Most loved customer of the month

Here's a wee thank you to the lovely John from Harwich in Essex, who's sent me an e mail waxing lyrical about our cider .... (see below)

Dear Tash

Have just spent a long weekend with friends and thought we'd take along some of your gorgeous medium cider. Ordered late Wednesday evening and it arrived Friday just as you said, promptly and in perfect condition.
Everyone who tried it loved its delicious fresh, clean taste, a credit to the way you guys produce your traditional cider and the 10l hardly had time to chill properley before being polished off with some serious gusto.
We love what you do and now so do all our friends.
Great job Heron Valley, keep on pressing,you ROCK.....

Kind regards
John

Thanks John - we really appreciate hearing feedback on our cider, especially when it's so good and we didn't even need to bribe you!!

Have a great week all

x Tasha

Thirsty Sailors

Look out today at 4pm for Heron Valley's feature on the ITV1 show 'The Hungry Sailors' - Dick Strawbridge and his son visited us last Summer to learn a thing or 3 about our Cider, 6 pints later and the canoe down the river seemed a little daunting, but they went for it anyway (the key is to drink just enough to enhance your bravery before you hit the weir.....)

Racking Time

It's that time of year again... clear skies, plummeting temperatures, and just after 12th night - it's Cider racking time!

This week we'll be starting to rack our new season cider. The warm winter has speeded up the fermentation process, so that the juice we pressed in September is now well on the way to becoming cider. Racking is a process of pumping the partially fermented cider from one barrel to another leaving behind any sediment and dead yeasts that occur as a bi product of fermentation. We choose a cold day as this improves the clarity of the juice and more of the sediment is present at the bottom of the barrels, and so can be left behind when we pump into the secondary fermentation barrels.

Look out for our tasting notes in 1 month time and we'll give you an update of how the cider is progressing....

Saturday Telegraph Feature

We've been featured in the Saturday Telegraph!

Thank you to the lovely Hattie and Jasper for making all seem so romantic and idyllic....

Unfortunately, the Valley in mid winter, digging the tractor out of snow drifts and pressing apples in freezing conditions, seems a million miles away from the lovely sunny scenes from their Autumn trip, but Spring will be with us soon and Mulled Cider drinking is excellent for morale and keeping hands warm! Productivity has dropped a wee bit though.......

For those of you that haven't read the article, click on the link below and see what you think.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/6318493/Apple-recipes-core-values.html

Pumpkin day at Riverford

Come and have a glass or 3 of our lovely hot mulled new season apple juice at the Riverford pumpkin days.. We'll be at Riverford Farm in Totnes on Saturday 24th October, and at Riverford at Norton Farm in Hampshire on Saturday 31st October - we'd love to see you!

Visit www.riverford.co.uk for where, when and all other info

Summer in the Valley...

It's lovely here now, the elderflowers are out, and the apple blossom has set, so the orchards are full of budding apples - looking good for the next apple harvest.

We've spent the past week pressing lemons for our lovely refreshing new organic Still Lemonade, which you will shortly be able to buy from the shop on this website - it's completely delicious and the most refreshing summer drink ever...

We've also just been picked as one on the Independent Newspaper's top 50 food websites, which is great news and a real surprise!

Riverford Rocks! Heron Valley at WOMAD!!!!

24th July - 26th July 2009
Taste of the World Stage
Charlton Park, Malmesbury, Wiltshire

We can't wait ....!

Come and try our lovely juices at the WOMAD festival, we'll be snuggling up to the lovely people from Riverford for the duration and would love to see you.

Come to the Taste of the World stage for the best Riverford breakfast at the festival, fresh fruit, lovely bread and of course the best juices in the World.

Guy Watson will be hosting his brilliant 'Chop and Chat', a chance to create some lovely seasonal recipes with the best Riverford Organic Veggies grown on their farm...

All campers can pre order fresh organic Riverford produce to cook by your own campfire - simply visit www.riverford.co.uk for more details...