For more than 200 years the Benedictine monks of Ampleforth Abbey have been growing apples in the Abbey Orchards.. Primarily this was to feed the community and the school, but as the years went by and the trees developed the supply of apples started to overtake the demand.

 

Not to be wasteful, the monks tried their hand at cider production, which was a great way to increase the lifespan of the fruit. Turns out the monks weren’t that bad at making proper North Yorkshire Cider, so they decided to offer it to the public in order to generate revenue for the community.  

 

Nowadays, the Orchard spans across seven acres with over 2,000 trees and is the largest commercial orchard in the North of England.