A Visit to Roger Wilkins: The Cider King of Mudgley
- Martin Hesp
- Jul 11, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
If you want to understand what real, uncorrupted West Country farmhouse cider tastes like, you have to make a pilgrimage to Land’s End Farm in Mudgley.
And if you are lucky enough to pull up a wooden barrel in the press-house, you will meet the man who keeps this ancient Somerset tradition alive: Roger Wilkins.
Land’s End Farm: The Shrine of West Country Cider
Roger is a living legend in the cider world. Making real cider the same way his grandfather taught him decades ago, he relies on nothing more than ripe local bittersweet apples, a massive 100-ton hydraulic press, hessian cloths, and giant oak barrels. There are no chemicals, no added sugars, no carbonation, and certainly no fizzy factory concentrate here.
Over the years, everyone from Joe Strummer and Banksy to celebrity chefs and thirsty locals have dropped into his Somerset barn to sit on overturned flagons, eat a chunk of sharp Cheddar, and sample "the agricultural lubricant" that has powered these hills for centuries.
Here is a look inside the press-house with Roger, his farm, and the noble art of true Somerset farmhouse cider.
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2. Farm & Cider Profile (Insert Alongside Your Photos/Video)
🍺 Profile: Wilkins Farmhouse Cider
The Producer: Roger Wilkins ("The Cider King").
Location: Land’s End Farm, Mudgley, near Wedmore, Somerset (perched on the slopes above the Somerset Levels).
The Philosophy: Proper, traditional farmhouse cider. Unfiltered, unpasteurised, unsweetened, and fermented naturally in large oak vats.
The Process:
The Harvest: Apples drop naturally from orchard trees when fully ripe before being swept up and brought into the yard.
The Mashing: Hessian bags are filled with fresh apple pulp and stacked twelve layers high to form a traditional "cheese".
The Pressing: A powerful 100-ton press squeezes the pulp bone-dry, sending fresh juice directly into aged oak barrels.
Zero Waste: The remaining dry apple pomace is fed directly to the farm’s herd of beef cattle.
Famous Fans: The late Joe Strummer of The Clash famously declared that his happiest moment was "chilling in Somerset with a flagon of Wilkins' Farmhouse Cider from Mudgley Hill."
Here's a newspaper piece which I wrote about Roger in 2017…
A Somerset man will be lifting a glass this weekend to celebrate winning a prestigious national award, but as he says: “I often wets me whistle – nothing unusual in that.”
It’s by wetting his whistle that Roger Wilkins has become one of the best known traditional cider-makers in the country in a lifelong career that has now earned him the Campaign For Real Ale’s exalted Pomona Award.
“I make my cider by tasting it, not testing it, like some big makers do,” Roger told me. “That’s the secret of my success and that hasn’t changed since my grandfather started making cider here in 1917.”
The Pomona Award is named after the Roman goddess of apples and is presented by CAMRA to the person who has done the most to promote real cider or perry either in the past 12 months or – if there is no outstanding contender for the year – someone whose ongoing work has benefited the trade.
“I was a bit surprised when they told me they were giving me the award,” shrugged Roger, speaking during the seasonal apple-pressing frenzy at his Somerset Levels farm yesterday. “But don’t worry - I shan’t be getting big headed. I’ve won things before – two years ago I won the award for the best traditional cider in the country. That’s what they told me it was, anyway.”
Few people in this region would be less likely to be carried away by such newfound fame. Roger Wilkins is the very picture of a no-nonsense, salt-of-the-earth cider-maker and Land’s End Farm at Mudgeley – halfway between Glastonbury and Wedmore – is for many cider fans a shrine to all things old-fashioned and unchanging.
“Our only fear is that he might become some kind of celebrity with his Somerset humour and accent,” said one visitor buying Roger’s golden nectar yesterday. “Loads of famous people already come here – Johnny Rotten is a fan and Mick Jagger’s brother is a customer.”
“I’m 61 and I won’t change now,” laughs Roger. “Nothing much has changed since grandfather started making cider here. The recipe for the cider is exactly the same. It was he who taught me to make it. He came here in the First World War and mother was born Christmas Day that year and I was born in the house December 1947. I helped him making cider when I was still at school.”
The 100-Ton Press: How Real Farmhouse Cider is Made
Roger makes a basic traditional cider. You can either buy dry or sweet, then there’s medium – which is a mix of the two. The sweet does have an additive, albeit a tiny one – just a single teaspoon full of saccharine for every 20 gallons.
As the golden juice drips from his 1868 H. Beare and Sons, Newton Abbot-made cider-press, Roger tells me: “That’s it. That’s all you get in Wilkins cider – 100 per cent apple juice. Some of these modern ciders – well, all I can say is that they must have shares in Bristol Water Company.”
Sarah Newson, of CAMRA's cider and perry committee, is certainly a fan: “This phenomenal contributor to the industry thoroughly deserves this award for his sheer enthusiasm and commitment to producing the best real cider,” she says. “With his farm overlooking Westhay Moor, Roger could not produce cider in a more stunning location. Maybe these surroundings have been the inspiration for his continued success.”
Somehow, you can’t imagine Roger looking moodily out at the view for inspiration. “But I can tell which orchard the apples come from,” he says in his down-to-earth way.
Frequently Asked Questions About Visiting Roger Wilkins Cider
Where is Roger Wilkins Cider located?
Roger Wilkins Cider is located at Land’s End Farm in Mudgley, near Wedmore in Somerset (Postcode: BS28 4TU), overlooking the Somerset Levels.
Can you visit Roger Wilkins' farm for tastings?
Yes. Land’s End Farm is an active, working farm where visitors can walk straight into the barn to taste traditional dry, medium, or sweet cider pulled directly from the barrel, alongside local Cheddar, Stilton, and pickles.
What makes Roger Wilkins' cider traditional?
Unlike mass-produced commercial ciders made from artificial concentrate, water, and added sugars, Roger Wilkins uses 100% pure juice pressed from local bittersweet apples. The cider ferments naturally in oak barrels without artificial carbonation or chemicals.
