In the second of our interviews with Lambeth Country Show participants, Luke Massey tells of the enthusiasm and levity with which Liz and Mike Dinnage run their Chucklehead Cider stall at LCS. The family-run business, based in Tiverton in Devon, with their huge bottles of West Country cider has become something of an institution at the show
“I think we’ve been going to LCS for about twelve years” says Liz, “it’s the highlight of our year”.
And how does Brixton differ to Tiverton? Well, for a start there’s a “few more people in Brixton” and “Tiverton goes to sleep at about 10pm”! Twelve years at the LCS is a solid stint, but they take it in their stride – Mike and Liz just describe it as a “massive party”, although I feel they’re being somewhat humble about the amount of work involved.
Having seen the queues for their stall, I can believe it when they tell me that they were once “offered £1 for the bit of cider that Mike had left in his glass after we’d sold out.”
But it’s the people that really make the weekend: “We love the different foods and we love the people – even if they’ve had to wait a while to get their cider, everyone seems happy!” Even at last year’s rain-blighted weekend “huge amounts of people came out despite the awful weather… Not sure the hardened country folk in Tiverton would have managed it!”
