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In 2006, Oliver and Penny Strong settled in a wildly beautiful cider orchard near Bridport in Dorset as a place to create their renowned metal sculptures and to harvest their apples. Dorset Nectar was born during the banking recession of 2008, with the Strongs using their metal working skills to build their own hydraulic press. Soon, their sons and daughters wholeheartedly took on the task of learning about running an orchard and heritage cidermaking, including bee keeping, orchard care and even brewing.
The family have a clear and profound love of apples and have gone from strength to strength, winning many local and prestigious awards year on year, crafting new cider blends and always trying something new. Many of their apples are grown in their own orchard of 3000 trees, with the remainder sourced from other local orchards within 6 miles.
Their passion leads them to continuously seek to invest in and improve their cider making equipment. Although their original home-built press is still in full working order, today they use a belt press imported from Germany. They recently invested in an in-house bottling system and are now looking to making improvements to their apple washing system to help them make the most of the press.