Crowds gathered to bless the apple orchards at Purbeck Cider near Corfe Castle in Dorset, in the hope that winter temperatures will plummet – to ensure the perfect cider harvest for 2025.
The orchards at Lower Bushey Farm need at least 1,000 hours of weather cold enough to keep them dormant through winter in order to set up a fruitful growing year through spring and summer.

Purbeck mummers led wassailers into the orchard, their way lit by blazing torches
Burning torches lit from blazing logs
Wassailing is an ancient tradition to bless apple trees and drive away any evil spirits which might jinx the orchard in the year ahead – and 250 revellers at Purbeck Cider on Saturday 18th January 2025 were urged to do a better job than last year.
Nationally, the wet spring and unsettled summer of 2024 caused a reduction in the number of cider apples harvested compared to the previous year, and so far the winter months haven’t produced the sustained cold spell which cider apple orchards need.
So the 2025 wassail which was the biggest and busiest yet, started off with song from Dorset’s Local Vocals, an acapella choir based in five county towns including Wareham.
As visitors poured into Lower Bushey Farm, the Hobos Border Morris group danced to traditional folk tunes played on the fiddle and accordion, accompanied by tambourines.

The oldest apple tree in the orchard was bedecked with candles and doused with cider

Joe and Kate Hartle led the blessing ceremony before firing a gun into the air to scare away evil spirits
Driving bad fortune out of the orchard
Purbeck Mummers then performed a centuries old play before leading spectators out into the orchards, bearing burning torches which were lit from blazing logs or braziers.
One of the oldest trees in the orchard, a Tom Putt, was bedecked with 12 candles, one to symbolise each month of the year, and had cider from last year’s harvest poured around its roots as a blessing to the tree.
Joe and Kate Hartle, who opened the family run Dorset Cider Farm at Lower Bushey Farm in 2021, were King and Queen of the Wassail for one night, encouraging good fortune for the growing season ahead and firing a shotgun into the air to scare away any evil spirits.
Following a wassail song to the health of the old apple trees, and with loud cries of ‘Wassail!’ – an Anglo Saxon salutation meaning ‘good health’ – the crowd was then encouraged to make as much noise as possible to ensure that all bad fortune was driven out of the orchard.

A broken grand piano which was due to be demolished was instead turned into a bonfire to warm the night
“A truly magical evening”
Kate Hartle said:
“Wassailing the apple tree is documented from the 14th century, but it almost certainly would have been performed much earlier, and we feel it is so important to keep these rural traditions alive.
“Local villagers and farm workers would visit the orchards after dark on Twelfth Night, banging pots and pans and singing loudly to scare off any bad spirits lurking in the trees.
“They would then ask the trees for a good harvest in the coming year, and some of the wassail drink would be poured around the roots of the oldest tree.
“It is a truly magical evening that honours an ancient English tradition as well as the history of our own orchards, and we also hope that the ceremony has been successful!”

Purbeck Cider’s annual wassail is now featured on many a social media page
“Cider farms rely on a good hard frost”
Kate added:
“This mild winter is not good news for cider farms, which rely on a cold snap and a good hard frost to keep the trees in peak condition. They really need 1,000 hours of cold dormancy to set their clock and calendar by, which helps the blossom to develop.
“We are quite lucky – there has been a lot of talk in the industry about how Dabinett trees are struggling with the change in the seasons and the warming climate, but at least we haven’t had the huge amounts of rainfall which other parts of England have.
“Last year was quite bad everywhere – nationally, production was about 40 percent down as a result of the weather conditions in 2024 and we lost quite a lot of trees from the wet.
“Fortunately, it’s not looking as bad this year – last year’s blessing obviously didn’t quite get it right, but hopefully this year’s ceremony was better!”

King George was the hero of the Purbeck Mummers’ play
Elements go back to pagan times
Many of the traditional elements of the wassail go back to pagan times, including burning torches and setting a bonfire to banish shade at the darkest time of the year.
The Purbeck Mummers’ play performed during the evening, dates from the Middle Ages, a southern English combat play in which King George the hero fights with two fools, Beau Slasher and Beau Roamer, and a Quack Doctor arrives claiming to be able to revive the dead.
There are also appearances from a Turkish knight, Old Father Abraham, who symbolises the old year, and the common man who goes by the name of Trim Tram.

The mummers are looking for more people to join their troupe of actors

The Hobo Morris group performed traditional dances
Keep custom alive while visiting pubs
No one is wholly sure of the play’s message, though it is believed to be about death and resurrection, the green shoots of the new year rising from the demise of the old.
The Purbeck Mummers, who make several fund raising appearances through the year, had to shorten their usual December tour last year due to low numbers and are looking for new recruits to join the group.
Anyone who would like to help keep this ancient custom alive – while visiting pubs – can email purbeckmummerscast@gmail.com
Purbeck Cider is now looking forward to a busy and successful 2025 – after a successful rebrand of its flagship cider Purbeck Gold last year, it will now be taking part at London’s Hotel, Restaurant and Catering Fair in Olympia.

Local guitarist Phil King led the entertainment after the wassail ceremony
Event to support British Cider Week
Kate Hartle said:
“We are looking to develop some new products, so Joe and the team have been up in head office playing with some different blends – it’s all being kept top secret at the moment, but it’s very exciting!
“We would like to have an event to support British Cider Week, which runs from Friday 25th April to Monday 5th May 2025 and falls over the blossom season, which should be lovely for visitors to experience.
“It would also be nice to do something for Apple Day, although the day itself falls on Tuesday 21st October 2025 and by that time most of our apples have been harvested, so there is not much to see.
“What we have in mind is to plan an event in September while there is still fruit on the trees and we can give visitors a chance to see the different apples on the trees.”

Lighting the way home … Purbeck Cider’s one of a kind braziers
Further information
- Stay up to date with events at Purbeck Cider on its website