Harvestime 9th-10th October, 2021

All of our nine venues are free to visit. Some special events require advance booking as we have to control numbers. Most activities take place in the open air.

A free tractor and trailer service, kindly provided by Westons Cider, will be carrying visitors between six of our venues.

All of our nine venues are free to visit and are relatively close to each other as shown on the location map (see below). Some special events require advance booking as we have to keep a careful control on numbers.

There will be lots of opportunities to enjoy the local orchards, see, hear and smell cider being made and taste many different varieties of apples, local ciders, perries and apple juices.

Most of the activities take place in the open air. For those events taking place indoors (eg talks in The Haywain), please be prepared to wear a face covering. For these indoor venues we will ensure there is effective ventilation.

Tractor and trailer

A tractor and trailer service, kindly provided by Westons Cider, will be running all weekend carrying visitors between six of our venues. See location map for route and stops. The service is free but donations will be welcome.

Expand the sections below to view our venues and events.

1. Woodredding Farm

10.30am – 5pm. Low volume, award-winning maker of cider and perry made in the traditional way relying on wild yeast. See how a small-scale cider maker can use both old…

2. Lyne Down Organics

10am – 6pm Visit our traditional organic orchard. Watch the pressing or take the opportunity for a hands-on experience to ‘pick and press’ cider apples. Meet our Ryeland ‘Teddy Bear’…

3. Avenue Cottage

11am – 5pm. Cottage perrymaking, fruit pressing, single variety perry for sale. An abundance of fruit and nut trees and hedges of edible berries in our replanted orchards. Bring a…

4. Westons Cider

10am to 5pm. Shop and Scrumpy House Restaurant open with special site-only offers. Play area open. Westons are Platinum Corporate Members of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust. The Trust will be present and…

5. Much Marcle Memorial Hall

11am – 5.30pm Serving apple teas and soup and roll lunches, plus produce stall. Well-behaved dogs on leads. Toilet facilities including accessible toilet.

6. St Bartholomew’s Church

10.30am – 5pm Church open for visitors all weekend. Well-behaved dogs on leads

7. Hellens

11am – 5pm Big Apple’s own displays of apple varieties and perry pears. Sales of less usual varieties of apples, apple juice, apple trees; Tools for Self Reliance Cymru; Herefordshire…

8. Awnells Farm

10.30am – 5pm Walk through the ancient cider and perry pear orchards plus nature scavenger hunt for families. Meet our traditional Hereford cattle, together with more recent arrivals Golden Guernsey…

9. Gregg’s Pit

10.30am – 6pm Craft cider and perry making in a traditional orchard. Meet the makers, their standard trees and vintage fruit, watch the pressing, taste and buy sparkling/draught cider and…

Saturday, 9th October

Time	Event	Venue	Details	Availability
11:00	Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden	Gregg’s Pit	Cost £5. A wildlife walk based on ‘Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden’ with co-author Nick Gates. No dogs please. (maximum of 20). [More...]	11 space(s) out of 20
11:00	Scything for beginners	Hellens	Cost £45 per person. A workshop introducing first steps in scything with David Kuegler (maximum of 6 participants). Age 16+ only. [More...]	4 space(s) out of 6
11:15	Leominster Morris	Westons Cider	Watch the Leominster Morris perform at Westons Cider. [More...]	Booking not required
12:00	Our Edible Hedges	Avenue Cottage	Guided tours of young fruit and nut groves and edible hedges which re-establish our field pattern. Free, max 20 persons. [More...]	18 space(s) out of 20
12:30	Leominster Morris	Gregg’s Pit	Watch the Leominster Morris perform at Gregg's Pit. [More...]	Booking not required
13:00	High altitude cider tasting	Lyne Down Organics	£6. Pop-up tutored tasting with a view, with local pommelier Jeremy Stunt of Authentic Cider (18+ only). Maximum of 12 persons. [More...]	8 space(s) out of 12
13:30	Setting up a scythe	Hellens	£10. A demonstration by David Kuegler (maximum of 10 people, over 16s only). [More...]	10 space(s) out of 10
14:00	Hands-on pressing of perry pears	Hellens	Help to press this year's perry pears – push the mill, admire the cheese, taste the juice (20 spaces available per 30 minute session) in Mill House. Free, but booking [...] [More...]	14 space(s) out of 20
14:30	Hands-on pressing of perry pears	Hellens	Help to press this year's perry pears – push the mill, admire the cheese, taste the juice (20 spaces available per 30 minute session) in Mill House. Free, but booking [...] [More...]	17 space(s) out of 20
14:30	Leominster Morris	Hellens	Watch the Leominster Morris perform at Hellens Manor [More...]	Booking not required
14:30	Our Edible Hedges	Avenue Cottage	Guided tours of young fruit and nut groves and edible hedges which re-establish our field pattern. Free, max 20 persons. [More...]	14 space(s) out of 20
15:00	Hands-on pressing of perry pears	Hellens	Help to press this year's perry pears – push the mill, admire the cheese, taste the juice (20 spaces available per 30 minute session) in Mill House. Free, but booking [...] [More...]	17 space(s) out of 20
15:30	High altitude perry tasting	Avenue Cottage	£6. Pop-up tutored perry tasting with a view, with local pommelier Jeremy Stunt of Authentic Cider (18+ only). Maximum of 12 persons. [More...]	9 space(s) out of 12
16:00	A Year in the Life of An Old Country Orchard	Hellens	£4. A talk based on ‘Orchard: A Year in England’s Eden’ with co-author Nick Gates (maximum of 30) in the Haywain Barn, Hellens. [More...]	22 space(s) out of 30

Sunday, 10th October

Time	Event	Venue	Details	Availability
10:00	Big Apple Bike Ride	The Market House	Depart from The Market House, Ledbury town centre at 10.30. Follow quiet country lanes, visiting cider producers and orchards. BYO picnic or enjoy Big Apple catering. Explore Big Apple, returning [...] [More...]	Booking not required
10:00	Westons Orchard Wildlife Walk	Westons Cider	£4.50 for adults, children under 16 free. Guided walk led by Andrew Nixon, Conservation Senior Manager, Herefordshire Wildlife Trust (maximum of 12 people including children). Children must be accompanied by [...] [More...]	8 space(s) out of 12
11:00	Hands-on pressing of perry pears	Hellens	Help to press this year's perry pears – push the mill, admire the cheese, taste the juice (20 spaces available per 30 minute session) in Mill House. Free, but booking [...] [More...]	20 space(s) out of 20
11:00	High altitude cider tasting	Woodredding Farm	£6. Pop-up tutored tasting with a view, with Ciderologist Gabe Cook. Age 18+ only, max 12 persons. [More...]	9 space(s) out of 12
11:30	Hands-on pressing of perry pears	Hellens	Help to press this year's perry pears – push the mill, admire the cheese, taste the juice (20 spaces available per 30 minute session) in Mill House. Free, but booking [...] [More...]	18 space(s) out of 20
12:00	Hands-on pressing of perry pears	Hellens	Help to press this year's perry pears – push the mill, admire the cheese, taste the juice (20 spaces available per 30 minute session) in Mill House. Free, but booking [...] [More...]	16 space(s) out of 20
12:00	Our Edible Hedges	Avenue Cottage	Guided tours of young fruit and nut groves and edible hedges which re-establish our field pattern. Free, max 20 persons. [More...]	17 space(s) out of 20
12:30	Ukeleles – Uke Can’t be Serious	Woodredding Farm	‘Uke Can’t Be Serious’ will pop up with their ukuleles. Also at Lyne Down Organics (2.30pm) and Hellens (4pm). [More...]	Booking not required
13:30	Sharpen those tools	Hellens	£7. Simon Rose shows how to sharpen your pruning and horticultural tools Maximum of 6, 16+ only) [More...]	5 space(s) out of 6
14:30	Our Edible Hedges	Avenue Cottage	Guided tours of young fruit and nut groves and edible hedges which re-establish our field pattern. Free, max 20 persons. [More...]	8 space(s) out of 20
14:30	Ukeleles – Uke Can’t be Serious	Lyne Down Organics	‘Uke Can’t Be Serious’ will pop up with their ukuleles. Also at Woodredding (12.30pm) and Hellens (4pm). [More...]	Booking not required
15:00	Taste and understand difference	Gregg’s Pit	£7.50. A tutored tasting of bottle conditioned and in-bottle fermented (‘Champagne method’) sparkling perry with maker, James Marsden. 18+ only, (maximum of 18). [More...]	14 space(s) out of 18
16:00	Modern British Cider	Hellens	£4. Ciderologist Gabe Cook introduces his new book to highlight how the cider industry is throwing off negative pre-conceptions to showcase a drink, and a community, filled with high value [...] [More...]	26 space(s) out of 30
16:00	Ukeleles – Uke Can’t be Serious	Hellens	‘Uke Can’t Be Serious’ will pop up with their ukuleles. Also at Woodredding (12.30pm) and Lyne Down Cider (2.30pm). [More...]	Booking not required

The Harvestime 2021 venues are

1. Woodredding Farm (GR SO640298) (///anthems.basher.hairstyle)

2. Lyne Down Organics (GR SO646312) (HR8 2NT) (///vented.overhaul.redeeming)

3. Avenue Cottage (GR SO649321) (HR8 2NU) (///remarking.device.heats)

4. Westons Cider (GR SO649331)(HR8 2NQ) (///strapped.hacksaw.kidney)

5. Much Marcle Memorial Hall (GR SO658330) (///engine.quietly.soggy)

6. St Bartholomew’s Church (GR SO657327) (///blaze.develops.masts)

7. Hellens (GR SO661332) (///copies.quote.regularly)

8. Awnells Farm (GR SO658319) (HR8 2NW) (///fork.overheard.hardly)

9. Gregg’s Pit (GR SO662323) (HR8 2NL) (///plotting.mainframe.twinge)

Grid references are accurate to 100m. Postcodes are provided where navigation apps will take you near to the venue – typically within 200m. We have omitted postcodes where they do not take you close to the venue or provide misleading directions.

The /// links are to ‘what3words‘ and show the venue’s entrance on the road.

Other locations open for business over the weekend

The Nest at Little Verzons HR8 2PZ Sat 9am to 5pm, Sun 10am to 4pm (off the map)
Trumpet Corner Tea Room, Trumpet Crossroads, Ledbury HR8 2RA (Sat only 10am – 4pm)

Google Map of Big Apple Harvestime

Toilets

Check the map for toilet locations as not all our venues can offer a full range of toilet facilities as they are not generally open to the public.

Getting Here

Much Marcle lies on the A449 Ledbury to Ross on Wye road.

We are just 15 minutes from the M50 motorway (Junction 2), 2.5 hours from London and 1.25 hours from South Wales and the West Midlands.

Getting around

Most venues are within walking distance of each other – eg the walk from Hellens to Westons Cider or to Awnells Farm takes around 20 to 30 minutes. A tractor and trailer service will operate between Westons Cider, Much Marcle Memorial Hall (for Hellens and St Bartholomews Church) and Awnells Farm (for Gregg’s Pit). Woodredding Farm and Avenue Cottage are slightly further away – the walk from Westons to Woodredding Farm via the ‘top’ road past Avenue Cottage takes about an hour.

Car Parking

Westons has a large tarmac car park and there is a large field at Hellens for parking. Parking at other venues is more limited. Some field parking at Avenue Cottage and Lyne Down and there’s a small car park at the Memorial Hall. There are only two or three spaces on the road by St Bartholomew’s Church so please leave these for people with blue badges. Gregg’s Pit has parking in a large field, but the access lane is very narrow – so be prepared to reverse if necessary. Awnells has parking in the farmyard but do take care as this venue is popular with children.

We would ask you to be considerate to Much Marcle residents and not park in residential streets.

Please think about parking at Hellens or Westons and then walk to the other venues, or use the tractor and trailer service.

Dogs

Many venues are preparing fruit for processing or food so please bear in mind that dogs may not be allowed in certain areas such as orchards, where fruit may be on the ground awaiting collection, or The Great Barn at Hellens where apple tastings are served. Please check the map for venues where well-controlled dogs are permitted.

Public Transport

Ledbury has a railway station served by West Midlands Railway and GWR with direct trains from Birmingham (via Worcester), Hereford and London (via the attractive ‘Cotswold Line’ from Paddington).

There are no weekend buses to Much Marcle from Ledbury so the only option apart from cycling from Ledbury at the weekend are taxis – there is no taxi rank so you will need to phone well in advance for one. Google “Ledbury Taxis” for a current list.

You may be able to take a bus from other Herefordshire locations but the options are very limited. See https://bustimes.org.uk/localities/E0053319 for possibilities.

Using SatNav?

Postcodes are provided for the main locations but please be aware that rural postcode areas can be quite large and you could be taken to a point some distance from the actual event – eg HR8 2LY is the postcode for a large area of Much Marcle – look out for the signs on the roadside when you near your destination

Local Information

Much Marcle Website
Pixley and District Website
Putley Website
Woolhope Website

Accommodation

Look on the Accommodation page for details of accommodation websites and local camping and caravan sites.

The Big Apple Association