Cider-lovers get ready to raise a glass at annual festival

Sunday 08 October 2023

Cider drinkers will be flocking to a heritage site in St Lawrence next weekend as an annual festival devoted to one of the island’s traditional beverages takes place.

The annual 'Faîs’sie d’Cidre' takes place at the Hamptonne Country Life Museum in St Lawrence on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 October, with a chance to learn more about Jersey's cider-making traditions and sample some of the end-product.

Green transport is a feature of the 2023 event as organisers seek to limit the amount of traffic over the weekend. A free 'Apple Bus' service will operate to and from Liberation Square in St Helier, and there's also a suggestion that attendees walk, cycle or use shared vehicles to get to the event.

Nicky Lucas, Community Events Curator for Jersey Heritage, said: “La Faîs’sie d’Cidre is one of our most popular events and with its farming history dating back hundreds of years, Hamptonne is the ideal location for us to celebrate our cider making heritage.

"On-site parking is limited so we are asking people to find alternative ways to travel."

The festival, which runs from 10:00 to 17:00 on both days, will also include food stalls, live music, blacksmithing demonstrations and nature activities in the orchard with naturalist Stephen Le Quesne. Normal admission fees to Hamptonne will apply.

There will also be the opportunity for festival-goers to visit the inaugural exhibition in the newly-completed museum space at Hamptonne, with an exhibition celebrating Channel Islands’ biodiversity through the work of local photographers. ‘Wild Islands, through the lens’ opens on 14 October.