Cornish Orchard

Andy Atkinson arrived at Westnorth Manor Farm with his herd of dairy cattle in the spiring of 1992. The farm is part of the Duchy of Cornwall Estate.

Drawing motivation from Cornwall Council’s project to save, rejuvenate and replant traditional apple orchards, and wanting to encourage birds and wildlife, Andy planted three orchards on the farm. Soon, he had one of the largest collection of Cornish apple varieties in the county, creating the perfect wildlife habitat.

Enthused by his new crop full of exciting, intriguing flavours, Andy juiced and blended, then hand labelled his first Cornish apple juices. With this success and the introduction of his first Cornish Orchards cider, Andy took the leap to diversify from dairy farming to juice and cider making.

Cornish Orchards uses freshly pressed apples that have been grown around the South West (Somerset, Devon and Cornwall) that are hand-graded and pressed on site.

Another big factor that sets Cornish Orchards aside from bigger players in the cider industry is that it does not force the fermentation period using temperature-control technology. Instead, opting to harness the cool, ambient temperatures of Cornwall’s winter months for maximum fermentation time yielding high-quality flavour. The cider is then matured in tank where, over time flavour and aroma develops youthful, austerity of cider softens providing vintage style qualities as the base of their range of ciders

The cider makers never cut corners when it comes to the cider-making process. After a fine filtration, they then hand-blend each batch, making sure it’s consistent in flavour and quality.