People often ask us about our orchard in Wessington, which as many visitors know we’re very proud of. Here’s a bit of additional info about the orchard that I’ve been meaning to post for some time. It's a rather unique orchard and we think quite important and whist emphatically privately owned it is becoming a real community asset too, a place where as well as holding our tastings in better weather it is also where we hold events such as wassailing and our regular Wessington Orchard Farmers and Artisans markets. I bang on about orchards a lot. I've always loved them and lamented their loss in the landscape and so when the opportunity presented itself to plant our own I did it with gusto. They are such special places, so uniquely British with their own mythology almost, and become places where people can reconnect with nature and the seasons. We started planting some of these trees as two-year whips in 2011 and have added to the collection over the years, hence the variability in growth etc from north to south. It's beginning to show real maturity and have that feel of being a permanent part of the landscape, especially and the southern end. The following explains a little about the various varieties of apple trees that are in the orchard, many of which are regionally important: Beeley Pippin : A variety with a strong local connection being from the nearby village of Beeley, once very much in the heart of the Chatsworth Estate. Dates to 1880 and raised by the Rev. C. Scunthorpe of Beeley. A creamy yellow coloured, juicy flesh aromatic with a good flavour but do not apparently keep very well, which may well explain their demise with other better keepers available out there. Nonetheless a lovely tree with historically important local connections. Belledge Pippin : Another local variety from Derby and dating to 1818, which will eventually be researched by me in more detail. Apparently well suited to dessert or culinary uses and a good keeper and described as 'An excellent but not first rate apple' in Hoggs (1851), 'The British Pomology'. Newton Wonder : A South Derbyshire variety, an excellent cooker and consequently not as rare as the two above. Raised by Mr Taylor of King's Newton, Melbourne in the 1880s from Blenheim Orange X Dumelow's Seedling and received a RHS First Class Certificate in 1887. Has a good acid flavour and holds its shape when cooked. It's a good doer locally and we added two more trees back in 2016 and are a real favourite in the orchard. New Bess Pool : A special local (Derbyshire) variant of Bess Pool, a Nottinghamshire variety. Raised by J. Stevens of Stanton-by-dale sometime before 1850. Lambs Seedling : Planted in 2014 this is the last of the Derbyshire varieties to complete our collection and specially grafted by the National Collection at Brogdale, Kent. Raised around 1866 by the Head gardener at Meynell Langley, Derby - seat of the Meynell family, Mr Joseph Lamb. Lord Derby : We added this tree in 2016 because it may be a local variety, or is a variety that certainly has links with this County. Apparently from Cheshire, so perhaps close enough to be able to claim some genesis in Derbyshire. This Victorian variety is a sharp cooking apple that purees nicely. Other important local varieties include: Bess Pool : We have a couple of these important East Midlands varieties. Both Bess Pool and New Bess Pool are dessert apples. Supposedly named after their discoverer, the daughter of a local inn keeper Bess Pool, in a wood in Nottinghamshire and later introduced as a variety by a Chilwell nurseryman, Mr J R Pearson and first recorded in 1824. Sweet flavoured dessert apple that has a dry mouth feel that keeps reasonably well. Apparently late to flower. No East Midlands collection would be complete without the Isaac Newton Tree . We got cuttings from the one and only world famous apple tree from Grantham that gave us gravity via the national collection again. The famous and ancient tree, no doubt a slow grower like ours that sits in the grounds of the National Trusts Woolsthorpe Manor is believed to be a Flower of Kent . As I said, in our orchard it has proved to be slow growing and small compared to its peers that were planted around the same time. Obviously, it’s a long lived tree and has plenty of time to grow into its shoes! Now, the Duke of Devonshire apple tree sounds like it should be a local apple tree but it is in fact from Holker Hall, Cumbria, and was a tree created by the Dukes gardener Wilson, to honour him around 1835. A russeted sweet apple believed to be related to Ashmead's Kernel. It’s a lovely eater and we look forward to making a Duke of Devonshire cider at some point! Egremont Russet : From Surrey, this is the quintessential English russet with a beautifully balanced flavour developed by the Victorians. Despite russets being largely frowned upon because of their rough looking skins this is still considered one of the finest eating apples and has a loyal following. Cider Varieties: Northwood: also known as Woodbine a Vintage sweet cider variety. Red Stoke : Bittersharp variety Black Dabinett : A famous bittersweet variety with a distinctive apple. And the delightfully named Slack Ma Girdle , which is a sweet variety - we have this because the name is just fantastic! Other trees are Egremont Russet , William Pear , Commice Pear and a couple of Morello Cherry trees. The birds are particularly keen on the cherry trees and see more of the fruit than I do because I’m always too late to net them! On Derbyshire Orchards Orchards have their own special place in rural life, society and in our imaginations. Few things are more evocative of the historic English countryside than our ancient orchards. Many Derbyshire orchards have been lost over the years and now, slowly, people are realising just what has been lost and they are re-emerging once more. We have our own Derbyshire heritage varieties of apple trees too, which tells us that apples and undoubtedly cider were once a part of rural life locally. Derbyshire may not be as famous as Herefordshire, Somerset or Suffolk for its ciders but you can be sure local ciders were produced, reaching their zenith in the 19th Century. This long forgotten flavour of Derbyshire, made from a blend of local apples would surely have been unique to the area. In a few years we hope to replicate that flavour of Derbyshire ciders, produced from our own local apples. Anywhere apple trees were grown, no matter what their purpose be they dessert or cooking apples, a local cider was made to quench the thirst of humble agricultural workers toiling in the fields. And our great Derbyshire country houses would have had their own orchards showing that apple tree were important to all levels of society, such as those that can be seen at Hardwick Hall in their lovely walled orchard. Even Chatsworths’ kitchen gardens retain a few apple trees. The demise of England's orchards is a relatively recent phenomena, firstly as fresh, clean widely available drinking water replaced ciders and ales in the 19th century and the cider making industry favoured mass produced watered down cider over fresh, pure apple ciders in recent decades. Even in the parts of the country where apple trees are still grown for making ciders the traditional orchards of large old gnarled trees are much rarer than they once were. In Derbyshire our local apple trees were the Beeley Pippin, Belledge Pippin, Newton Wonder, Lambs Seedling and New Bess Pool. These are a mix of dessert and cooking apples, many have long been on the verge of extinction. We have researched and tracked down all these important local apple trees and will attempt to ensure that they have a permanent home in our orchard in Wessington. We planted the last of these old varieties, Lambs Seedling, in winter 2013/14. These were grafted for us by the National Collection at Brogdale, Kent. We now have a complete collection of Derbyshire apple trees. Remarkably, perhaps the only complete collection in the county and the only place in the UK outside of the National Collection where you will find them all together (we'd love to be proved wrong!). These are the ideal apple trees to grow locally as they reflect the character and climate of Derbyshire and we hope will make ciders that taste like those made in a long gone age - a true taste of lost Derbyshire. And finally, in future years we’ll graft Derbyshire cider apple vars onto various rootstocks and look to sell them on and hopefully ensure their survival!
PRESS RELEASE A Derbyshire vineyard, Amber Valley Vineyards, is a Bronze Medal winner in the world’s most prestigious wine competition the International Wine Challenge. Grown in Amber Valley Wines Ltd own vineyards overlooking the beautiful Amber Valley near the village of Wessington, the 2018 Lindway Brook Vintage Cuvée Brut, was singled out as “Clean with yellow fruits on the nose and fresh orchard fruits on the palate” garnering 86 points. The special sparkler came from the 2018 vintage, which will go down in history as one of the greats for the U.K. and is predominately made of Seyval Blanc grapes with smaller quantities of Pinot Noir Précoce and Auxerrois, all grown at their Doehole vineyards that straddles the boundary of Ashover and Brackenfield parishes and their Back Lane vineyard in Wessington. Amber Valley Wines owner Barry Lewis said, “I’m absolutely delighted - this is the wine we’ve always wanted to make - a top quality sparkling wine that could comfortably stand alongside the best from anywhere in the world. When we planted in 2012 it was with the intention of making top quality estate grown sparkling wines eventually and 2018 was the first year where conditions and cropping were perfect. Our location and growing sites can be challenging but when conditions are just right then we can get startling results.” Amber Valley Vineyards is situated in Wessington, and comprises vineyards, orchard and Cellardoor. They offer tours and tastings and a programme of events including farmers and artisan markets in their lovely orchard. Visit Amber Valley Vineyards website at www.ambvervalleywines.co.uk where this and their other wines can be purchased and tours and tastings can be booked. Lindway Brook Vintage Cuvée Brut 2018 International Wine Challenge Bronze Medal Winner 2021 https://www.internationalwinechallenge.com/canopy/beverage_details?wid=160823
Bob hard at work with the electic pruners zipping carefully and skilfully through the vines.
Back in June, when the government announced that outdoor markets could return business we took the decision to try to organise our own farmers market. It was something we had thought about for a year or two, thinking the orchard would make a perfect backdrop for one. Since the orchard is also fully licensed it made sense anyway. We were hearing of many small producers that had reduced opportunities to sell due to the cancellation of so many events like country shows and fairs and of course, any indoor venues, thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. So when we reached out and contacted traders we found them willing to give it a try and so with reasonable pitch price we hoped it would work out for us all. We held our first one on 20th June and put in measures such as on-site bookable parking that could be booked online, a clearly signed one-way pedestrian system with hand-sanitiser stations at key points and because we have lots of space and the trees provided a natural way to break-up movement in the orchard it worked beautifully. People arrived at their pre-booked times and followed the advice amazingly well and enjoyed a delightful visit, shopped and supported local traders. It was lovely to hear comments from people about how they felt so safe shopping at the market and how it was nice to get out and do something so normal. It was a huge success for all of us. Since then each market has grown, with more visitors and more stalls and traders adding to the beautifully curated selection of stalls. We have amazing fruit and veg, hand crafted local chocolate, a local gin distiller, a kombucha producer from down the road and a local chorizo maker all of whom can be found on our webpage here. Ahead of each market we had contact from a number of other traders, mainly of crafters and artists looking for a place to sell their beautiful products, so eventually we decided to trial a Artisans Market - and we were overwhelmed with the numbers of people that got in touch. Organised along very similar lines to the farmers market the artisans market included an outdoor food and drink area, with tables, track and trace slips for those that hadn't prebooked parking and a constant table wiping down regime and wipes and hand sanitiser available for people to use. With a little live music to provide a lovely mellow backdrop to the day it was a real privilege to be able to host such a nice event and provide an opportunity to visitors to enjoy a great Bank Holiday weekend experience that felt a little bit normal. It was equally nice to hear from the traders what a great day they had had too. We're looking forward to Septembers Orchard Farmers Market - it may be the last of the year. We hope you'll come and support our fantastic traders before the weather turns. So, for next year I think We'll be back with a programme of markets - a monthly Farmers Market from May through to September or October and of course a number of artisans markets. We'll also be looking to organising a limited number of Winter markets, perhaps a Twilight Orchard Christmas market in November. Ahead of that we'll need to make a number of access improvements to ensure we can park some cars and get access to the orchard during the colder wetter months firstly. Have a look at the great video below created by Chris Smith Photography Wessington. Photos also by Chris Smith....
Read about the imminent arrival of our new 2019 vintage and how we're supporting Ashover Show, our local agricultural show, through this difficult time.
Read about how we can help support your business if you need outdoor space.
There's a big debate at the moment about climate change, it's affects on society, the planet and of course, our way of life. There's no doubt that change has manifested itself in agriculture and most especially in the vineyards of the world - even here on Derbyshire. We've noticed each year that the season is a little longer, yet the grapes ripen a little sooner. Everything is a bit earlier, such as budburst and flowering, along with an earlier harvest and whilst all this, on the face of it, is a boon for us here in the UK it does bring new pressures. Pressures such as disease and pests that all need more management. Not to mention the extremes we seem to experience more and more - such as increased rainfall episodes (when it's wet it's really wet), prevalence of drought, hail and storms. For example, there have been two droughts in the last 8 years and at least two of the wettest years ever recorded have occurred in the last twenty years (Remember 2007 and 2012). The real impact however is being felt in our global community of vineyards, amongst them some of the world's most cherished heritage regions with specialised growing conditions and appellations that require them to grow specific grapes in specific places to produce wines of immeasurable quality and these places, and their iconic wines, are threatened by warming and extremes. Hail the size of golfballs and greater batter more vineyards more frequently, and the new warmer mean temperatures means that some grapes are not expressing their best qualities and consequently new varieties are being considered. We are entering a perilous period for vineyards. There's real need to ensure we do our bit as a business to ensure we don't contribute to the problem and are acting to safeguard our future too. We've been ahead of the curve in this regard, for quite some time and it has always been written into our business plan to be as green and sustainable as possible. We've just revamped our solar and wind powered battery storage system which provides power to our temporary cellar door facility in the old stables. We've been powering lighting etc here for nearly 15 years using this system and with a few tweaks and a new 220ah battery we're good to go for another 15 years! Our new cellar door facility and winery, which we got planning granted for earlier this year, will incorporate a much bigger solar, wind and battery storage facility to supply our needs. Whilst capital intensive such an investment upfront should see us run our operation on a minuscule budget for energy. So as well as being green it makes real financial sense - at the end of the day it's this that will win business and householders over to renewables. We've also got a compost toilet, which I built last year, and this novel solution to an age old problem (what do you do about loos in the middle of nowhere with no sewers?) it is clean, odour free and amazingly efficient and doesn't use any water! We'll be using these in our new facilities too. Additionally, we intend that we will capture, store and UV filter all of our water for use in keeping the winery scrupulously clean, by using water efficient steam cleaners. Even in the build we'll use local tradesmen and craftsmen to ensure we maximise the sustainability of the build as well. Our next investment will be in rechargeable mowers and strimmers - and a renewable means of charging them! These are exciting times for English wines, but we must act to ensure that we protect its future. So, we don't just talk the talk at AVV, we walk the walk.