IT IS to all intents and purposes a utilitarian vat tucked away in the gloom of a converted farm building.

But – and for one very excited Louise Parker, that’s an all-important ‘but’ – an aromatic and golden warmth bubbles within.

Later this month, she will lift the lid, dip in a cup, tip her head back and savour the taste of her very first batch of cider, hot off the presses!

This Tynedale lass has been travelling to Muckle Toun (real name Langholm) in Dumfries and Galloway to learn from Waulkmill cider maker extraordinaire Chris Harrison.

Anointed Scotland’s Artisan Drink Producer of the Year at the Scottish Rural Awards 2017, he once inhabited the same humble circumstances Louise now does: with no orchard or premises to her name, just a burning ambition to make cider.

Now 37, Louise’s entrepreneurial spirit has roamed through the annals of fitness instructor, events organiser and market trader dealing in a plethora of goods, and it was the last one that set her off on her current track.

Sociable and witty, she is known for her bon mots. A staple of her trade stall is the ‘Mansacks’ quirky hessian gift sacks for men. “I know the name is a little risqué,” she told the Hexham Courant when she launched those in 2013. “But 10 per cent of profits go to Orchid Male Cancer Charity and the sacks contain a leaflet encouraging men to check themselves regularly.”

She’s also about to begin printing wine carriers with her newly- registered trademark ‘Once, Twice, Three Wines a Lady’. It’s an oblique reference, as much as anything, to the fact she rarely happens across women in the brewing or off licence trades.

She herself fell into it more by accident than design. “When I started to go to markets and trade fairs with my Mansacks, I needed either ale or cider to go on my stall,” she said. “I don’t like ales, so I decided it was better to sell something I’m passionate about.

“I started with Thistly Cross, which comes from Dunbar, because it was already one of my favourites.

“I just deal direct with the producers – I don’t do wholesale – and they have been lovely.”

Cider proved to be the quaffable option for Louise when she began attending beer festivals a decade ago, an improvement on the usually second rate wine that was the main alternative to the beer she didn’t like.

“I didn’t think I liked cider either, but then I tried it – it happened to be Thistly Cross – and I thought ‘ooh, this could work’.”

That brand, too, was a kitchen table business that has taken off in the years since and is now available in supermarkets and pubs nationwide.

Gradually the ambition to stock her stall with her own cider took hold and, at some point, she spotted the courses run by Chris Harrison at Waulkmill.

Scotland’s only commercial craft cider and perry maker started out in 2010 but, as his newly-won laurels demonstrate, he’s travelled far.

Louise said: “Waulkmill is based on an old farm steading with burns running through, so it’s exactly what you want to make cider.

“Chris does everything himself, from collecting the apples and pressing them to the bottling and producing his own labels.”

Generous with his time and the use of his facilities, he is walking her through the process of cider making, while playing host to that precious first batch that is about to assume Louise’s new business name, Quirky to the Core.

“I don’t know what the cider’s going to be called yet, but that will be the brand,” she said.

“A lot of ciders are flavoured, but I have let mother nature take its course – this one is just apples.”

She intends to spend next winter experimenting on the flavours front, but for now, she’s very happy with the 120 litres, or 330 bottles, they’ve squeezed out of her first 12 bags of apples.

“It was a fairly swift decision to just go for it and have my first attempt, so I was gathering apples very late in the day,” she said.

“I was basically looking for donations, and people often have apples they don’t know what to do with.

“One person told me they saw a skip in Corbridge just full of apples that had been dumped – I wanted those apples!”

She’s going to take the tried and tested route of other cider makers in future, by giving some of the end product back to those who have donated their apples in the first place.

Louise has just bought six apple trees that her dad has planted for her, but she knows exactly what would turn her ambition into reality. “An old rundown property with a bit of land attached,” she said. “That’s the dream!

“Then you aren’t relying on anybody else. To be honest, it doesn’t really need to have a building on it. A patch of land I could plant apple trees and put a shed and press on would do.”

You will find Louise and her stall at many of Tynedale’s country shows this summer – Bellingham, Allendale, Blanchland and Slaley among them – as well as at the food festivals in Rothbury and Tynemouth. She also has a page on www.facebook.com/quirkytothecore.