Glastonbury Cider bus
Originally uploaded by i y e r s
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Archive for June, 2007
Somerset Cider Bus at Glastonbury on the Wednesday night before the festival.
The bus is operated by Burrow Hill cider, with dry and medium ciders dipensed stright from the barrel, and also mulled cider served hot. Cider with apple brandy also available sometimes.
Thanks to User:Tygon4 who uploaded the original large size photo of this special cider house to the ukcider wiki last night. There were some problems with the image page which I haven’t got to the bottom of yet, but it was still possible to view the picture so I’ve uploaded a smaller version and also added it to the Flickr ukcider pool.
Thanks to Phil Andrews, the information about French cider producers has been extended on the ukcider wiki. We now have over 350 addresses listed, many with links to their own websites and all of the French ‘departements’ named which makes it a bit easier to see where they are.
The interesting this is that as well as the well know cider producing regions of Normandy and Britanny, there’s also a fair amount of small scale production going on in other areas, far away. The Champagne and Burgundy districts in particular.
To get an idea of where the various French Departements actually are, relatively, I found the following map helpful:
Notified by cubicgarden.com… Press release
Wetherspoon’s free wifi with your pint
Thanks to a partnership with ItBox, all customers with a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop will be able to connect to hi-speed Internet – free –for 30 minutes.
It really couldn’t be simpler, power up the laptop, order your drink or food from the bar and ask for a Wi-Fi voucher; this contains an access code for your computer. You will then connect to a network free for 30 minutes – order another drink and go on line for another 30 minutes.
Wetherspoon’s head of purchasing, Paul Hine, explains why the scheme has been introduced: “We really are in a mobile environment at the moment, with more and more people using the Internet for business and pleasure – 24/7.” “We felt that our pubs offer comfortable and private surroundings, to come to enjoy a drink or a meal and also connect to the Web.”
The service is available throughout the day at all Wetherspoon pubs and Lloyds No.1 bars. Leaflets detailing the new service are available at the bar.
Pages on the ukcider wiki that link to Wetherspoon
I was stunned in some ways, to hear of this use of a web service to search for small scale land characteristics. Apparently Google Earth is accuarate enough to spot specific land usages from the armchair, which may not be visible from the road. Cidermakers are always on the lookout for old orchards, either with a view to buying an established cider orchard at agricultural land prices, or to scrounge the unused fruit. I think it’s the way in which the old standard trees were planted in rows which makes them visible by sattelite.
Found some at Cheddington (near Dunstable) and Clophill (Beds). Have had no luck tracing owners - the Cheddington orchards appear sadly derilict. Part of it is up for sale for a staggering £100k for 3 acres.
Sheephill Orchard in Clophill has, in the past at least, had a farm shop. A casual drive past shows it to be well maintained. Does anyone know who owns it and what they do with their apples!?
This weekend (22nd - 24th June) brings a festival in the lovely Welland Valley, Northants/Rutland/Leics area. The following ciders and perrys will be available scattered throughout the nine pubs which take part. Vintage buses will run from Market Harborough Station to all the pubs throughout Saturday only.
The pubs are:
The George, Ashley;
The Blue Bell, Gretton;
The Talbot, Gretton;
Hatton Arms, Gretton;
Wheel & Compass, Weston By Welland;
The Royal George, Cottingham;
The Castle Inn, Caldecott;
The Red Lion, Middleton;
The Sondes Arms, Rockingham.
The George and Dragon in Seaton.
Ciders and Perries
Crones (Norfolk) Rum Cask Cider, Special Reserve, Original
Days Cottage (Glos) Brown Bess Perry, October Blend Cider.
Eve’s (Northants) Roadkill for Eve Cider
Gwynt Y Ddraig Red Perry, Black Dragon
Hartlands (Glocs) Cider, Perry
Rockingham Forest (Northants) Cider
Thatchers (Somerset) Cheddar Valley, Moles Black Rat
Westons (Herefordshire) Old Rosie, Herefordshire Country Perry
Congratulations to all entrants and winners in the Three Counties 2007 cider and perry competion. Thanks to Geoff Morris of Orchard Hive and Vine for the results as follows:
Dry cider
1 Hogan’s Warwickshire
2 Blaengawney Cider Wales
3= Orchard’s Glos
3= Sheppey’s Somerset
Medium and Sweet Ciders
1. Olivers Herefordshire
2. Henneys, Herefordshire
3 Sheppy’s Somerset
Dry Perry
1 Orchards Glos
2 Gwatkin’s Herefs
Medium and Sweet perry
1. Olivers Herefs
2 Westons Herefs
Bottle fermented and Bottle conditioned Cider or Perry
1 Ashridge Hill Cider Devon
2 Westons, Herefs
3 Ross on Wye Cider and Perry Herefs
Herefordshire Cup for best Herefs Producer
Tom Oliver
Gloucestershire Cup
Keith Orchard
Best in Show
Tom Oliver Medium and sweet cider class
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