So, there I was, roaming disconsolately around 'History Live!' the new wizzy and slightly queasy name for English Heritage's Festival of History at Kelmarsh. Why do they do this? It's like the English Tourist Board now being 'Enjoy England'. Yes, I will, thankyou. Anyway, I wandered about under the lowering skies, looking at Roman soldiers on their iPhones, chatting up WWII nurses doing each other's hair and generally feeling glum at the lack of light for my pictures when 'lo!', I walked into the beer tent and saw this on the bar. Now I don't normally drink the fruit of the apple, but how could I resist this? Quite apart from my well known penchant (in certain select quarters at least) for white on red polka dots, I just loved the design. It took me a while to get to the small print, but '100% cider apples' and 'Herefordshire' did it for me too. So what's it like? Let's put it like this. Come Christmas I want a reasonable quantity stowed in the cellars of Ashley Towers. As it says on the label: 'Well rounded, medium, still.' Thankyou to Celtic Marches who made it and designed the label- just for me it would appear.
Suddenly, cider seems to be everywhere. I tend to be suspicious of these new-fangled brands (all those designer beers that seem to be trying a bit too hard, for instance), but how could one resist this? Make mine a crate.
Some of my cider here may or may not end up as apple brandy, which may or may not be rather tasty, if ever in my vicinity you are welcome to sample...if it exists that is!
I am a designer, writer and photographer who spends all his time looking at England, particularly buildings and the countryside. But I have a leaning towards the slightly odd and neglected, the unsung elements that make England such an interesting place to live in. I am the author and photographer of over 25 books, in particular Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2006), More from Unmitigated England (Adelphi 2007), Cross Country (Wiley 2011), The Cigarette Papers (Frances Lincoln 2012), Preposterous Erections (Frances Lincoln 2012) and English Allsorts (Adelphi 2015)
"Open this book with reverence. It is a hymn to England". Clive Aslet
Preposterous Erections
"Enchanting...delightful". The Bookseller "Cheekily named" We Love This Book
The Cigarette Papers
"Unexpectedly pleasing and engrossing...beautifully illustrated". The Bookseller
Cross Country
"Until the happy advent of Peter Ashley's Cross Country it has, ironically, been foreigners who have been best at celebrating Englishness". Christina Hardyment / The Independent
More from Unmitigated England
"Give this book to someone you know- if not everyone you know." Simon Heffer, Country Life. "When it comes to spotting the small but telling details of Englishness, Peter Ashley has no equal." Michael Prodger, Sunday Telegraph
4 comments:
Suddenly, cider seems to be everywhere. I tend to be suspicious of these new-fangled brands (all those designer beers that seem to be trying a bit too hard, for instance), but how could one resist this? Make mine a crate.
I have drunk this cider and I can say in hushed tones that it tasted like sinking your teeth into a cider apple. It was so lovely it made me weep.
I have drunk this cider and I can say in hushed tones that it tasted like sinking your teeth into a cider apple. It was so lovely it made me weep.
Some of my cider here may or may not end up as apple brandy, which may or may not be rather tasty, if ever in my vicinity you are welcome to sample...if it exists that is!
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