On Saturday August 7th we had the third annual Cider Festival held at the Gerrard Arms in Colyton. Several members of the Umborne Valley manned the door & enjoyed an afternoon of competition as 29 different ciders were judged to produce a trophy winner, the judge was noted to be grinning & staggering at the end ! All 23 Cider makers were from an area bounded by Chideock in the east, Stockland to the north & Sidbury to the west. The resulting range of ciders gave an indication of the effects of soil type, altitude, apple variety, fermenting methods, & storage vessel on the finished product, even in such a small geographical area.

What some may at first have thought to be an excuse for a drunken knees up turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon with a chance to speak to some real characters of the cider makers’ art, many of whom who have forgotten more than most of us will ever know. This coupled with entertainment provided by the most surreal band you will ever come across, who really have to be seen & heard to be believed, guaranteed that we all left with a smile on our faces, even those who hadn’t sampled the cider.
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The end result was that surplus from the event has been very generously donated by the Landlords of the Gerrard Arms (pub details on our website www.umborne.org under “pubs”) to Umborne Hall building fund & a cheque for £300 was presented at the hall site on Wednesday. Big thanks to all who came & helped out, especially Ruhi who turned up in place of Andy who was still in bed with a hangover from the previous evening’s party ( what a lightweight).

Do come to this event next year & please support the Gerrard Arms in the mean time.