AN award-winning brewer can toast relocating to a farm with a “rich history” of cider and ale making, after Forest Council planners gave the go ahead.

Matt Hughes of Bespoke Brewing has been told he can convert a barn to a micro-brewery at Church Farm, Littledean, without requiring planning permission.

Currently based in Mitcheldean, the move will give the brewery an opportunity to pursue a more sustainable future and “diversify and preserve the farm’s heritage”, he said.

Mr Hughes says the history of Church Farm, which is near St Ethelbert’s Church, is “rich with brewing and cider making.”

“The farm once housed maltings in which barley was milled for the brewing industry,” he revealed.

“In later years, the grandfather of one of the owners of the brewery made cider using fruit from the farm’s trees and selling it locally during the war effort.

“Although a cider maker, he was a keen home brewer and liked to think of himself as a true beer connoisseur – it is thought he would thoroughly approve of brewing coming home to Church Farm.

“Brewing itself is a quiet, natural process without any noisy machinery, so the only noise which may arise will be from manual cask-handling.

“The premise in question is a long distance from any neighbours, (and) it is doubtful that any operations will be heard.”

Founded in 2012 on the Mitcheldean site of the old Wintles Victorian brewery at The Mews, where it also runs The Brewery Tap, Bespoke Brewery changed hands in 2018 when Matt and his family bought it.

Mr Hughes adds: “The proposed development will bring a small local brewery home to a farm in the Forest Of Dean, allowing it to diversify and preserve the farm’s heritage whilst also giving the brewery an opportunity to pursue a more sustainable future.”

A “co-dependency” will “safeguard the small family farm, whilst preserving its history.”

“They will not survive without this merge of interests,” he added, “especially given the current climate, with COVID-19, Brexit and more external factors out of their control, including changing weather patterns making farming that bit more difficult.

“The brewery will facilitate crucial earnings for the farm, allowing maintenance of the site to continue.

“The farm will in turn provide a lower cost model for the brewery, in which the brewery cannot only survive, but also flourish.”

Littledean Parish Council said it welcomed new businesses to the village and was in full support of the plan.