Wrington Blue Sky, 1st May 2012

Wrington Hill, Blue skies, at last !

Honey Bees flying in !!!

With the sunshine finally appearing between showers in North Somerset the apple blossom has began to reveal itself.

Between filming in the orchards yesterday afternoon I shot a few stills of the bees going about their work and managed to capture the image below of an eager bee making a “beeline” for the blossom.

It was lovely to be out wandering the orchards again, especially with the sun on my back and camera in hand it’s my favourite place to be at this time of year.

Busy bee makes a beeline !

2011 Apple Pressing Day

I’ve just managed to obtain a copy of the double page spread that the Bristol Evening Post (as it was called then !) ran on our apple pressing day, help back in October 2011. Photographer Jon Kent came out to photograph us and captured all the colour of a beautiful autumn day, with the apple presses at full steam.

With this years apple blossom slowly revealing itself through the April showers, It really puts me mood for lots more apple juice and cider making this year.

2011 Apple Pressing Day

A big thanks to jon for sending this through,
Happy scrumping !!
Neil

Legendary Cider Maker Frank Naish on Film

Take a look at this fantastic film by local photographer and Film maker Graham Trott.. Shot in in 2010 it’s an invaluable document on traditional cider making in Somerset. The footage is of Frank Naish aged 86, who with his brother Harold has been making cider all his life in East Pennard.

It’s a beautifully shot and poignant film of Frank cider making and reflecting on life.

Orchard of the Future

The Impressive new and huge Shiplade orchard. Cider production in Somerset is looking rosy !!

Barreling the 2012 vintage !!!

Spent a couple of hours down at Willsbridge Mill this afternoon checking on the progress of the cider. Of the four remaining tubs, 2 are still bubbling away and almost ready, one as I suspected has more or less turned to cider vinegar (air must of got into the tub spoiling it). One has finished fermenting and I must confess is a rather perky little number !. Nice, though subtle flavour, no off notes and tiny bit of sweetness and sparkle dancing on the tongue. This hopefully means that during the spring and summer it should develop into a rather good cider.. I’m really chuffed about this as early signs weren’t looking good. Will hopefully have some for people to try at the Willsbridge Mill Spring Fair.

Below is a pic of an old grubbed up Orchard in Somerset . It was a rather unsettling image on a cold and misty febuary morning. Though rest assured the Orchard is soon to be replanted and expanded.

‘A Year in the Life of Thatchers Cider’ film/video announced

I’m very pleased to announce that I’ve been commissioned to shoot a year long video documentary on Thatchers cider.
The Sandford based cider makers have given me and my cameras unlimited access to all areas of the cider making process including full access to it’s Somerset based cider mill as well as all it’s beautiful orchards in North Somerset.

I’m very excited about this project. I’ve been photographing the cider making business for many years, documenting the orchards during the changing seasons so it will be wonderful to capture the planting, apple blossom, and autumn harvests on film

I will also be filming in the company’s historic ‘oak vats hall’ as well as their new state of the art bottling plant.

I started shooting 2 weeks ago with the annual Wassailing Ceremony. This was a stunning event to capture, with all the colour of the Wassail queen and king, the green man dancing around the apple trees, roaring fires and spilling of cider to welcome in the new year and the blast of three shotguns to ward off the evil spirits !

Check out this site for updates and excepts from the film.

A still from this years Wassail.