First-generation cider-maker Polly Hilton is working with Devon farmers to breathe life back into traditional orchards and transform what would otherwise be wasted apples into quality cider.

Polly aims to showcase flavours of rare apple varieties and help safeguard the future of traditional orchards.

Her ultimate mission is to show people that orchards should be appreciated in the same way as vineyards.

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While studying for a Masters in Sustainable Food Production in 2015, Polly established Find & Foster Fine Ciders.

At that time, she attended an agricultural study tour in Tuscany, visiting a range of small agri-businesses selling niche products direct to the consumer.

“The study tour inspired my decision to quit my job in ruminant nutrition and become an entrepreneur,” she says.

“The visit highlighted how well Tuscan producers were communicating the value of their produce to consumers.”

Loss of orchards

Polly was unaware of the decline in local orchards until she started researching Devon orchards on return from the study tour.

Since the Second World War, Devon has lost 90% of its traditional orchards due to the drive to increase food production and the industrialisation of cider-making, as well as a shift away from orchards due to financial and time restraints.

Polly began contacting local farmers with orchards to ask if they would be interested in striking up a partnership where she would manage their orchards in return for fruit.

To her pleasant surprise, she was welcomed with an overwhelmingly positive response.

“Often farmers lack the time, labour and incentive to manage orchards, but don’t like to see their apples go to waste.

“It soon became apparent that to safeguard their future the orchards needed to become economically sustainable.

“I set up the business, learnt how to manage orchards, completed a free business course with the Prince’s Trust and began experimenting with cider-making, aiming to showcase the very best of the varieties we harvest.”

Polly now runs Find & Foster alongside her husband Mat, working with a handful of farmers in mid-Devon.

The name comes from the pair’s ethos to “find” neglected orchards and “foster” them back to vitality.

Polly Hilton with husband Mat © Tom Sloane Photography

The couple manage about 400 apple trees, from which they produce up to 10,000 bottles of cider each year.

All apples are harvested by hand, ensuring the best fruit is selected at the optimum point of maturity – balancing the levels of acids and tannins to strike the best flavours.

Biodiversity hotspots

Traditional farmhouse orchards are biodiversity hotspots, says Polly.

Many have not been sprayed with artificial chemicals for decades and they are full of beneficial insects with very little disease.

“In some cases, we’re gathering fruit from 100-year-old apple trees, which are clearly resistant to disease and have stood the test of time,” says Polly.

“These trees are like gene banks. We are able to graft and top work these and other rare local varieties onto young trees, and plant new ones to replace those that have died,” she says.

What’s more, the orchards are home to entire ecosystems.

“When pesticides are sprayed, the natural predators are killed off as well as the pests, whereas in unsprayed traditional orchards, there’s a host of natural predators living in the canopy and bark.

“These include ladybirds, blue tits, earwigs and wasps that regulate pests like aphids and coddling moths.”

Shropshire sheep help Polly manage the orchard © Find & Foster

Polly and Mat integrate their small flock of 30 Shropshire sheep by grazing beneath the trees to help manage the orchards.

This brings balance, ensuring wildlife thrives with minimal human intervention. It also helps control weeds, improve the sward structure and overall soil health.

“I strive to communicate the value of orchards in terms of the fine ciders they have the potential to produce, the important habitats they provide for diverse species and the carbon they sequester,” she says.

Cider-making

The Find & Foster cidery produces up to 10,000 bottles each year © Matt Ankers Photography

The vast array of rare and heritage apple varieties with unique aromas, tannins and acidity levels lends itself to the production of flavour-packed ciders.

Apple types include cider, cooking and fresh eating apples.

“We use varieties such as Devonshire Buckland and Devonshire Crimson Queen, and a number of unusual, unidentified varieties local to this area,” says Polly.

Freshly picked apples are taken to the cidery and pressed for juice, leaving to rest and ferment.

Juices are carefully blended and aged in either French oak or stainless steel, depending on the cider type.

Apple maturity, age of the tree, acidity balance, sugar and tannins are all carefully considered when blending varieties.

Polly and Mat use different techniques to make their range of ciders including the champagne method, keeved and pet-nat.

“The keeving method produces a sweeter cider, thanks to a slower fermentation process which retains the natural sugar from the apples. This also produces a lower alcohol cider.

“Pet-nat ciders are short for pétillant-naturel, which is French for naturally sparkling.

“The cider is naturally fermented and bottled before the end of primary fermentation, making it a simpler cider to produce.”

The champagne method involves bottling the dry cider with champagne yeast and sugar to create the bubbles.

“Bottles are aged on their sides, and each bottle is hand-turned for about a month to ensure the yeast is packed in the neck.

750ml glass bottle of Find and Foster Cider © Tom Sloane Photography

Most of their cider is marketed through the Fine Cider company, which sells into high-end restaurants in London.

Keeved, champagne method and pet-nat ciders are made in 750ml glass bottles, but recently Polly and Mat have been making ciders that are similar to pet-nat in cans.

Depending on the type of cider, the process can take from nine months to five years.

The champagne method, for example, ages for the longest, as this gives time to add complexity to the cider.

The art of grafting fruit trees

A straight diagonal cut is taken from an existing tree known as the scion, leaving the bud at the top of the cut.

This is attached to an existing tree known as the rootstock by taking a diagonal cut in the opposite direction and fusing together.

Grafting paper is then wrapped around the join, and wax is used to seal the area.

© Olivier Barjolle