Cider with Rainer

THE orchard spreads out from the abbey grounds down along the slope of the valley, many of the trees already rich with ripe red apples. The view is terrific, the late summer sun is faint but warm and the only sound is bird song and the cooing of wood pigeons. A magical place.

There are 49 varieties of apple in the orchards at Ampleforth Abbey and Father Rainer knows them all. "They each have their own special character that makes them right for something," he says.

The monks of Ampleforth have grown apples in the valley, near Helmsley, for more than 100 years, mainly to be eaten by the monks and the students at the college, and sold at the orchard gates. Over the years, the orchard had been extended and improved and now covers more than two hectares, with more than 2,000 trees, most of it dwarf stock.

"But people stopped coming to buy the apples. Well they came, but not so many as in the past," says Father Rainer. "It is so easy for them to buy them at the supermarkets now and they like to have all their apples looking the same, big and shiny, not the variety of sizes and shapes we have here. A few years ago it got so bad that we had to throw most of our apples away. So we had to think of something else to do with them."

The answer was cider, and it was an instant success. The monks at Ampleforth make it so well that even though they make around 5,000 litres, they sell out their available stock in a week, though they keep some back for the cider brandy, which is also getting rave reviews.

Yorkshire, unlike Somerset or Hereford, has no great cider making tradition. "Yet I see all the farms nearby have orchards producing more apples than they can possibly use. I think they must have made cider," says Father Rainer, whose German family had a great tradition of picking and preserving the fruits of the countryside and who had helped make cider on a farm as child. "But not commercially, not at all," he stresses.

Four years ago - "in a very small pilot project" - he made 60 litres. He wasn't at all sure if he was doing it properly, but was able to consult colleagues in Brittany "where they know about cider", and they assured him he was doing just fine.

The next step was the cider brandy, another good seller. Monks, like so many farmers, appreciate the need for diversification. "At the end of the day, monks too, have to make a living. We have the college, we have the parishes, but this is another leg to the stool," says Father Rainer.

And he knew the time was right.

"People are more interested in the source of their food, concerned about where it comes from. They know our cider comes from these apples they can see in the valley. It is local, special to here. People like that."

But there is another, probably more important reason for cider production.

"It is part of our going out to the community, to tell people we are here," says Father Rainer. "Once upon a time everyone knew about monks, but not any more. A lot of people think we belong in the middle ages. They don't realise that we are here now, living a certain lifestyle for God, for the world.

"The cider is only a small thing but it is out in the world and reminds people, people who might not otherwise ever think or know about us, that we are here. It might make them think."

The monks themselves don't get to sample much of their wares. "A glass of cider on very special occasions, perhaps, and maybe a little glass of brandy at Christmas. But monks are not great drinkers. Alcohol is not part of our lives. We make it for others to drink."

It's not all alcohol either. Ampleforth has a sort of juicing cooperative. If you take along your apples, they will sell you juice in return at £1 a bottle - to cover the costs of the bottle and the pasteurising. 10kg of apples and £4 gets you four bottles.

"It is a good deal. Otherwise the juice would cost £2.50 and we know that some people then sell it at the farmers' markets."

Again, they can hardly keep up with demand. Last year they juiced three tons of apples.

"Old boys of the college offer to help with the marketing for the orchard and what we do. But we don't need to market anything yet. We don't want to create a demand when we can't meet the one we already have," says Father Rainer.

There are plans to plant more trees, full size ones this time, on the slopes facing the prep school. "They will be small apples, but perfect for juice," says Father Rainer.

The oldest apple in the orchard now is the famous Yorkshire Ribston Pippin, dating from 1608.

"We have a number of old varieties, but we are not a repository for old varieties. At the walled garden in Helmsley, for instance, they have a national collection. Not as many trees as we have, though."

There is, of course, a great tradition of brewing and distilling in monasteries and Ampleforth, rather late in the day, and with its own cider mill, is now very much part of that tradition.

The apple picking season lasts from August right through until January, making it easier to stagger the picking. Useful, when there are 15 tons a year to be picked. Already the boxes of apples are stacking up in the store room, each one labelled as to whether it's going to be eaten, juiced or along to the mill for cider and brandy.

Extending their alcoholic expertise, the monks have diversified further - picking the sloes and damsons that grow in hedgerows around the abbey and making them into sloe and damson gin. Father Rainer, who must be a great loss to the world of big business, lets us into a trade secret - he uses the cheapest supermarket gin. "You just need the alcohol, not the flavour. The fruit will supply the flavour."

Caring for an orchard is hard physical work, much of it down to Father Rainer, with help from a novice and occasional volunteers.

"But it is wonderful, you know," he says. "To be in the orchard, watching the natural world all around. And the work - pruning, picking - is hard but repetitive, it leaves the mind free. It is a great opportunity for contemplation. It is a form of prayer."

Ampleforth Abbey cider brandy, sloe gin and damson gin is available from the Abbey shop and also from Hunters in Helmsley and Weetons in Harrogate. The next batch of cider won't be ready until spring, and you'll have to be quick before it sells out.

You can take along your own apples to the juicing exchange on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons between 2pm and 4pm. You can also buy apples from the orchard on Monday, Thursday and Friday afternoons.