Alison McIlwraith
Alison lives in the heart of West Devon, the family farm forming part of the parish boundary between Sampford Courtenay and Exbourne. It’s a unique environment, an ancient quarry within the boundary even qualifying as a Site of Scientific Interest (SSI).
Alison and her husband James, with children Matthew and Alice, moved to Solland Farm some 20 years ago. As experienced cider makers (they ran Inches Cider at Winkleigh prior to the move), they chose Solland precisely for its suitability for cider apple production. Alison said: ‘Almost immediately we arrived we planted 40 acres of cider fruit. Apple trees take up to seven years to mature, so during that time we ran a warm blood stud, breeding and working horses for showjumping and dressage.’
An accident forced the cessation of the stud business, which had seen more than 100 foals born and raised at the farm. Although the family still retain their ‘fat old bags’ as they affectionately call the seven remaining retired brood mares. However, although the stud is no more, the cider business, which also employs Matthew and Alice, is very much full swing and is growing, with the opening last year of a farm shop, converted from the barn where their pregnant mares over-wintered.
The shop is mother and daughter’s baby - stocked with a wide range of artisan products made in Devon. Alison also bakes a tempting array of cakes and pies, with many dishes including ingredients picked on the farm. ‘I love to forage and create ideas for what I find - I will either want to cook what I find or ferment it,’ she says. ‘At this time of year we are very busy picking elderflowers. It’s quite labour intensive as they are hand-picked and trimmed. We make a syrup from the flowers which is then added to one of our ciders. This year I am going to launch an elderflower syrup.
‘We have an abundance of wild food on the farm from nuts, elderflowers, sloes to bullace, (a cross between a plum and a sloe), and we are very passionate about conservation. We have doormice, newts, barn owls, little owls; we sometimes say we have to fight the wildlife off with a stick there’s so much of it. We have ravens too, which have a sort of uneasy truce with the buzzards on the other side of the wood.’
Alison explains the family is also keen to create wildflower meadows to benefit the bumblebees that are so important for the pollination of the apple orchards. And if all this natural bounty wasn’t enough, the farm also lies on some very interesting geological fault lines. ‘That’s why this farm was selected by the Government in the Second World War to be part of a gold survey,’ said Alison. ‘They dug several pits along the fault line and they did find gold, just not in commercially viable quantities.’
A hugely knowledgeable cider maker, Alison said her craft was more akin to that of a wine maker rather than a brewer. The ciders made at Solland are produced from Michelin, Dabinett, Ellis Bitter, Tom Putt and Browns cider apples, the juices blended to create different styles. Many variables can affect the resultant brew including, obviously, the weather. And unlike many producers, Alison and James don’t shake the trees to release the fruit, they wait for it to drop naturally as they feel this results in a better quality cider.
‘It’s a lot of hard work but we think it’s worth it,’ said Alison. ‘You are never going to be rich as a cider maker, but it means you are very connected with nature and the seasons. When James and I first married we always dreamed this would be what we would do; it’s amazing to have achieved it.’