End of an era. The last ever draught, still, Torkard Cider. 🫡 These are off to the "East Markham Apple Day" & this cider was made exclusively from apples picked by local volunteers within the "Hempsall Heritage Orchard" in East Markham itself, in October 2024. Waes Hael! 😊🍏🍎 #cider #local

Thought for the day.

Just back from popping round to see Ali & Luke to pick up their 10L BiBs for this Sunday's East Markham Apple Day cider bar. They were busy milling & pressing perry pears, & while we chewed the fat, Ali gave me an excellent half of Bulmer's Norman. 😋 Cracking stuff. 👌

No idea what he's wittering on about here... Maybe @rfcider.bsky.social will if he listens to the end...? www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Blimey... They don't half scrape the barrel (cider barrel obvs!) for "news stories" these days... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It's been a long day. 💤 Time to crash out, snore - & stick your tongue out. #dog #sleep #snore

An afternoon spent enjoying the sun & wandering along beaches & clambering over rocks with the Wooffits, topped with fresh wonderful ice creams at Spurreli, & now a pudding of pints with a crisp garnish in the Harbour Inn, Amble, Morpeth. 🍺 #sun #beaches #icecream #beer

Beautiful warm & sunny day, so a long walk across the dunes & along the beach was in order. Yarly tried to better King Cnut but failed, so both decided to frolic in the waves, chase each other & claim ownership of the frisbee or squeaky ball - or both.🐾🐾 #dogs #beach #seashore

Rock-pooling is so much easier with children... 🐾🐾 #dogs #rockpools #beach #seashore

Today is also Stokey's birthday as she hits the Big 4.🐾 We celebrated with some excellent pints of beer at The Curfew micropub on Bridge Street, Berwick. Sadly they had no pork scratchings so sharing a bag of crisps had to suffice. We also appear to have purchased a house...🤔🙂🏡

Part of today was about wandering around Tweedmouth & Berwick-upon-Tweed, while admiring the history, architecture & engineering... #bridges

Warm & sunny with a light north-easterly breeze. Perfect for a salty old sea dog to enjoy what she loves most (after pork scratchings that is...). Coquet Island & lighthouse in the distance. #dog #seadog

Pfft! Oomans are drinking beer again... Yawn! 🙄🐾🐾 #beer #pub #dogs

A wander along the south bank of the River Tweed & by the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick-upon-Tweed. 🐾🐾 What's left of Berwick Castle is on the opposite bank. #dogs #river #bridge #trains

Wander back into town for today's choice of ice cream. No Belgian Chocolate left... 🫤 so we went "Harold & Hilda" & both had Cherry Vanilla & Honeycomb. 👌😋

It is so tiring getting lots of fuss... & being force-fed** pork scratchings. But at 15 yrs & 9 months, what's a girl to do...? 🐾 [** Nope. Her nose still works & seems to have compensated for her loss of vision & hearing! She can smell a pork scratching at 100 metres...] #dogs #pubdog

Still blowing a strong northerly, but blue sky & sunshine. Hurrah! So not too bad if out of the wind. Refreshing ourselves with a pint after the scrum of the free-for-all Amble Quayside Sunday Market. Reviving the Wooffits with the odd pork scratching. 🐾🐾🍺 #beer

In true cold-blooded monster fashion, the Wooffits are warming themselves up in the morning sunshine. #dogs #sundayvibes

That's better. 😋 Pint of Anarchy Brewing IPA for me, Golden Ale for The Goode Wyffe, pub dogs under the table happy to be fed crunchy pork scratchings. It's warm, dry - & no gale blowing. 👍 In the Cock & Bull micropub, Amble, Northumberland.

Landed safely. First ice cream consumed. It's bloody cold, blowing a gale, & pi&&ing it down too. Off to the pub next. Brrrrr! 🥶

We get a good number of these gentle giants visiting our garden, particularly during blossom time, when the fruit is ripe & when windfalls abound. Was sad to find this one perished today.🫤 European Hornets get a bad press, even more so now the fear of Asian Hornets is driving misidentification.

I'm busy doing nothing Sleeping the whole day through, Trying to find lots of things not to do... 🐾 #oldgirl #snoring

The Goode Wyffe is back home, slaughtered enough shuttlecocks for a week or two, so dragged me down the pub. The Wooffits forced us to buy scratchings & Stokey is trying really hard to hypnotise one into throwing itself off the table... 🐾🐾 #unitewithbeer #beershack #hucknall

Home alone, so a bit of me time. Watching (for umpteenth time) 'Night of the Demon' (1957), a film that scared the bejeezus out of me as a child. Enjoying this tasty Basque sagardoa naturala from Begiristain & learned a new word: sagardotegia = cider house. Cracking stuff 😋👌 #friday #sidra #cider

Spotted this scrunched-up ball of bubble-wrap at the side of the park while walking the Wooffits today. I was going to pick it up & put it in the bin. Errrr... hmmm. 🤔 #lookalike

My gran used to tell us about the man who came round with a horse & cart to collect "Night Soil" (quaint euphemism). That practice was stopped as the Night Soil was diluted & spread on farmland - so deemed "unhealthy". How times change. Progress? 🤔

While the Goode Wyffe is away playing badminton for a couple of days, the Wooffits have dragged me down to the Beer Shack.🐾🐾 Life is hard... Consoling myself with a very nice pint of mild. 😋👌 #mild

That's better - nice 'pop', whisp of smoke & steady stream of bubbles.👌 Nice level of sparkle, woody nose; bags of tannin, drying full-on mouthfeel. Struggling to detect any sweetness... maybe a teeny tiny bit? Proper bittersweet stuff. Very good if you are used to & prepared for such. 👍 #cider

Well... That was lively! 😂 Third of the bottle shot out of the neck - luckily 'Be Prepared' is one of my mottos, so had a wide necked glass ready. I do like a sparkle - even a fizz - but think this was a bit OTT.🤔 Fortunately, tastes good: tannins up front, bone dry, rich, spicy.👌 SV Major #cider

Memory from 9 yrs ago: "Ha! Photos of cats with their heads through slices of bread can go do one. Get yer dog's head stuffed through a wholemeal Tortilla - it's the future of family entertainment..." We lost Shams (L) in 2021, typical BC she was always up for a lark. ❤️🐾🐾 #dogs #fun #memories 💔

Times are 'ard... No more cider in the house so have had to raid the shed; means we'll be drinking our own. I've bagged the Burro while The Goode Wyffe opted for the Brown's Apple SV. #cidersaturday #shedraid 👍

No idea how long we've had this bottle ... but perfect accompaniment to The Planets & Star Wars at the Proms on BBCTWO.👌 These Reflets de France are always a safe bet for a quality cidre, in this case Breton. And it is proper Brut, possibly reflecting how long we've had it. 😋🇨🇵 #cidresaturday #proms

That'll do nicely.👌 Homemade Lamb burgers tonight, so a bloke needs some lubrication of the Zelaia Sagardoa kind to stay focused.😋 🍏🍎🇪🇦 #sagardoafriday #blokecooking

My dad introduced me to Liver & Onion sarnies when I was really young. Some habits are hard to break (..as if I'd want to...), flavours that trigger so many memories. This version is cold: fresh cut bread, spread thickly with the left over onion gravy, top with some liver, & close. 😋 #offal

Raising a glass to a former colleague who has passed away after a 4 yr battle against lung cancer. Lovely lass who left teaching to escape to France & live her dreams with her husband. Bon voyage, Linda.

I vaguely remember when I used to feel like this in the morning...

Popped into The Big City to see The Big Bill Bailey. 👌 Waiting for the show to begin in The Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham. 🙂 #friday #nightout

Navigated our way to the Beer Shack for a beer or four to celebrate the thirty years (30! 😳) since our first date... 🥰❤️ 30 years together & 15+ years married. 👌😍 Secondary celebration is to finally complete the sale of my parent's house I called "home" since 1966. Onwards & upwards. 👍

Another busy day. Picking & shaking down ripe apples (unknown dessert) in the leafy suburbs of Nottingham, then back to fill boxes with 120+ 500ml bottles of the single orchard cider we made for the East Markham Apple Day: "Hempsall's Heritage Orchard". Draught still version into BiBs next. #cider

Yesterday The Goode Wyffe went allotment raiding (with permission) on the other side of the lane. She only brought back those checked for pip colour ✅ & taste ✅. Met other allotment holders inundated with apples & pears so after a chat, permission for a repeat raid was secured. 👍 #apples 4 #cider

Busy busy day shaking down & picking apples out in the wilds of Selston. Today's crop was another 'unknown' - but sweet & tangy dessert apple. Pips good & dark, flesh surprisingly juicy. My back aches & I'm cream-crackered, so time for a #beer. No idea what "POST RAD" means but hits the hop spot.

Here's one for the hive mind... Anyone able to ID these beasties? Busy destroying quite a bit of the crop of apples in a friend's orchard here in the UK. Google suggests Sciara "Dark winged fungus gnats" 🤔 He's asked me for help but this is out of my comfort zone. #insect #fruit #apple #orchard

Today's Nottingham Cider Club event focusing on Devon makers is now Go! #cider #cheese #baguettes #chat

Best seller on our stall at the Hucknall Food & Drink Festival: "Hen Gee! One-Five!" 6.5%vol #cider. The name is a play on Hucknall's postcode - NG15 - as all the apples used were picked & collected around the town. Fruity & apple-y. Currently available in Spelt & Rye on Annesley Road in Hucknall. 👍

Made it down to the pub. Or rather escaped to let off steam & relax.🙄 Takes a bit longer for the old girl 🐾 to get down here, but no rush. Nice refreshing pint of "St Clements" beer (Amarillo hops with orange & lemon peel) & an NEIPA for The Goode Wyffe, both Lincoln Green beers. #pubmonday #beer

Steady sales, lots of chat & footfall, good fun answering questions. Not so much fun when too many folk want to know what "fruit ciders" we make. Ho hum.

Really looking forward to our next Nottingham Cider Club event & happy that once again it has sold out very quickly. We've selected 4 ciders from across Devon to show different styles & approaches, hoping to reflect the county & the maker. 😋 #cider #devon #ciderclub #nottingham

Stowaway in the cider shed... Peacock butterfly cunningly trying to disguise itself as the letter "L" on this battered cardboard box. I'm wondering if it's a bit cooler for them in here; we've had Peacock butterflies hibernating in here before but that's through winter... 🤔

Took the Wooffits 🐾🐾 for a walk & came back to find The Goode Wyffe had popped this in the fridge: Isastegi Sagardoa naturala. 😋 Going down really well.👌 One to add to our "Revisit!" list. Again, amazing that yet another excellent cider can be found in an ordinary Eroski supermarket in Bilbao 🇪🇦.

It's a great day to ... errr ... label more bottles...? Thank crunchie for the breeze which is making things a little more tolerable in t'shed today.🌞 As the label states, this is "Hen Gee! One-Five!" a play on our postcode, as all the apples used in this cider were picked very locally. 🍏🍎 #cider