Llanblethian Orchards

Llanblethian Orchards Low input orchard and cidery based in the Vale of Glamorgan. Traditional still, Single variety, keeved, pétillant naturel and craft keg cider and perries.

Made from apples and pears grown in the shadow of St Quentin's Castle

In the orchard again today mowing under the trees.Managed to get about half way today. Hopefully I will be able to get i...
31/08/2026

In the orchard again today mowing under the trees.

Managed to get about half way today. Hopefully I will be able to get it finished later in the week in a break in the rain. Nice to be making some progress. 😊

From looking at things I think next week is going to have to be the first week of harvest.

The Thorn pears are almost there and will most likely need to be pressed next week.

The katy is dropping freely. They dont taste ready yet but are only a week or so off id say.

The Tom Putt are also dropping heavily but they are still hard and under ripe. They are probably a fortnight off by the look of it.

Well tomorrow's job is going to have to be emptying & cleaning the barn then bringing all the pressing equipment out of storage and preparing for harvest next week.

Where did the year go? Can't believe its harvest already. 😵‍💫



The next open day at the barn will be a community apple pressing day on Sat 19th September. 10am till 6pm.We'll have our...
30/08/2026

The next open day at the barn will be a community apple pressing day on Sat 19th September. 10am till 6pm.
We'll have our press running all day and the wayward filly cider bar will be on site to keep you refreshed so come along and see how the cider is made.
If you want to have your apples pressed to make your own cider do feel free to bring them along as well. don't forget to bring containers to take away your pressed juice afterwards, I don't have any to sell.
Please wear clothes you don't mind getting a bit mucky if you want to get your apples pressed as well. Assistance will be required washing, milling and pressing the apples which IS a messy job! 😉

p.s. yes I know, AI. Too tired to design a poster today and I was curious what chat gpt would be able to do. I'm not sure how good an idea cast iron hoops on the press would be tbh. Iron in cider makes it go purple when it oxidises! 🤣

30/08/2026

The post where I mentioned biblical got the page flagged up again. 🙄

Clear as mud why, set the page to 18+ see if that works. It's age restricted to alcohol already so should be limited anyway.

Perhaps's meta's $18 billion fine this week for not protecting children has something to do with it? 🤑

Could'nt see the life of Brian getting remade in America any time soon tbh.

Apologies if that's kicked anyone off the page. Trying to navigate the endless menus is like doing a tax return.

Thank heavens for tap to pay.The card reader has decided to properly die by the look of it.Glad it was not at a major fe...
29/08/2026

Thank heavens for tap to pay.

The card reader has decided to properly die by the look of it.

Glad it was not at a major festival I guess.

I find zettle to be rather bad as if there is bad signal it gets stuck trying to take payment for ages before eventually cancelling payment and you cant cancel the payment even if you are 100% its going to fail.

Has anyone else encountered the issues and found a better reader? Seriously considering switching if there is a more reliable brand tbh....

Nice to see the shelving looking a bit fuller.I managed to label up the keeved bottles this morning and get them on the ...
29/08/2026

Nice to see the shelving looking a bit fuller.

I managed to label up the keeved bottles this morning and get them on the shelves as well as some cider pouches.

The weather is proper dark and stormy at the moment I think I'll be hiding in the shop for the rest of the day, these boots leak.... Only just found out as it hasnt properly rained in months. 🙄

Ehh, really happy its raining, my trees need it im just kinda grumpy I forgot my book and got woken up by the kids coming back from the pub again. They are noisier in Cowbridge than when I was living in Splott ffs. 😅🤫😴



Unfortunately the weather looks biblical tomorrow for our open day at the barn sadly. As our site is open to the element...
28/08/2026

Unfortunately the weather looks biblical tomorrow for our open day at the barn sadly. As our site is open to the elements sitting outside having a pint is not going to be the best idea ⛈️☔️🙄.

We'll still be going ahead with our shop for people looking to pick up supplies. If you want a pint I will put up some seating in the shop but seating will be rather limited unfortunately.

We do have something new available in the shop for this open day however. I managed to find some time to bottle some of the Single variety kingston black keeve in both 750ml and 375ml bottles. Absolutely divine if I do say so myself. 😍

As well as that we have 3l pouches of our core range of may day sweet, sunshine medium, orchard blend med dry & hedge kipper dry and 1l carboys of our full range including our perries.

There is also cider vinegar available and we have a special offer on our previous seasons 750ml cider bottles at £8 a bottle (they are short dated but in truth cider gets better with age tbh).

Well, cant grumble too much the orchard really needed some rain and I managed to cut under all the early fruiting varieties in time so its all good. 😉



And here's what it looks like after mowing, one heck of a difference! 😁The orchard is quite biennial so not much fruit d...
27/08/2026

And here's what it looks like after mowing, one heck of a difference! 😁

The orchard is quite biennial so not much fruit down here tbh. The red apple in the photo is Katy.

It is about 50% down as it dropped early due to the dry weather. Sadly what is down is going over and has almost no sugar in it so I have mown it all down. Hopefully the rest of the fruit later in the month will be alright.

Ohh well I'll be. On a whim I planted 4 quince trees in a neglected corner in the spring and they actually survived the dry weather and have been growing happily. Fingers crossed they like it there, apparently they like it a bit damp and I can do that easily. 🤣 Looking forward to quince jelly in my sandwiches while working in the orchard. 😋

They did better than some other trees I planted tbh. The larger ones may well have died in the dry weather by the look of them sadly and there was an 'accident' with the tractor while I was looking out for obstacles and a couple of them are badly mangled. 🙄

Hopefully they will recover but cant say im impressed with my driving tbh... 🤬





27/08/2026

Harvest is fast approaching at Llanblethian Orchard and this weeks job has been mowing the orchard in preparation for what is to come.

I cut the orchard only once a year before harvest as I leave it as a wildflower meadow the rest of the year to encourage wildlife. It can look quite untidy but as it has been left to nature as best I can and been unsprayed for 20+ years its great to see all the diversity of plant and animal life down there.

It does mean it can take quite some cutting as you can see in the video. 🥴

After I have cut it as best I can with the tractor I go back with a brushcutter and cut under the trees to finish the job.

With all the dry weather its been a real pita this year tbh. Its been so dusty cutting the orchard ive had to wear a dust mask while cutting as it was making me feel sick breathing it all in. 😵 Its also clogged the radiator continually with dusty plant matter causing the tractor to overheat 7 times stopping everything while I try and fix things.




Geeze I said the trees were getting stressed on the shallow soil behind the barn.This Yarlington Mill has dropped so man...
17/08/2026

Geeze I said the trees were getting stressed on the shallow soil behind the barn.

This Yarlington Mill has dropped so many leaves now you would think it's autumn. 😵‍💫😳

Thankfully the ones nearer the barn are on deeper soil and not looking as bad.

I know the government has drafted in the army to deal with wildfires in Wales now.

Perhaps get biggles to fly about and seed some clouds, just a thought? 🤓✈️🌧

Lazy Sunday today here at the cidery after a very fun little day out at Blaina food festival yesterday.Spent the morning...
16/08/2026

Lazy Sunday today here at the cidery after a very fun little day out at Blaina food festival yesterday.

Spent the morning putting the three point linkage and flail mower back on the tractor and greasing all the ni***es (its a thing honest... 😆) ready for mowing the orchard next week.

I appear to be missing one of the lower stabiliser check chains that must have fallen off when I used it last year. Nice to see past me completely forgot to replace it and left it as a job for future me. 🙄

This afternoon I unloaded the van and loaded it back up with cider ready for the Greenman festival delivery tomorrow morning.

This year I am supplying my May day sweet and sunshine medium ciders, I hope you all enjoy them and have a great festival. 😃

Could do it tomorrow morning, but this way I get an extra hour in bed... 😅



Address

The Cider Barn, Crossways
Cowbridge
CF717LJ

Telephone

+447989970664

Website

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