Gregg’s Perry Pit (From Smallholder)

Gregg’s Perry Pit

2:20pm Thursday 17th November 2011 in Conservation

Gregg's Pit is the name of a delicious craft cider and perry and also a great example of an 18th century smallholder's plot, complete with timber-framed cottage, well, kitchen garden, marl pit and indigenous perry pear trees.

The story of its part in the local perry pear revival includes many thirsty friends who have provided weekends of fruit-picking and pressing labour in return for splendid hospitality. Restored in the 1990s after years of neglect by James Marsden, it's a wonderful example of sustainable living. James took on the challenge of his smallholding in 1991 when he was appointed area manager of ‘English Nature’ and was looking for somewhere to live in the Herefordshire or Worcestershire area.

He’d looked at many properties but hadn’t found anything that inspired him until, he said: “Almost in exasperation one of the agents sent me to look at this place and it was a ruin – condemned.”

Yet despite having purlins tied together with string and a roof that was caving in, this ramshackle property had a wonderful location, in lush countryside between May Hill, the Malvern Hills and the Marcle Ridge. James could see the potential for a remarkable lifestyle that fitted well with his new day job.

When he bought Gregg’s Pit, James needed imagination to spot that the bramble-filled wood next to the cottage was actually an orchard with 200 year old perry pear trees. With no previous experience of producing alcohol except as an impoverished student making homebrew, James had no plans to make perry when he came here.

Yet alongside his careful restoration of his property, James has been part of a remarkable revival in perry, a subtle drink that had its heyday between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth century.

For the full article and pictures see the December edition of Smallholder.