A LOCAL farm is preparing to stage the ‘Ross Cider Festival’ with barns being transformed into a music venue, dance floor, bar area and a food court.

The Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry Company will be welcoming cider lovers, cider enthusiasts and cidermakers back to Broome Farm in Peterstow for their annual get together.

Mike Johnson, a third generation cidermaker, started the festival in 2001 and revealed that the festival goes from strength to strength each year and it provides him with deep emotional satisfaction.

He added: “We started the festival to really celebrate the cider being made locally, and to provide a space for the cidermakers themselves to educate drinkers about what is being made in the orchards and barns of Herefordshire.

“It is amazing to see it continue 25 years on.”

The Ross Cider Company produces natural cider and perry from fruit grown in their own unsprayed and minimal intervention orchards at Broome Farm.

Single variety ciders and perries are at the heart of their production philosophy, showcasing what historical cider and perry apples taste like and ensuring they continue to survive. Blending is also an art which the company has mastered.

As well as selling its own range of ciders the festival has extended an invitation to eight other cidermakers to join them on Saturday, September 5 for a special showcase.

The guest cidermakers are Artistraw Cider; Castle House Press; Flybenight Cider; Gregg’s Pit; Hancock's Meadow Farm; Little Pomona; Palmer’s Upland Cyder and Seb’s Cider.

The Ross Cider Festival is a celebration of Herefordshire’s cider culture, history and heritage and runs from Friday September 4, to Sunday, September 6.

The festival programme highlights include a cidermakers bottle share, a ceilidh, a charity dog show raising money for local Ross charity Hope Support Services, a wildlife walk and talk with Toby Fountain of Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, and a line dancing workshop.