Perched on the eastern side of Dartmoor you will find the small village of Hennock (meaning Oak Hill). Every year the village, which consists of approximately 300 homes, a primary school, church, village hall and pub, comes together to celebrate the humble English apple.
In late September the villagers, both young and old, meet at local farms (including Stickwick) to pick apples from ancient cider orchards, a tradition going back through the generations. Farms always made their own cider in the past and it was often used as a form of currency to pay the farm workers. It was also often safer to drink than the water! 
The following week local farmer, Roger, brings his vintage apple press to a large field on the edge of the village which has far reaching views across to the tors of Dartmoor. 
Apple Pressing Day was started nearly 20 years ago and locals join in with the tradition. Alongside the pressing of the picked apples, visitors can see and try crafts and artisan trades from days gone by such as charcoal making (https://www.dartmoorwoodcraft.co.uk/), wood turning and shave horse work (http://devonwoodworks.com/) or the delicate craft of willow 
weaving.
Simple play for children using apples and natural resources creates some wonderful apple pigs and apple monsters! Live music, local food stalls and delicious homemade apple cakes adorn the pop up tea barn. You can enjoy apple juice tasting straight off the press or take home a bottle of last year’s press (not for the faint hearted!). There’s a wonderful atmosphere for young and old to enjoy so long may it continue!
Alison
www.stickwick.co.uk or Facebook page, Stickwick Manor & Cottages)
Arrive to a warm welcome with home-made cakes or a cream tea. Take a walk around our farm trail, sleep in crisp white linen in our 12th century farmhouse. You can start the day with a delicious breakfast – perhaps home-produced sausages and bacon, or fruit compotes with local honey and later go for a family wagon ride around the lanes. Finally, snuggle up in front of a log fire after a delicious, locally-sourced dinner or enjoy a walk to the local pub. We also run Christmas wreath-making courses at this time of year! Look on our Facebook page for details!
To make our guests’ stay as relaxing as possible I often cook for them, spending many happy hours in the kitchen concocting all manner of delicious things. The frequency of requests, not only for repeats, but also for my recipes, have resulted in our very own cookery book, ‘Favourites from the Primrose Farmhouse Kitchen’. From tasty starters and salads, through delicious main courses, to desserts and baking, including our hugely popular lemon drizzle cake, you are sure to find a tasty meal to enjoy.
The rhino, kindly loaned by Exeter School, was subsequently decorated with flowers and the unusual sight of the rhino entering the church can be viewed via a video on our Festival Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/creditonparishchurchfestivals. There have been other wonderful displays over the last few years too.
Free interesting and informative guided tours of the Governors Room and Church Tower will be available during the Festival. You will see floorboards dating from 1434, English Civil War artefacts, the retired town criers bell, the signature of Sir Redvers Buller and silver coins from a hoard found in 1896. In the Bell Tower you can see 12 bells (only 4 towers in Devon have 12 bells), clock mechanism and redundant chime barrel (musical box) and massive oak beams dating from 1532.
