughout with disabled parking in front. Pizza Fridays, a harvest feast in October, and Christmas party nights.
If you want all of this in one route, the Herefordshire cider run under Day out puts six of them in an order that keeps the driving down.
