Pick and press your own apples and experience first hand how Norwegian craft farmhouse cider is made on a small group tour from Haugesund
The Apple Pressing Experience
Hands-on participation in a working Norwegian orchard and cider farm. Tour operated by Discovery-Tour.
Your 3-4h Adventure
- Start: Pickup from Haugesund Cruise Terminal or your hotel
- Main Event: Pressing apples you pick at a family run farm
- Tour description:
A short 20 min. drive out of Haugesund to the Odland Farm where the fjord keeps the winters mild enough for apples to thrive. The day is spent at a working orchard rather than a visitor centre.
1st stop - Short drive (20 minutes) from Haugesund to Odland Farm
2nd stop - Orchard walk: history of our old orchard, planted by the owner's grandfather in 1948
3rd stop - Pick your own apples straight from the trees (assuming the weather permits). In the event of rain, we go straight inside for the apple pressing
4th stop - Wash, inspect, crush and press your fruit in a traditional pack press
5th stop - Small lunch with local treats in the old barn lunch room with freshly pressed apple juice, while the rest of the apple juice is pasteurising
6th stop - See the cider cellar and how the farm's apple cider is made: demonstration of the champagne method with bottle conditioning, riddling, freezing out the dead yeast sediment and adjusting final sugar content to Brut or Sec
7th stop - Fill a small bag-in-box pack with your juice to take home
Note: This is an intimate small group tour of max 4 participants using our Jaguar I-Pace (Electric Vehicle). Your guide cum driver speaks English and French. Because the group is small, the pace is relaxed and there is time for everyone to press their own fruit.
Please note: the farm holds licences to produce and sell alcohol, but not to serve, so no cider is served or tasted on this tour. You will see exactly how it is made and taste the fresh juice you pressed yourself. Everything served is non-alcoholic, so the tour suits families and all ages.
- Bonus: If time allows, we stop at the Steinsfjellet viewpoint over Haugesund on the way back.
Walk the orchard rows and choose the fruit that goes into your own bottle
Build the pack and work the press by hand, layer by layer
Drink the juice you pressed yourself, straight from the press
A small lunch of local treats in the old barn lunch room
Leave with some of the juice you pressed yourself pasteurised, sealed and ready to travel
From Blossom to Bottle
Every photograph below was taken on the farm. This is the process you take part in, from the flowering rows in spring through to bottles turning in the cellar.
SpringBlossom
The orchard rows come into flower and our neighbour's bees work their magic for apples to form.
HarvestPicking
Crates are transported from the orchard on the farm's 1970 BM Volvo tractor.
AutumnOur Varieties
Bramley, Golden Spire, Lord Lambourne, Discovery, Aroma, Ingrid Marie Red and more...
AutumnIngrid Marie Red
One of the named varieties that goes into the cider, ripe on the tree.
- Step 1
Washing
Fruit is washed and inspected before anything else happens to it.
Step 2Grinding
The apples go through the apple grinder.
Step 3Pomace
What comes out: coarse pomace, ready to be wrapped and pressed.
Step 4The Frame
A stainless steel frame shapes each layer.
Step 5Building the Pack
Pomace is folded into cloth inside the frame to make one layer.
- Step 6
Pressing
Five layers stacked, then squeezed. Makes for a nice work-out in the morning.
- Step 7
Packing the Juice
Fresh juice is pasteurised (heat treated) for long term storage on bag-in-box.
- Step 8
Finished Juice
Sealed bags, ready to take home. No additives, nothing from concentrate.
CiderThe Cider Cellar
The farm's own cider resting 15 months or more while the second fermentation in the bottle takes place.
CiderBottle Conditioning
Second fermentation in the bottle using yeast encapsulated in alginate beads.
- Cider
The Riddling Rack
Bottles are turned by hand in the cellar to work the sediment down.
Nothing WastedBack to the Sheep
The pressed pomace is fed to the farm's sheep. Nothing is thrown away.
Lunch at the Farm
When the pressing work is done, we sit down together in the old barn lunch room for a small lunch with local treats — around a table built from timber that was once used in the old local school. The room stores lots of old tools used at the farm. You will learn more about the history of the Odland Farm, which was owned by the Utstein monastery in the middle ages.
Some of the juice you pressed yourself is poured here, so you get to taste the result of your own hard labour.
About the cider
The farm holds licences to produce and sell alcohol, but not to serve, so no cider is served or tasted on this tour. We will explain how our cider is made and you are welcome to visit our cellars. We explain and demonstrate the champagne method — bottle conditioning with encapsulated yeast, and the riddling rack where every bottle is turned by hand. Everything served on the day is non-alcoholic, so the tour is suitable for families and all ages.
Learn more about our cidersBook Your Adventure
Select your preferred date
Join other travelers on a shared adventure. Book individual seats for your group (1-4 people). Great for meeting fellow explorers!
Dates for the harvest season are being finalised — please get in touch to arrange a date.
July 2026
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