If you’re thinking of planning a UK craft cider weekend, you’re already my sort of person. It’s the point where countryside mooching, pub loitering and light alcohol research all meet in a way that feels almost responsible. “Supporting local producers” sounds far better than “spent two days in a field and a beer garden”, but in practice they’re pleasantly similar.
I live in Herefordshire now, so orchards and cider presses are part of the backdrop of daily life – like potholes and drizzle, but tastier. Over a few trips (some intentional, some accidental detours courtesy of my sat nav), I’ve ended up with a loose route that works for a long weekend: orchards by day, presses in the late afternoon, pub gardens in the evening, repeat. You can tweak it of course, but I’ll lay out what worked, what didn’t, and where I’d go again at the drop of a bar towel.
I’d start your UK craft cider weekend just outside Ledbury, at Dragon Orchard in Putley. It’s one of those places that looks like the stock photo for “English orchard” – rows of trees, grass a bit too long, a hint of bonfire in the air – except this is a working farm, not a backdrop for a yoghurt advert.
The cidermaking outfit here is Once Upon a Tree, who specialise in proper, grown-up cider: single-variety bottlings, perry that tastes like it’s wearing a bowtie, and the occasional sweet ice cider that functions as dessert in a glass when you’re too lazy to chew.
When I first came a few years back, I expected a quick tasting and a polite shuffle back to the car. Instead, I got a slow wander through the orchard with a mug of cloudy juice and a surprisingly honest chat about how hard it is to make a living from apples when supermarkets treat them like filler. It’s quietly sobering, in between the actual sobering.
They run tours on specific days – usually from late spring through harvest – which you need to book through their site or via The Marcle Ridge collective. Last time I went it was about £15–£20 for a tour and tasting, around two hours of walking, talking and sipping. You get to see the press and the fermenting tanks, and there’s always at least one dramatic tank story. Stainless steel and humans do not always get along.
There’s a little shop by the barn where you can pick up bottles to take away. The off-dry Once Upon a Tree Falstaff is a safe bet if you like something bright and apple-forward rather than chewy and tannic.
Worth knowing before you go – Dragon Orchard
On your way back towards Ledbury, pull into The Nest on the A438. It’s part farm shop, part café, part “how many local chutneys does one county need?”. They usually have a decent spread of local ciders in the shop, including Wye Valley Meadery bits and often Dunkertons bottles, plus the cakes are unnervingly good. The carrot cake slice is roughly the size of a paperback for about £4.50. Worth it.
Then head into Ledbury for your first proper pub garden of the weekend at the Prince of Wales on Church Lane. The front is all leaning half-timber and slightly sloping floor; the back yard is tight but sunny and you can hear the church bells if you time it badly. They usually have several local ciders on, including Westons and often something smaller like Gwatkin or Oliver’s on pump. Expect to pay around £4.80–£5.50 a pint.
Worth knowing before you go – Ledbury stop
I used to deliver freight to farms in this part of Herefordshire, and the smell of fermenting apples around Westons Cider Mill in Much Marcle is one of those oddly nostalgic things for me. A sort of tangy, fruity fug that clings to your clothes. You’ll know you’re close long before you see the chimneys.
Westons is big and slick compared to the smaller orchards, but it’s a handy way to understand cider on a larger scale. The mill has a visitor centre with a café, playground, shop and the Scrumpy House restaurant. Tours run several times a day, usually about £16 per adult, including a guided wander round the old oak vats. There’s one called “Squeak” thanks to the noises it makes, in case you like your barrels animated.
The tour ends, predictably, in the tasting room. You’ll get to try a range – from the easy, fizzy stuff to the more traditional cloudy scrumpy. It’s all very polished, but the staff know their apples and will gently talk you out of starting on the 8% stuff at 11am. Ask about their annual Big Apple events in the area; they’re scattered across local farms and halls and worth planning around if your dates line up.
Parking is free, and there’s plenty of it. The shop sells everything from cider-branded teapots (still can’t explain those) to boxes of glass flagons that look like they’d double nicely as blunt weapons.
Worth knowing before you go – Westons
From Westons, it’s a short hop to Gregg’s Pit, also in Much Marcle, which is as close as you’ll get to the idyllic idea of traditional perry and cider-making without it turning into a heritage theme park. It’s a small, family-run place producing beautifully restrained ciders and perries from old orchards.
They’re not open every day, and you usually need to book a visit or join on to events like the Big Apple weekends or their occasional open days. When I visited on one of those, the “tour” was basically a walk up through the perry pear trees with a very honest chat about pruning, storms, and why some pears taste faintly of blue cheese. Tastings were £5–£10 depending on how much you wanted to try, with bottles around £8–£10.
The setting is properly rural – think slightly uneven ground, chickens, and old wooden ladders that definitely have stories. It feels like you’re visiting someone’s home because, frankly, you are. You won’t get glossy signage or interactive screens; you will get perry that makes supermarket stuff taste like squash.
Worth knowing before you go – Gregg’s Pit
By this point you’ll be very ready for a long sit-down and something fried. Head over the hill to The Crown Inn at Woolhope, a proper Herefordshire country pub with a beer garden that is essentially an extended back lawn edged with apple trees. On a decent evening they string up lights and it all feels suspiciously romantic until someone’s dog starts trying to eat a wasp.
The Crown is serious about cider. You’ll find Westons and Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry on handpull, plus at least a few others in bottle or on tap. One chalkboard listed eight different ciders on my last visit, which is the sort of maths I like. Expect around £4.80–£5.50 a pint, a bit more for stronger or rarer stuff.
The food is hearty pub fare, skewing towards the kind of things that go well with 6% liquids. The cider-battered fish and chips came out almost the size of my forearm at about £16. I tried to tackle the lot and ended up having what I can only describe as a quiet personal crisis halfway through the peas.
Worth knowing before you go – The Crown Inn
On Sunday, drive down to Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry Company at Broome Farm, just outside Ross-on-Wye. If Dragon Orchard is tidy and Westons is industrial, Broome Farm feels cheerfully lived-in. There are piles of crates, farm dogs wandering about, and a bar in a converted barn that serves some of the most interesting cider in the country without making a song and dance about it.
The farm runs regular tastings and tours, especially around their annual Ross Cider Festival in late summer. Outside of that, you can usually rock up to the farm shop and bar at weekends (check their opening hours online first) for flights of cider at around £7–£10, plus bottles to take home. They do everything from single-tree ciders to funky, wild-fermented perries. Don’t be shy about saying “I usually drink X, what should I try?” – they’re very good at translating tastes into actual drinks.
The bar has a simple but decent food setup – toasties, ploughman’s, pork pies – and you can sit out under the trees with a view back towards the farmhouse. On festival weekends it turns into a small, slightly chaotic cider village with camping, live music and people arguing amiably about tannins.
Worth knowing before you go – Ross-on-Wye Cider
To round off your UK craft cider weekend, head over the border into Monmouthshire to Apple County Cider at Whitehouse Farm, near Skenfrith. I’ll be straight with you – I didn’t actually get here on my first attempt because I misjudged both the time and my capacity for “just one more tasting”. I made it on a later trip, approaching from the Abergavenny side, and it’s now on my regular “show off the area” list.
Apple County specialise in crisp, clean, more modern-style ciders alongside traditional ones, all from their own orchards. They have a small farm shop and tasting room looking out across rolling hills and regimented rows of trees. Tastings are usually around £5–£7 for a flight, with guided tours available on set days from roughly £15 a head. Parking is free and right by the shop.
Try the Yarlington Mill if you want something rich and tannic, or their Dabinett for a slightly more easy-going bottle. They also do decent apple juice if someone in your party has had enough percentage points for one day.
Worth knowing before you go – Apple County
If you’ve still got it in you for one final pub garden, cross back over the Wye to The Boat Inn at Penallt, just outside Monmouth. You reach it via a single-track lane that seems to be made entirely of blind corners, then a tiny bridge over the river from the English side if you’re feeling brave. Parking is basically “find a spot and hope for the best” on the road and in the small car park; go slowly and politely.
The pub sits right (almost too right) on the riverbank, with tables alongside the Wye and steps down where kids and, occasionally, overexcited adults and dogs paddle. They keep a changing range of local ciders – often Apple County on draft, plus bottles from other small Welsh producers. Expect around £4.80–£5.50 for a pint, and more if you go for something stronger or bottled.
Food is good, unfussy pub stuff. Burgers, chilli, decent chips. Around £14–£18 for a main. On a warm Sunday evening with the river sliding past and someone murdering a Neil Young song on the outdoor speakers, it’s about as close to contentment as you’re going to get after three days touring orchards.
Worth knowing before you go – The Boat Inn
A few extra bits that don’t fit neatly anywhere but matter in real life:
A last thought: the first time I did a version of this weekend, I tried to cram in too many places and ended up tired, slightly sticky and irrationally annoyed at a hedgerow. Now I’d pick two or three core visits – say Dragon Orchard, Westons and Ross-on-Wye – then add on pub gardens as my energy and appetite allow. Cider, at its best, is slow. Your weekend should be too.
