Borders artisan cider couple plan expansion

A Herefordshire couple plan to build a new premier cider-making facility while also replacing their current bungalow with a self-built home of their own design next door.

Tom Tibbits and Lydia Crimp of Bryntirion near the Welsh border at Hay-on-Wye have applied for planning permission (number 242273) for the move, which “will allow their cider business to continue to flourish”, a statement with it says.

The roughly L-shaped two-storey, three-bedroom house would feature an open-plan first-floor kitchen and living room, balcony, studio and office.

It would occupy the site of the current cider shed, while the new, larger cider shed would replace the existing garage. The couple’s post-war bungalow would be demolished and replaced with a new garage.

According to the website of couple’s Artistraw Cider brand, their drinks “contain only fruit that the two of us have handpicked from unsprayed, biodiversity-rich, traditional standard orchards” in the scenic borderlands area.

“We are currently planting a 2.5-acre orchard just next to our cidery, which is gradually filling up with rare and interesting apple and perry pear varieties,” they add.

The couple appeared in a nine-page feature in Country Living magazine in November.

Comments on their planning application can be made until April 7.