Its a classic tale of how one mans dream of a quiet early retirement after 30+ years hard work gets turned on its head by his son.

Back in 2010 Richard had an Idea, plant 9 apple trees, selected either by there vintage cider quality, or silly name. Once planted he would use his woodworking skills to make a simple basket press. The goal was to make enough cider to keep him happy until the following pressing season.

Start of a company

Inspired by watching BBC's The Apprentice, Scott took  some samples to the Blue Bell, Halkyn (a regular CAMRA cider pub of the year winner) The landlord agreed some of them were good and was interested in buying some.

Richard found out about the change in his retirement plan when he received a letter from HMRC thanking him for registering as a cider producer.

So each year the orchard gets a little bigger and the amount of cider we produce increases. It still feels like a hobby, just on a larger scale than first planned.

Richard & Scott Johnson

How it all began!