Rull Orchard

About Us

Rull Orchard is the brain child of Mike and his handy helper Claire. The process of starting a cidery has evolved into a project of permaculture to encourage the natural biodiversity of the site and to grow ourselves as many of the ingredients for our products as we can.Mike worked in demolition for 20 years but one autumnal morning helping a friend collect apples in a small local orchard he had a reawakening. He no longer wanted to destroy but to create, Claire has applied her technical skills and eye for detail and together they make a brilliant team.

The Cornerstones

The Rull Orchard project has four foundations. Firstly to provide PROVENANCE on our products. We grow as much as we can, or we source local, and we try and sell direct to consumers to minimse transport and distribution. Seondly to increase BIODIVERSITY. In addition to the new orchard, and the bee hives, we have dug a wildlife pond, installed bird and bat boxes, built wooden logpile habitats, and we manage our grassland and hedges to provide as much habitat and food sources as possible.

The third pillar is SUSTAINABILITY. We don’t use any pesticides, or insecticides, we reuse as much as we can, and operate as many closed loop ideas as possible For example we grow comfrey and harness stinging nettles to use as fertilisers.
The last element is ENVIRONMENTAL. In effect we operate the farm on a carbon negative footprint. We have planted hundreds of new deciduous trees, as well as the orchard trees. We use solar thermal to provide our hot water, and although we source our electricity from a low carbon provided, soon we will install our own electric solar.

The History

Rull Farm is shown on the Tithe maps so had existed for hundreds of years but by the end of the second world war it had sadly burnt down. Much of land was sold to neighbouring farms but the orchard remained, until in the 1970’s they were grubbed out to make way for vegetable production.

By bringing back the name, “Rull” and replanting the orchard we aim to extend the story. Mike is now a prize winning cider maker as well as one of the first pomeliers in the country. We spend a lot of time testing the products we offer to ensure they’re the very highest quality products made only from the very best ingredients.
Devon is the perfect place to make cider due to its fertile soils and centuries old tradition. The apple varieties we’ve planted have been chosen with the help of experts to provide the perfect blend for apple juice and cider as well as helping to preserve local tradition.

Cider

Devon has a long tradition of cider making. The soil and climate are perfect for growing trees, and we have tried to further this tradition when planting our orchard. We have planted a large number of heirloom and heritage varieties, in a traditional quincunx spacing. This allows the trees plenty of room to grow.

However sadly Devon cider has perhaps not embraced the modern palette. Whilst recognising the incredible tradition of our area, we have sought to make ciders that are more modern and accessible. We have created a state of the art cider facility, we harness modern techniques, and blend our ciders to create a fresh, crisp and well balanced drink.

Each seasons apples are fermented over winter and then released as limited editions the following year. Each edition will be different.

Juices

An explosion of apple juicy-deliciousness. Our fresh apple juices are 100% apple! No anti-oxidants, no preservatives, no water. Handpicked apples each autumn are milled and pressed, and as the juice comes pouring out, we coarse filter it and bottle it.

The same is true for our amazing pear juice. Handpicked pears, mill and press them, add a hint of ascorbic acid (vitamin c) and bottle. This is light and fresh.

We also offer a mulled apple juice, which is infused with a range of winter spices. This is best served mixed with a touch of hot water.

Pomological

Our unique interpretation of how to create a fermented apple drink. Each autumn our chief cider maker visits a number of old orchards and chooses the ripest, juiciest and most importantly the boldest tasting apples. He looks for apples that you could not eat, even if you wanted to, apples where the flavour and body need to be tamed!!!

These apples are milled, pressed and left to wild ferment, and then matured in wooden barrels. This barrel aging programme brings some incredible aroma and flavour characteristics.

Each year only a limited number of these bottles are released. They are a perfect after dinner drink, and especially good with cheese.

Sparkling

This is the ‘Light’ series of fine sparkling ciders. Created using the same “Methode Traditionnelle” as found in the Champagne region of France, the cider is secondary fermented in the bottle. These ciders are elegant, refined and effervescent, perfect as an aperitif or welcome drink.

Honey

Bees are incredible little creatures and work nearly as hard as us! We are very fortunate and have helped to create a broad variety of forage around our small farm. Our bees love our hedgerows, orchard trees, meadow and wildflower areas, and this allows us to extract some of the excess honey the bees create.

Natural (untreated) honey will nearly always crystallise, but by gently and regularly stirring as the honey naturally sets you can create a creamed style of honey. Soft and spreadable this is perfect with porridge or on toast.

Contact Us

Email: mike@rullorchard.co.uk
Instagram: @rullorchard
Facebook: facebook.com/RullOrchard/
Address: Rull Orchard, Bickleigh, Devon, EX5 5LN, England

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