Dorset: Birthplace of modern cider found, new book claims

Two authors believe they may have found the birthplace of modern cider making after years of hunting out ancient apple trees.
Pomologist Liz Copas said west Dorset was probably the home of cider in a new book co-authored with Nick Poole.
The scientist said cider made from an apple tree near Beaminster was ranked the best by local producers.
Their book Lost Orchards claims two-thirds of Britain's small orchards have been lost since 1960.
The south west has seen the biggest decline in the country, losing 24,000 hectares (59,305 acres) over the last 100 years, an area five times the size of Bournemouth.
Ms Copas, who worked at the Long Ashton Research Station in Bristol, started her search for old varieties of cider apple trees around Dorset with cidermaker Mr Poole in 2007.
She said: "We didn't find many orchards but we found many old trees in the corner of fields and some of them had some really interesting apples, so we were able to collect and propagate them.
"We found a few up near Marnhull and Gillingham but the best ones we found were down near Bridport, especially near a village called Netherbury, near Beaminster."

Ms Copas also said they found trees near Loders, near Bridport, the site of an old Norman priory and believed that was the place where cider was first made.
She said: "The monks were obviously making it there, but I think it was in the UK long before that.
"I'm sure our Celtic ancestors were busy making cider, that's the thing to do with apples.
"Our part of the world, west Dorset, was probably the birthplace where cider was made properly."
Ms Copas said after propagating "20 odd trees" in Melplash the pair had a "really good crop in 2019."
Mr Poole made single variety ciders which were then sampled by local producers who decided "Golden Ball" - from the tree in Netherbury - was the best.
Sapling trees are now being distributed through various parts of Dorset, Ms Copas said.

Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]