It's Cider & Perry Month! - May 2024
Cider Month is celebrated in both May and October. Unlike Real Ale production, which can happen at any time of the year, real cider and perry can only be made when the fruit is ripe and is tied to a natural cycle of the apple and pear trees found in orchards around the country. May was chosen because it is when the orchards come into bloom and fruit begins to set which will then be harvested.
It’s Cider & Perry month! – What’s happening near you?
Pubs stocking two or more “Real” cider and perry makers in May are listed below, however in May and June 2024 we need your help to update this list! When you are in an East Devon pub in the next couple of months, please make a note of the ciders on offer and email ku.gro.armac.retexe@redic so that we can update WhatPub, CAMRA’s national database to inform others of what is available.
Pubs stocking two or more “Real” cider and perry makers in May.
The Butterleigh Inn, Butterleigh
(Joint runner-up for our Cider Pub of the Year 2023)
Sam's Winkleigh Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
Sheppy's Cider
The New Inn, Coleford near Crediton
Bere Cider
Gray's Cider
Hecks Perry
Sam's Winkleigh Cider
Gresham House Inn, Dawlish
(Joint runner-up for our Cider Pub of The Year 2023)
Cornish Orchards
Sandford Orchards
The Sir Walter Raleigh, East Budleigh
Sandford Orchards Cider
Ridge and Furrow Cider
Woodsy's Cider
Cuckoo Taproom & Bottleshop, Exeter
Ross on Wye Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
The Imperial, Exeter
Harry's Cider
Sam's Winkleigh Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
The Old Fire House, Exeter
(Runner-up for our Cider Pub of The Year 2024)
Heck's Cider
Rich's Cider
Sam's Winkleigh Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
Snail's Bank Cider
Pig & Pickle Micropub, Exeter
Gray's Cider
Sheppy's Cider
Taunton Cider
Bicton Inn, Exmouth
Sandford Orchards
Venton's
Wistman's
First & Last Inn, Exmouth
Checkstone Cider
Sandford Orchards
The Grapevine, Exmouth
Sam's Winkleigh Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
The Jack in the Green, Rockbeare
Courtney's of Whimple Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
The Lamb Inn, Sandford near Crediton
Dorset Nectar Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
Hare & Hounds, Gittisham, nr. Honiton/Sidbury
Sandford Orchards Cider
Wiscombe Cider
The Tom Cobley Tavern, Spreyton, Spreyton
(Branch, SW Regional, and National
Cider Pub of the Year 2023.
Also Branch and Regional Cider Pub of the Year 2024.
2 perries and 19 ciders from 12 different
makers for this spring/summer season
Exeter Inn, Thorverton
Sam's Winkleigh Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
The Bridge Inn, Topsham
Branscombe Cider
Four Elms Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
The New Fountain Inn, Whimple
Courtney’s of Whimple
Sandford Orchards Cider
The Waie Inn, Zeal Monachorum
Sam's Winkleigh Cider
Sandford Orchards Cider
Branch CPOTY 2024
Presentations have been made to both the winner and the runner-up in our 2024 CPOTY competition.
The Tom Cobley Tavern does it again!
The Tom Cobley Tavern, Spreyton, has been awarded our Branch Cider & Perry Pub of the Year 2024 and also the Regional title for a second time, an amazing achievement!
They now go forward to the national round of the competition and with a fantastic new Summer cider list of more than 17 real ciders, expanded tasting notes, monthly cider maker spotlights and local additional guest ciders we hope they do as well as last year!
The Old Fire House, Exeter, Exeter were very worthy runners-up to the Tom Cobley and have a cider festival in May (see details below).
Cider Festivals in May
Old Fire House, Exeter, Cider Festival
Thurs 2nd - Mon 6th May
The Old Fire House, Exeter, Exeter for times and Music listings
The Imperial, Exeter - Craft Cider Festival 2024
Fri 24th May - Sun 2nd June
Friday lunchtime Launch Event;
Meet the Cider Maker: Hunts
Other pub cider festivals will be updated here as the month progresses, please watch out for updates.
It’s Cider & Perry month! – What’s happening near you?
Cider Stroll No. 3: Whimple Orchards Walk
Cider Stroll No. 3 - PDF
(Some photos follow shortly)
(Please check pub and heritage centre opening times before you set off.)
This walk is particularly lovely in May when the apple blossom is out and in early autumn when the apples are ripe. It’s a circular route of just over 2.5 miles taking you through the village and out into the orchards via footpaths and lanes.
Beginning and ending at Whimple Station making a stop at The New Fountain Inn for some cider made with apples from the orchards you’ve just walked through! There is also a heritage centre next to the pub (open Wednesdays, Saturdays and Bank Holiday Mondays) which has some interesting information on the old Whiteway’s Cyder Company.
Whiteway’s Devon Cyder Company was based in Whimple and for nearly a century the orchards surrounding Whimple were nurtured and used to make their cider. Whiteway’s closed in 1985 and the factory yards were sold off for housing development. The orchards have survived and a small number of independent companies still make proper old Devon cider in the area such as Courtney’s of Whimple whose cider you will find in the New Fountain Inn.
On leaving Whimple station take a footpath to your left which runs along the back of the school. At the road, turn left under the railway bridge and past the church. Turn right in front of the village stores/Post Office and 50yds along right again at the bend of the road before the car park onto a public footpath which takes you back under the railway. Turn left when the path branches, go over a footbridge and follow this path over another little footbridge to a road. Cross the road and pick up the footpath on the other side. Follow the path over a stile (can be a tiny bit muddy after wet weather). Walk straight up the field and over another stile following the path through the orchards, keeping straight ahead and following the waymarks, over another style, bearing left, until you reach another road. Go through the metal barred gate (or over the style) and turn left.
You very soon pass a couple of thatched cottages on your right and approx. 80 yds past these on the left, are three gaps in the hedge. (If you reach Gateshayes Farm you have missed the track!) The first of these gaps is a gate into an orchard and the second is a wide track; actually a (poorly marked) footpath! Turn down this track with orchards on your left. Go past a farm and back onto a metalled lane following it to your left.
Bear right at a junction with a display of lovely old wooden cider crates and go back under the railway then immediately left again, following the lane all the way back into Whimple to the church. Pass the car park to your left and at the Stores Post Office, take a detour right - up the road to The Fountain Inn and the Whimple Heritage Centre to find out about cider making.
To get back to the station from the Fountain turn left back past the Church, under the railway bridge and retrace your steps along the footpath to your right, which runs along the back of the school and into the station.
To see more Cider Strolls go to our Cider Strolls page for downloadable pdfs.
We have over 120 pubs in our area selling “Real” cider in a variety of dispense methods;
Bag in Box (BiB), Keg, Hand Pump & Bottles. Why not visit a few of them in Cider Month?
Visit Our Real Cider & Perry Pubs page for a list.
Back to Real Cider & Perry