Bumper apple crop ready for Killerton’s Cider and Apple Festival

This year a bumper crop of apples are expected to be harvested in time for the annual Killerton Cider and Apple Festival on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 October.

A team of volunteers have just one week, and a 200-year-old cider press, to make all the cider for the year ahead using apples collected traditional orchards on National Trust’s Killerton estate.

Fine summer weather has meant the orchards are bursting with fruit. National Trust rangers and volunteers have been busy harvesting the many varieties of apples that make Killerton’s award-winning cider and apple juice. As the last apples are collected, the National Trust welcomes visitors to the Killerton Cider and Apple Festival for a chance celebrate the harvest, enjoy the cider, and raise awareness of the conservation of the traditional orchards on the estate.

Always a family favourite, this year the festival will feature children’s activities, magic and juggling, family trails and a chance to perform a wassailing ceremony to drive evil spirits from the trees. The festival is themed on a year in the orchard, with decorations, stalls, and activities reflecting everything that happens in a traditional orchard over the four seasons.

Andy Bramwell (pictured) from the National Trust explains that it’s all hands to the press during the harvest: ‘We’re fortunate to have a team of volunteers for a week-long working holiday to make Killerton’s award-winning cider. We hope to make about 4,000 litres of cider which will be sold throughout the year, with some available at the festival. They do this using a 200-year-old cider press, and we’re under pressure to keep them supplied with apples at all times during the week. This means squeezing as many apples as possible into the vehicles to take back to the press.’

At the festival, visitors can bring their own apples to press into juice, see the 200-year-old press in action, try archery, browse the stalls in the orchard and taste great food from the Killerton estate.  The star of the festival is the award-winning Killerton cider.

National Trust Ranger Dave Jolley explains how Killerton’s cider gets its great taste, ‘The 50 acres of traditional orchards at Killerton are very old, and are home to 98 different varieties of apple trees. Some of the varieties, like the Killerton Sweet, Killerton Sharp and Star of Devon are unique to this small area. Others are particular to Devon. When they’re all blended together they help create the great taste of Killerton’s cider’.

The unique orchard atmosphere spills over onto the stage with live music from local bands including Alex Roberts, John Fairhurst, Thunderbridge Bluegrass, and successful Exeter group, Wildwood Kin.

The festival takes place on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 October, opening at 10am and running until 5pm. Adult entry costs £6, and children £2. National Trust members and under 5’s are free. Find out more online: nationaltrust.org.uk/killertonapples