Hereford Cider Museum

Mild springs, warm summers and gentle autumn showers make pretty Herefordshire perfect cider-making county. Cider apples have been cultivated here since the Romans invaded and today, visitors flock to the only UK museum which is totally dedicated to the rich history of traditional cider-making.

The people of medieval England drank cider as a safe alternative to water, and even chose to baptise their babies with it. Later, in the 18th and 19th centuries it became de rigeur for Herefordshire landowners to take their own supply of home-bottled cider to the 'London season', while farm-workers were only too happy to accept a couple of bottles of cider as part of their weekly wages. It was generally believed that cider would refresh and sustain a man at work in the fields all day, where as beer would make him sleepy and ill.

The Herefordshire Cider Museum follows the story of cider-making from its rustic heyday in the Jacobean period to the mass produced factory methods employed today. Visitors explore a reconstructed farm ciderhouse and compare the old cider-maker's tack with the modern processes used to produce cider in the King Offa Distillery. A glass of cider brandy, an apple aperitif or even a taste of cider liqueur, all made on the premises, is the perfect way to end the day.

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