The Grounded Orchardist

I was lucky to be asked by Ross Mangles if I would like to judge the single variety and blended juice category at the Royal Bath and west County show. I have never done this before so I was very intrigued. I don’t know any growers down south so that was a little daunting but exciting too.

It was quite an exciting and surreal couple of days. The night before, my husband and I ate at 2 michelin star restaurant, Le Manoir Aux quat’saisons. We then travelled from there to a Travelodge in Glastonbury. Then made our way to the show the next morning.

Entering the site was the same as any other show though a lot less confusing then others I had been too. I naturally arrive early to everything, it’s as annoying as being late but it’s how I roll. On time for me is late, think of my poor husband who likes to be on time! So, we had time to scope out where the Orchards and Cider tent was and get our bearings on the site.

I was quite nervous but once I had met my fellow judge Jonathan Parrett and started tasting I soon relaxed. We were marking juices on appearance, aroma, taste/texture and overall, also we needed to leave constructive comments for the grower/producer.

It really was interesting seeing all the different juices. We were blind tasting so it really was on the senses and personal preference to a certain degree.

Sharp and sweet were in the same categories and there were juices that could have been very well placed with a meal as a pairing instead of wine. Sadly there were a couple of disqualifications due to them being alcoholic. Perhaps they hadn’t been pasteurised. A couple were oxidised and probably hadn’t had ascorbic acid added, they were not disqualified but didn’t do well in the scoring for each category.

I learnt alot from the experience. I wish I knew what the varieties were but perhaps that will be shared when the results go out.

The show itself was great, it was enormous and there was lots to do. I spotted our friends Hitchcox Cider who press our juice for us at Le Manoir and chatted to them for a while, which was lovely. I think everything was represented. Lots of food, drink stalls and plenty of cider of course!

There was the orchards and cider marquee

• Bee and honey
• British dogs
• Horticulture
• Conservation and woodland
• Farm animals, for judging and shows
• Bands and wandering entertainment
• Ample amounts of shops
• Kids tent
• Future tent
• Tractors, steam, army vehicles, motocross
• And a lot more!

I genuinely enjoyed the experience. Judging in the Midlands would have been nice as I know some of the growers but it’s never a bad thing to meet more like minded people. One thing I learnt about myself is I need to work on my adjectives and describing words. With my new found knowledge of how these things work I will be armed and prepared with many words if I do it again some day!