About
The Museum of Cider in Hereford is dedicated to the history and culture of England's most distinctive rural industry — the making of cider and perry in the Three Counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. Herefordshire is the heartland of English cidermaking, with a tradition extending back at least a thousand years, and the museum documents this heritage from the earliest domestic production to the global commercial operation that Bulmers of Hereford became in the twentieth century.
The museum's collections cover the complete range of cidermaking technology across the centuries: the horse-powered stone mills that crushed apples, the wooden presses and hair cloths used to extract the juice, the oak barrels in which cider fermented and matured, and the complex chemistry of fermentation that traditional cidermakers understood empirically long before science could explain it. The scale of equipment ranges from the domestic handpress of a farm cottage to the massive hydraulic presses and storage vats of a Victorian commercial cidery, illustrating the transition from subsistence drink to industrial product.
Herefordshire's cider apple orchards are inseparable from the county's character and landscape. The museum documents the extraordinary variety of cider apple cultivars — Foxwhelp, Yarlington Mill, Kingston Black, Dabinett — and perry pear varieties — Thorn, Barland, Moorcroft — that Herefordshire farmers developed over centuries to produce the specific flavour profiles required for quality cider and perry. This genetic heritage, now recognised as of significant agricultural and cultural importance, is illustrated through pomological paintings, drawings, and the physical collections of presses and equipment used with these varieties.
The Bulmers story is central to the museum's narrative. H.P. Bulmer started his cidery in Hereford in 1887 with a small wooden press, and within a century Bulmers had become the world's largest cider manufacturer, producing brands including Strongbow and Woodpecker that transformed cider from a regional farmhouse drink into a mass-market product. The museum documents this extraordinary commercial history: the development of the factory, the marketing campaigns, the technological innovations, and the impact of Bulmers' expansion on the Herefordshire economy and landscape.
The contemporary artisan cider revival — in which small-scale producers have returned to traditional methods and heritage varieties — is increasingly represented in the museum's collections and interpretation, completing a narrative arc from ancient farmhouse tradition through industrial revolution and back to artisan production.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
Busiest: Saturday
💡 October for Apple Day events; spring for orchard-related activities
💡 Visitor Tips
- Visit the museum shop even if you don't tour the galleries — it stocks the best selection of Herefordshire artisan ciders and perries anywhere in the county, including producers not available elsewhere.
- Apple Day in October (usually the last weekend) is the best time to visit — demonstrations, tastings, apple identification sessions, and activities make it the most atmospheric day of the year at the museum.
- Hereford railway station is 12 minutes' walk — accessible by train from Newport, Birmingham, and Shrewsbury, making a day trip easily achievable from across the West Midlands.
- Combine with a visit to Hereford Cathedral (15 minutes' walk) to see the Mappa Mundi and the chained library — one of the great medieval collections in England.
- The cider and perry tasting experiences available for groups are among the best ways to understand what the museum's pomological collections actually produce.
- The perry collection is one of the most specialist aspects of the museum — ask staff specifically about perry pear varieties if this interests you, as it is less well known than the cider collections.
- Heritage orchard walks can be arranged in the surrounding countryside — ask the museum for details of local orchard access.
- Photography is welcomed throughout the museum — the horse mill and Victorian cellar are particularly photogenic.
Highlights
The King Mills — Horse-Powered Stone Press
The stone horse mill — in which a horse walked in a circle, rotating a stone wheel that crushed apples in a circular trough — is one of the most iconic objects of the Herefordshire cider tradition. The museum holds examples of these cider mills and the equipment associated with them, documenting the physical process by which apples were reduced to pulp before pressing.
The scale and mechanism of the stone mill — and the autumn ritual of pressing that it represents — is one of the defining experiences of Herefordshire rural life across many centuries.
The Bulmers Story
H. P. Bulmer established his cider business in Hereford in 1887 with a simple wooden press and a small orchard.
Within a generation, Bulmers was the largest cider manufacturer in the world. The museum documents this extraordinary commercial history: the development of the King's Acre factory on the edge of Hereford, the marketing campaigns that created the Strongbow and Woodpecker brands, the technological innovation of the twentieth century, and the impact of Bulmers' expansion on Herefordshire's economy, orchards, and community.
Heritage Cider Apple and Perry Pear Varieties
Herefordshire farmers and orchardists developed hundreds of named cider apple and perry pear varieties over centuries, each with specific flavour characteristics suited to blending or single-variety production. The museum's pomological collection — botanical paintings, drawings, and documentation — preserves knowledge of varieties that are now rare or endangered.
Kingston Black, Foxwhelp, Yarlington Mill, and Dabinett among the apples; Thorn, Barland, and Moorcroft among the perry pears: these names are as specific to Herefordshire culture as the names of wine grape varieties are to their French regions.
Victorian Cider Cellar
A reconstructed Victorian cider cellar with original oak barrels, coopering tools, and the equipment used for fermentation management illustrates the craft dimension of commercial cider production before refrigeration and scientific fermentation control transformed the industry. The smell of oak, the scale of the casks, and the cool atmosphere of the cellar create one of the most sensory museum experiences in the West Midlands.
Collections
The Museum of Cider's collections encompass the full history of cidermaking in Herefordshire and the Three Counties from the medieval period to the present. Core holdings include cidermaking equipment spanning from horse-powered stone mills through Victorian hydraulic presses to twentieth-century industrial machinery; coopering tools and finished oak barrels; pomological art and documentation of heritage cider apple and perry pear varieties; the Bulmers corporate archive including advertising material, product samples, and company records; distillation equipment for cider brandy; domestic cidermaking equipment from farm cottages; fermentation and chemistry equipment from commercial operations; and an extensive photographic and documentary archive covering Herefordshire orchards and the cider industry.
The specialist library covers pomology, cider history, and agricultural history.
The museum shop holds the county's best selection of artisan ciders and perries.
From Orchard to Glass
The complete process of cidermaking from apple cultivation through pressing, fermentation, and maturation
Bulmers — Making Cider Global
The history of H.P. Bulmers from a Hereford cottage industry to the world's largest cider manufacturer
Perry — The Pear Tradition
Herefordshire's perry heritage and the unique orchards of ancient perry pear varieties
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.