The Team

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We are Adrian & Louise (Ade & Lou), and we have been making apple juice and cider here at The Old Rectory since we arrived in 2011.

With the property, we also inherited an orchard of twenty apple trees and a large field — and, in our first year here, a huge yield of fruit! With the whole property in a state of mild dereliction (quite often a bit more than that!), alongside the work that brought, introducing the entire site to renewable energy, and still building opera and TV sets in our workshop a few miles away, we decided to embark on yet another adventure with all those apples…

We knew nothing about cider or juice making, but our philosophy has always been “no waste”. So, we bought a book on cider making, some basic “hobby” equipment, and made our first cider and apple juice.

Fifteen years on, things have progressed. We now have 250 trees, with the younger ones grafted from the original twenty, with the help of the great nurseryman John Worle from Herefordshire.

Originally, we were producing small amounts just for fun, but now — yes, it’s still fun! — things have moved on. We produce around 12,000–15,000 litres of apple juice each year, which is used across our range of products. We supply the public, as well as many cafés, bistros and pubs in the area.

We now have a purpose-built space for all our production and bottling equipment, and we produce a wide range of ciders, from dry, still and barrel-aged traditional styles through to Pet Nat and Méthode Traditionnelle types.

Alongside this range, we also have our mainstay, Rame Head Apple Juice, and we produce our own Rame Head Cider Vinegar.

All our products are naturally created, and the term “minimum intervention” very much sums up our ethos here.

We also have a shop here at The Old Rectory, where we sell all our products, and we warmly welcome you to call in, have a look around and sample them.