Bristol’s cider-making heritage

The annual Wassail was cancelled in 2021 but Martin Thatcher and his immediate family still turned out to dance around the apple trees for the ancient Pagan tradition.

Is that an important part of the cider-making process? “Absolutely, we couldn’t miss it,” deadpans the head of one of the region’s most successful businesses with an (apple) turnover of more than £120m.

The fourth generation of farmers to make cider at Myrtle Farm, Martin sits in a room with a vast stone fireplace where his great grandfather, William, first came as a carpenter in 1902. In those days, carpenters had to make coffins and William decided he’d prefer a change of career so purchased 34 acres of land and a farming dynasty was born.

Since 1904, the Thatchers have been making cider on the Sandford site. In the early days, it was given to workers as part of their pay and inevitably drank on the job.

“There are stories that a two-gallon a day man was worth the extra cider,” quips Martin.

Three generations of the Thatcher family – John Thatcher, Martin Thatcher, Eleanor Thatcher – at Mrytle Farm – photo courtesy of Thatchers

His grandparents, Stan and Mollie, took over the business and started selling the cider they made just before the beginning of the Second World War. The potent liquid was stored in barrels ranging from dry to sweet and people would come along to the farm and have a taste or two, stopping for a chat before eventually staggering home with their own keg of cider.

“It makes me chuckle that retailers are going back to refillable containers,” says Martin.

“For 100 years, people have been coming into our shop, bringing their containers that we refill them.”

Old traditions remain at the heart of the business, but the latest cutting-edge technology has been added to the mix at Myrtle Farm.

From the state-of-the-art apple hopper, known as Tong, which has rubber lining to sort the apples without damaging them, to the mesmerising canning machines whizzing round on their conveyor belt, Thatchers production is a fine-tuned operation.

Stepping into the vast fermentation hall, Martin’s eyes light up. “These tanks tell us all we need to know,” he says of the carefully controlled tanks that ensure the yeast has the perfect conditions it needs.

“Yeast like rock stars in a hotel,” explains the farmer. “Give them all the right things and they make great music – these are five-star hotels for yeast.”

The tanks are constantly monitored and Martin says it is he and his daughter, Eleanor – the fifth generation to enter the business – who will check them on Christmas day and boxing day.

Away from the busy processing and production stretch the peaceful orchards, land rich in the biodiversity needed to attract pollinators. Among them lie the heritage collection, which contains some of the last of the apples grown at the Long Ashton Research Station (more on that later) and the trial orchard, where new varieties are grown for future generations to enjoy.

Reflecting on the business, Martin says: “The scale of what we do has changed significantly but some things haven’t changed; there’s still a real focus about making great cider and that’s right at the heart of what we do. That’s not just paying lip service to it, I am a cider maker I’m not an accountant. I like making cider and I like drinking it so they go hand in hand very nicely.”

Closer into the city lies the land once renowned as the world-famous Long Ashton Research Station. The agricultural and horticultural government research centre was created in 1903 to study and improve the West Country cider industry.

Kasha Smal (left) and Helen Harper (right) collect apples from Thatchers’ orchards for inclusion in their research at the University of Bristol

Its legacy is being kept alive through pioneering research that is helping to identify heritage apple varieties – preventing them from being lost forever – and seeing the science of cider making reintroduced into the syllabus at Bristol University.

The work to bring cider research back into the university syllabus is being led by Kasha Smal, Goldney Garden commercial coordinator, who put together a successful funding application to the Lady Emily Smyth Trust.

Using a group of apple varieties bred by the last remaining pomologists working at the Long Ashton Research Station before cider research ceased in 1985, students have pressed, fermented and blended the crop and will record the cider making qualities of each variety of apple used.

Keith Edwards, a professor of crop genetics at the University of Bristol, worked at the Long Ashton station prior to its closure in 2003 and is now applying DNA finger printing that was originally developed for wheat genetics to apples.

Working with post-graduate Alex Graham and using varieties saved by John Thatcher and grown in the exhibition orchard at Myrtle Farm, Keith and his fellow researchers have been able to create the largest database of apple tree fingerprints in the world, with over 2,500 genotypes present.

“By taking a leaf and fingerprinting it, we are in effect creating a barcode for that tree. And from that we are able to produce a reliable process for easy identification in the future,” explains Keith.

“We’re creating a database that will be a valuable resource like no other for all cider makers.”

Why is this work to identify apple varieties so important? “It’s diversity,” explains Keith, settling in for a chat about the science of cider over Zoom.

“The one thing that keeps species healthy, and the one thing that breeders are desperate for is genetic diversity. If you’ve got diversity, you’ve almost certainly got a variety that is resistant to disease, or which is more resistant let’s say to climate change and increased temperatures.

“If you lose that diversity, then you lose the ability to breed from that material and generate new varieties that are disease resistant or resistant to increase temperatures or increased variable climate conditions.”

A traditional cider drinker himself, Keith believes diversification is also important in the industry to not only attract new generations of cider drinkers but also older ones. “It’s no longer the dead rat in the tank type of thing,” says Keith, “It’s quite different – although you can still find the dead rat stuff!”

Professor Keith Edwards (left) with Chris Muntz-Torres of Thatchers Cider working on the ground-breaking project that is using DNA fingerprinting techniques to identify apple tree varieties – photo by Neil Phillips/Thatchers

The grassroots cider making traditions are also very much alive in the heart of the city.

Fishponds Community Orchard was created in 2005 to help preserve traditional varieties of apples and to provide a resource for the local community.

Run by volunteers on a cooperative basis, the orchard occupies three plots at the northern end of Thingwall Park Allotment site and each year, members of the community come together for the annual Wassail (Covid permitting).

The ancient custom of Wassailing is a Twelfth Night tradition that has been practised in Britain for centuries. Revellers turn out to sing songs around the apple trees and bang pots and pans to ward off bad spirits and give offerings to please the tree spirits.

In the Fishponds Orchard, it is very much a community affair with members and friends of all ages turning out to join in the celebrations while adults enjoy some locally brewed cider.

Cider is made by hand at Barley Wood Orchard – photo by Brad Wakefield

Out at Barley Wood Orchard, within a beautifully restored walled garden in Wrington, cider is made by hand with cider apple varieties, many of which have existed for hundreds of years, using antique presses.

Isy Schulz and Mike Atkins have found there has been a growth in the interest in cidermaking beyond the big companies, creating space for smaller makers to develop what they do and find a niche in the market.

“There’s been a greater appreciation of the value of orchards, and a wider forum for particularly smaller-scale producers to share information and support each other, such as the Craft Con events, the Cider Women network, or mailorder distributors such as Scrattings,” says Isy.

The pair have witnessed an increased appreciation for full juice and what is described as craft and fine cider, with Isy adding: “The amount and variety of cider available in some specialist shops across Bristol has exploded in the last few years.”

Isy Schulz believes there is a greater appreciation of orchards now – photo by Brad Wakefield

Away from the farms and orchards, Bristol’s cider heritage plays out in the pubs, of which the city has a few dedicated cider stalwarts both old and new.

The Orchard Inn on Hanover Place, built in 1834, is one such establishment. Here, ciders of the day are written up on chalkboards by the old wooden bar as most recent leaseholders Steph Iles and Sam Marriott continue to fly the traditional cider torch.

“Cider making (and therefore drinking) is steeped in tradition and we feel it’s important to honour its heritage in many ways,” explains Steph.

“One of our suppliers are seventh-generation cider makers and are following in their ancestors footsteps using the same techniques to create that particular style of cider. We do however think it’s also important to embrace the exciting future of cider, as there are many more modern makers pushing the boundaries and creating a very different style of drink which is becoming more and more popular and widely available. These styles are served in smaller quantities and often have wine like qualities – we think there is plenty of room for both to be explored and enjoyed.”

The Orchard Inn is a long-standing cider institution – photo by Ellie Pipe

Despite the challenges facing hospitality and traditional pubs especially, Steph is positive about the future of The Orchard, adding: “It’s a real special place and a lot of people appreciate that. There are new bars specialising in cider popping up around Bristol which is really exciting and shows that it’s a drink that’s rapidly increasing in popularity.”

One of those newer cider bars is The Cider Box, which has two premises: one in a railway arch on Silverthorne Lane in St Philip’s Marsh and the other in a converted shipping container in Wapping Wharf.

Founded in 2012, The Cider Box’s stated mission is “to flood the towns and cities of the UK with delicious, not-from-concentrate cider made by the finest independent producers in the land. We search high and low for the finest drops oi fermented juices and share our findings through our subscription boxes, and at our sites in St Phillip’s & Wapping Wharf. We also distribute to pubs, bars and festivals – doing our best to encourage the drinking community of the country to drink good cider.”

The Cider Box owner Dan Heath outside his shop and bar in Wapping Wharf – photo: Martin Booth

Beard & Sabre is another newcomer on the cider scene in Bristol. A business founded by Tom Dunn and Angus Sales in 2015 as cider’s answer to the craft beer movement, the company opened a taphouse on Denmark Street close to the Hippodrome’s stage door earlier this year.

Beard & Sabre on Denmark Street is among the newcomers on the Bristol cider scene – photo by Ellie Pipe

Welcoming Bristol24/7 into the taphouse on a recent afternoon, before evening drinkers start arriving, supervisor James Clark talks through the different draught ciders – from Dolores, a medium hopped cider to Freya, a dry cider infused with Summit hops.

It’s early days for the taphouse, but James says the appetite for cider is strong with many people seeking it out especially when they visit Bristol.

He adds: “You do get lots of different types of cider drinkers, and to be honest, because we do the hops cider and because the flavours are certainly unique, you get beer drinkers who come in and they actually like our hop cider.”

Tom Dunn and Angus Sales founded Beard & Sabre as cider’s answer to the craft beer movement – photo: Beard & Sabre

Back at Myrtle Farm, Martin is confident of cider’s enduring legacy in the region and is only too happy to invest in research and new varieties from which it will take a couple of decades to reap the rewards.

Speaking proudly of some of the apple trees being planted in the trial orchard, he adds: “It might take 10 or even 20 years to come to fruition but that’s a benefit for the next generation.”

Main photo by Paul Box/ Thatchers

Read more: New cider to be made with apples gathered from Bristol gardens

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