Somerset Cider Brandy Co

A week in Somerset with a view to see as much of the country side (read cider country, orchards and cider mills) as possible lead us to this place, a renowned Cider producer Julian Temperley (father to Alice Temperley the fashion designer) who opens up the farm to visitors.
The first thing to mention is that this place is pretty difficult to find. Even though we were looking for it, we still managed to drive right past the entrance. Secondly, as you drive into the ‘car park’ it becomes very clear that this is a working farm, with all the mess and higgledy-​piggledy ‘organisation’ that comes with it. The flotsam and jetsam of farming, cider making, bottling and shipping is everywhere and on full view… which is both disturbing and endearing.
There is a shop where you can buy the full range of products made at this farm, a dark, dingy and beautiful room that includes oak barrels and the inner workings of what I think was a disused wooden cider press — very eery and atmospheric, I loved it.
After tasting and buying your liquid refreshment, you are encouraged to ‘have a walk around’ and ushered through the back door of the shop into an old barn, the inner workings of the cider producing. Huge vats sit there, floor to ceiling, obese looking things that must be decades (if not centuries) old and they are really black. Then rows of barrels and men pouring a golden liquid in them, pumping from container to container.
You can them have a wander into the bottling station and then into the distillery that makes the brandy — is smaller than you may think.
We had a lovely time, spent a lot of money on booze and gazed at the sheep that grave happily within the shade of the 150 acre orchard. A magical place that in many ways I would love to see cleaned up a bit and made more presentable. But another part of me wants it to stay just as it is — an unashamed working cider farm that lets people in, but under its own terms and conditions.