Artistraw Cider

14/05/2026

As many of you will know, Tom and I outgrew our tiny 4x4m cidery a long, long time ago. We often joke (and without a hint of irony) that the only room in our home that doesn’t have cider stored in it is the bathroom. As much as we’ve struggled and uttered a dictionary’s worth of choice words describing our current cider shed’s numerous limitations, we’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved in our current set up. We’ve produced nearly 6,000 litres of award winning cider a year, garnered national recognition by appearing in , on and to name but a few, we’ve hosted nearly six hundred of you to date on tours and tastings, we’ve led moth spotting workshops in the orchard, danced barefoot at our Beltane and Lammas celebrations and sung songs and sipped mulled cider around the bonfire under cold starry skies at our Wassail! However, the Earth keeps spinning and we with it.
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At the end of last year we successfully secured planning permission for a bigger cidery and seminar room! As well as being able to make a little bit more cider, this extra space will mean more events! Think talks, tastings, art exhibitions and the like! Plus we’ll finally have a sheltered spot to take our tour groups into on the less clement days and open our cider garden to you all a bit more frequently!
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The way we make our cider won’t be changing. The fruit will still be handpicked by Tom and I from ancient orchards and fermented naturally without any additions, but instead of clambering over boxes full of maturing cider to rest our heads after a long day in the orchard, we’ll be able to regain some semblance of work life balance which, after nearly ten years will be most welcome!
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We’re currently on track to have the new cidery built by the time the apples start falling. Stay tuned to keep up to date with our progress and we look forward to showing you all around when it’s finished!

06/05/2026

Join us for our fourth annual celebration of Beltane this Saturday! We’re delighted to welcome to the orchard who will be serving up delicous food all afternoon.
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The bar will be stocked with the best locally made drinks available with cider from ourselves of course! We’ll also have a good range of non-alcoholic options.
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As if that wasn’t enough we’ll also be treated to some wonderful music from .devils.dream who will be playing evocative and fiery tunes from the mountains of Appalachia on old-time fiddle and clawhammer banjo and will be sure to have you up and dancing!
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Come and join us around the campfire for a truly memorable Beltane!
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Parking is first come, first served at the venue. Alternatively, we are reachable by foot via the Wye Valley Walk- a beautiful stroll direcly across the fields from Hay on Wye that takes around 40mins. Additional un-offical parking may also be available at St. Mary’s Church, Clifford. (//////delighted.wicked.hardback).

07/04/2026

The sun is out and we have five new releases for you!
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Each spring and autumn we curate a collection of some of our most special bottlings. Selected with the season in mind and including a wide range of different styles, most of the drinks in this collection are limited to fewer than 80 bottles and often the product of a single tree! Head to our website if you want to grab the full set!
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Introducing:

🍎🍐‘Cerry’ 2023 75cl (Dry, perlant, cider/perry co-ferment, 6.0%) Batch size: 76 bottles

🌖’Moon Fruit’ 2024 75cl (Medium, single variety, perlant, cider, 4.8%) Batch size: 82 bottles

🌸’Pink Piquette du Pomme’ 2022 75cl (Dry, pet nat, natural grape skin contact ciderkin , 2.5%) Batch size: 75 bottles

🕊️📦❌’No Amazons’ 2024 (Medium, pet nat, cider, 5.6%) Batch size: 226 bottles

💜 ‘Bisquet 2024’ (Medium, perlant, cider, 4.7%) Batch size: 551 bottles


Here at Artistraw we make natural cider. That means we don’t add sugar, water or sulphites. We don’t pasteurise our cider and we ferment spontaneously using the apples wonderful wild yeasts. We only use fruit that Tom and I have handpicked from unsprayed, biodiversity rich, traditional standard orchards and are as local to us as possible. The two of us hand pick around 15 tonnes of apples a year, comprising around 40 different varieties, each with its own unique attributes. This is a number set to grow as our own museum orchard, full of over 100 hand grafted rare varieties, begins to fruit! Could this season see the first Artistaw ‘home orchard’ cider? Watch this space!
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We hope you enjoy this season’s collection!

03/04/2026

It was such an honour to present James Crowden with the ‘Susanna Forbes award for outstanding contribution to cider culture’. Such a deserving winner!

This years CraftCon saw the awarding of the annual ‘Susanna Forbes award for outstanding contribution to cider culture ‘ which the TCCPA launched in 2025 to pay tribute to the amazing legacy of Susanna Forbes (Little Pomona, Imbibe) who very sadly passed away in 2024.

This year’s winner was the esteemed author of the book ‘Cider Country’, James Crowden and we cannot think of a better advocate for the wonderful world of cjder than James with all his intellect, enthusiasm and passion for the drink.

James said “I was bowled over when I heard that I had won the 2026 Susanna Forbes [award] … Cider culture is so important and being able to research and articulate that culture and history for others to appreciate is what it is all about.”

Wassail, James!

16/01/2026

Last weekend we held our eighth annual Wassail, the fifth in our own orchard. To celebrate this event, each year we release a cider to accompany the merry making! This year’s cider is made from a single variety, Stoke Red which has a beautiful bright acidity with lots of residual natural sugar to balance its chalky tannins. Coming in at 4.2%, it works wonderfully as an apéritif and its freshness is sure to make you think of the coming Spring.
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This is currently Lydia’s favourite cider and there were only 232 made, so do act quickly if you want to get your hands on a bottle!
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What is a Wassail you may ask!
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The word wassail comes from the Anglo Saxon ‘Waes Hael’ meaning ‘good health’, whilst the tradition of gathering in the orchards was first recorded as far back at the mid 1500s. During the ceremony, thanks are given to the trees in the orchard in the shape of toast for the branches and cider for the roots, songs are sung and the spirits of Winter are sent skittering from the orchard whilst bonfires are lit and the mulled cider flows!
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For our Wassail we’ve also added some traditions of our own invention including a compost blessing led by the wonderful folks at which is designed to show some love to our precious soil microbes.
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Whilst the event is steeped in history and tradition, we believe that the most important thing about a Wassail is to enjoy it. Ultimately, there are no rules and the celebration is open to interpretation and the power of your imagination. In fact, when Tom and I held our first public Wassail back in 2017, such was our keenness that it was actually the first we’d ever attended. Needless to say, we loved it so much that we’ve been running Wassails and creating ceremonies ever since. Our trees have no complaints that I’m aware of!
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Our latest cider is now available to purchase on our webshop or directly from us at the cidery. As with all of our ciders, it is made naturally and the sole ingredient is apples handpicked by Tom and I from ancient unsprayed orchards near to our home in the Welsh Marches.
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Wassail! Drink Hael!

09/01/2026

We're very much looking forward to welcoming folks to our Wassail tomorrow!

However, please note though that the event has sold out and we have a long waiting list so please do let us know if you're no longer able to use your ticket.

We're keeping an eye on the weather but for now Saturday looks calm so we'll be going ahead as planned. The orchard will be wet and possibly slipperly underfoot so please do wear appropriate footwear and wrap up warm!

27/12/2025

Join us for our fifth annual Artistraw Cider Wassail on 10th January 2026!

With a torchlit procession, bonfire, live music from Caution Horses, lashings of mulled cider and a ceremony led by our very own Green Man, it simply isn't to be missed!

Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.artistraw.co.uk/.../wassail-ticket-10th-jan-2026

12/10/2025

Last month BBC Countryfile invited us to appear on an episode dedicated entirely to cider!

Watch the episode now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002kw2w

Presenter Adam Henson donned a pair of our dungarees and joined us to help pick some Knotted kernel apples from a beautiful 90 year old tree. Later he helped press some fruit on our vintage apple press after which we treated him to a glass of our cider, ‘Flock’.

We hope this episode will shine a light on natural cider making and lay bare the differences between the full juice, small batch drinks that we make and the routinely diluted cider made at an industrial scale.

The legal definition of cider in the UK stipulates that cider need only contain 35% apple juice. The other 65% of ingredients typically will include water, sugar, malic acid and sodium metabisulphite, alongside permitted colours, flavours and preservatives. Frustratingly for pure juice cider producers like us, there isn't a universal legal requirement to list all ingredients on cider labels for alcoholic drinks over 1.2% ABV meaning that if they want to, producers can legally call something that is majority added water by the name cider.

On the one hand the government is subsidising landowners to avoid further grubbing up of old orchards, which leads to losses of critical habitat for farmland biodiversity, yet on the other, the alcohol taxation system encourages cider makers to dilute their product and reduce demand for the very things that orchards produce: apples. It’s no wonder that apples are not a particularly profitable crop for farmers when they can be substituted with much cheaper water at a rate of 2:1. We think the legal definition of UK cider is long overdue a review, if only for the farmers’ sake!

Our ciders will always be made solely from fruit handpicked by Tom and I from ancient, unsprayed, biodiverse orchards. We’ve no interest in trying to turn our myriad different varieties into one predictable product. When you drink our cider, you’re tasting one of a handful of bottles from a small unique batch. It’s a snapshot of a single season in that orchard; a measure of how much rain the trees roots received and warm sunshine that kissed a blush onto the skin of the fruit.
🍎 Visit Herefordshire

09/10/2025

It’s tonight! Join us for Hardwicke cider club hosted this evening by 99 PINES.

Phil Kester of 99PINES is the resident perry maker at Hartpury Orchard Centre, the home of the National Perry Pear Centre. Aided by volunteers all of whom are passionate about perry, Phil seeks out rare varieties to produce small batch single varieties and blends raise funds to support perry heritage and local charities.

Producing less than 2,000 litres a year, his limited runs vary in size from only 10 to 300 litres! This is your chance to try some award winning perries made from some of the most rarefied fruit on the planet!

It’s cider club tomorrow!
All the info can be found here: https://www.artistraw.co.uk/products/hardwicke-cider-club

08/10/2025

It’s cider club tomorrow!
All the info can be found here: https://www.artistraw.co.uk/products/hardwicke-cider-club

25/09/2025

Next up on our committee is Lydia Crimp of - our deputy chair!

Your Name / Job Role / Relationship to Cider

Lydia Crimp – Cidermaker at Artistraw

What excites you about the TCCPA?

To my mind the TCCPA is at the centre of the cider community and is a banner under which to gather amongst like-minded, cider loving folk. The opportunities for sharing, learning, collaboration and friendship are unrivalled. The wealth of experience and knowledge within our members is inspiring. Put simply, as an industry we’re stronger together!

What made you decide to join the TCCPA committee and what impact do you hope the work of the TCCPA will have on the cider industry?

I’ve worked with the TCCPA on an ad-hoc basis for the last seven years and finally joined the committee in January 2023. I was excited about the ideas that the TCCPA had for the future, namely events like our conference, CraftCon and with previous professional experience of running events I could see that I had skills that might be useful. I absolutely adore volunteering with the other passionate cidermakers on the committee as we work together to raise the profile of craft cider and perry!

Why should someone become a member of the TCCPA?

Cider making can sometimes be a fairly solitary pursuit and on the coldest, most challenging days of harvest, knowing that there is a wonderful group of people living their lives in a similar fashion is a great motivator!

This is one of the most welcoming and generous communities I’ve ever been a part of. Whether you’re new to cider or have been making it for decades, there is so much to be gained by connecting with other cider lovers.