Crowds flock to Burley for annual New Forest Cider Festival
TRADITIONAL craft displays and vintage cider pressing demonstrations drew bumper crowds to Burley for the annual New Forest Cider Festival.
A regular village tradition for the past two decades, the popular event attracted around 3,000 visitors throughout the weekend, with many travelling from across the UK to enjoy a traditional slice of village life.
Organiser Sally Topp said: “The festival seems to grow in popularity ever year, and we are now finding that as well as lots of local people attending, our visitors are now travelling from all over the country to join us.
The annual event takes place after cider apples have been harvested and sees four traditional cider presses operating throughout the weekend to extract around 3,000 litres of juice. Teams from other vintage cider makers at Dorchester, Cramborne Chase and the Ringwood-based Land Girls then ferment the juice in a competition to create the best cider.
Judging takes place throughout the weekend with the winning team announced on Sunday afternoon.
Sally added: “Each team takes away some of the juice produced to make next year’s festival cider. After a bit of rain on Saturday morning the weather stayed dry and sunny which made for a wonderful weekend.”
Other highlights included cider songs and ‘Scrumpy and Western’ music from the Skimmity Hitchers, traditional craft demonstrations and displays featuring blacksmiths, walking stick makers and other local artisans. Other local solo artists also performed throughout the weekend.
Visitors also enjoyed free tractor and trailer rides from the village centre car park.
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