CELTIC Marches Beverages won in the Best Cider Producer category, as sponsored by the Royal Three Counties Show.

Darren Morris and Susan Vaughan from Celtic Marches collected the award from Diana Walton of the Royal Three Counties Show.

Gwatkin Cider Company Ltd from Abbeydore and Newton Court Cider from Leominster were runners-up.

Susan said: “We are delighted and it is due to the fact we have got an excellent team here at Celtic Marches and Marches Bottling and Packaging.

“We wouldn’t be doing what we are doing if we didn’t have a good team behind us.”

Including both full time and part time workers there are 25 in the team.

They started making cider in 2013.

Susan said: “We started off very small doing it on my own with my bother.

“Today we have the capacity to produce three million litres. We are not currently using all of that.”

They have started to produce mulled wine for the first time this year.

Celtic Marches in Bishops Frome is a self-sustaining cider producer.

All apples used in their ciders are taken from their 200-acre orchards on the family farm.

Being self-sustaining allows for full control over their cider production from tree to glass.

Awarded PGI status, you can be assured that only Herefordshire apples are used in their delicious craft cider.

They have a mix of old and new orchards. New trees which are planted can take around seven to 10 years to successfully fruit.

Cider making is a long process. Their orchards are cared for throughout the year, be it a sapling Ellis Bitter or an old Michelin.

The blossom time is carefully monitored and a long hot wet summer is always hoped for.

During harvest time, at the end of September, they collect the fallen apples and they are moved from the orchards up to the farm.

Here, they are weighed, washed and sorted before they move along to their press.

The juice is extracted and stored for around two years to reach its full potential. Although the cider base can be used after nine months, they prefer to leave it longer to bring out the nose. The pomace left over from pressing is given to other local farms to feed livestock.