Temple Cider is a small-scale craft cider producer, based on our farm near Beaminster in West Dorset. We are close to the borders of both Devon and Somerset, between Lyme Regis and Crewkerne. The cidermaking talent behind Temple Cider is Paul, formerly an Electrical Engineer, who is ably assisted by partner Jo, a lapsed Technical Author. Keeping us both in check, and entertained, are our characterful rescue dogs.
When we moved to Temple Farm in 2014, we soon decided to include cidermaking in our farming activities. Paul had experience of making wine, and Jo had experience of drinking cider, so what could go wrong?!
We converted one of the farm buildings, the old milking parlour, into a cidery, and bought a rack and cloth cider press in readiness for production. In the autumn of 2019 we found a supply of wonderful cider apples ready for picking in an old orchard nearby, and so the cidermaking fun began.
Temple Cider = Real, full-juice craft cider
We make Temple Cider from 100% handpicked apples, carefully harvested from the ground when ripe and at their best. Plentiful natural spring water flows here and we make good use of this to thoroughly wash the apples prior to pressing. The cider has no additives other than, where required, a carefully chosen cultivated yeast to aid the naturally occuring wild yeasts. Most of our ciders have no additional yeast at all and are purely wild fermentations. Our cider is a truly artisanal product.
We strive to make the type of ciders that we love to drink ourselves. They are full juice, fully fermented, natural ciders that are clean, authentic and interesting. We are particularly fascinated by single variety ciders, so you will find a few of these in our range.
Looking to the future, we have planted a new orchard on the farm, with a particular focus on old Dorset varieties of traditional cider apple trees. We are enjoying planning future blends and cider styles that we’d like to make. And an abundance of mature perry pear trees in a recently acquired orchard has brought the production of Temple perry very much into focus for the future.
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