Gwatkin Cider

Denis Gwatkin began making cider commercially at Moorhampton Park Farm in 1992, having spent years producing it informally with local friends for their own drinking. The Gwatkin family has farmed this land in the Golden Valley since 1910, on ground that was once a monastic grange belonging to nearby Dore Abbey, and the farm's own apple and pear orchards still supply the fruit pressed on site. Fermentation relies on wild, natural yeasts rather than cultured strains, a method the farm built its name on, and the farm shop now stocks around thirty-five ciders and perries through the year alongside local beers. Cider and cattle sit alongside each other as parts of the same working farm rather than as a separate visitor attraction, with the Red Cow tavern and a campsite added later.