The other weekend we had tea in the orchard of our friends the Macdonalds. It is a magical corner of Herefordshire where Angus grows old varieties of local apples which are pressed into apple juice each autumn.
His enthusiasm and attention to detail carries through from the choice and care of the apple trees, and the surrounding wild flower hay meadow; to the labels on the green glass bottles.
The Coombe Beauchamp labels are printed by Tilley's - a traditional letterpress printers based in nearby Ledbury since 1875. The large golden letters spelling out Apple are printed with wooden type and the rest of the text is over-printed with old metal type. All the labels are glued by hand onto the bottles and boxes - no self adhesive short-cuts here.
The new season's fruit were just ripening when we visited, and underneath and around the trees is a wonderful wild flower hay meadow full of yellow rattle and vetches.
For more details on the juice please contact Angus Macdonald - angusmacdonald@talktalk.net
You can see more about Tilley's on their website here