 |
A Seasonal Celebration of English Apples and Cider in the Herefordshire Parishes of the Marcle Ridge |
|
|
A Seasonal Celebration of English Apples and Cider in the Herefordshire Parishes of the Marcle Ridge |
|
For an afternoon, a day or a full weekend - the Big Apple is a special opportunity to enjoy the autumn countryside in the Herefordshire parishes on the Marcle Ridge. The local orchards are famous for their cider fruit and their excellent eating and cooking apples. In our eighteenth year, the award winning communities of these tiny parishes have put together a collection of small rural events based in Much Marcle, to enable you to share with us in our tradition of apple growing and cidermaking.
Our local pubs and restaurants will be serving dishes using apple and cider recipes.
In Much Marcle:
Nearby:
Return to the top of this page.
Hellens Great Barn (GR661333)
A Feast of Apples - Displays of apples, including cider fruit and perry pears. Tastings of dessert and culinary fruit. Feast your eyes and your taste buds! Also Marcher Apple Network; ‘Jus’ apple juice; perrymaking. Entry £1.50 (children free). 2 - 4.45pm.
Tour of the house at 3.30pm. (£5, concessions).
Much Marcle Memorial Hall (GR658330)
Apple teas - delicious! 2 - 5pm.
St Bartholomew’s Church (GR657327)
Harvest church open 11am - 5pm, produce sale, tours of the bell tower.
Gregg's Pit (GR662323)
Open day - award winning, small scale craft perry and cider making in a traditional orchard, managed to organic standards. Ploughman‘s lunches by Truffles Delicatessen. 10am to 5pm.
Lyne Down Cider (GR646312)
Open day — demonstrations of traditional cidermaking. 10am to 5pm. Barbecue and Cider City Jazzmen 1 - 3pm.
Westons Cider (GR648331) 10am - 4pm.
Guided tours (£4.00/ £2.50) at 11am and 2.30pm. Shire horse dray rides (£2.50/ £1.50).
Awnells Farm (GR659319)
Open day for the Countryside Restoration Trust (CRT), with wildlife artist Jonathan Latimer. Guided walks through the farm grassland and orchards. Donations welcome. 11am to 5pm. Talk by Robin Page, CRT Chairman, Sunday 3pm.
Return to the top of this page.
Leominster Morris will dance at Westons (11 am), Gregg's Pit (12 noon), Hellens (2.30pm).
Amazing apples. Poetry workshop for families, with James Crowden, in an orchard at Awnells Farm. Children (target age 8 -11) to be accompanied by an adult. Details & tickets 01531 670544. 2 - 4.30pm. £4/ £3.
Orchards through the eyes of an artist. An illustrated talk by wildlife artist Jonathan Latimer. Much Marcle Memorial Hall, 5.30pm. £3.50.
Cider - the forgotten miracle. An evening of readings and stories with James Crowden, author and poet. Hellens Small Barn, 7.30pm. Tickets £6.50, to include cheese and cider, from the Curator 01531 660504, or on the door.
Big Apple Bike Ride Market House, Ledbury at 10am, leave 10.30. Follow quiet country lanes, visiting cider producers & orchards. BYO picnic and explore Big Apple, returning pm to Ledbury. Information (01531) 635432.
Marcle Ridge Walk 7 mile walk along the Marcle Ridge and through the orchards of Putley, led by David Walker. Steep in places. No dogs please. Donations welcome. Meet Ridge Car Park (GR631346), 9.30am.
Standard fruit tree care and pruning. Demonstration by Chris Fairs of Bulmers, in young and old orchards at Pixley House. (GR663383) 2pm and 3pm. In association with Woolhope Dome Project.
Return to the top of this page.
If you want to know more about this programme, then please phone Mrs Jackie Denman on (01531) 670544.
For details of accommodation available in the area, phone Ledbury Tourist Information Centre on (01531) 636147.
Much Marcle lies 5 miles from Ledbury on the A449 road to Ross-on-Wye, beyond the point where it crosses the road from Leominster to Newent at the Preston Cross roundabout. We are just 15 minutes from the M50 motorway, 2½ hours from London and 1¼ hours from South Wales and the West Midlands.
Blossomtime in Putley for 2007 will be on Saturday and Sunday May 6th and 7th.
Return to the top of this page.
Another good reason to come to the Big Apple is simply to enjoy this wonderful stretch of countryside. Hopyards, pasture and soft fruit fields mix with the orchards and woodland to create a lovely farming patchwork. The slopes of the Marcle Ridge offer splendid views across to the Malvern Hills to the east, while Woolhope, to the west, is within the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
This page was last updated on: Mon 21st August 2006. Copyright © The Big Apple and Marcher Apple Network, 2005, 2006
Marcher Apple Network A Company Limited by Guarantee number 3787303, Registered Charity Number 1095151. If you have any comments or questions about this website please contact 
Emails are not checked every day but you will get a reply eventually.
MAN's website Privacy Policy is available for inspection.