Cider Farm Withdraws from Hosting Nettle Eating Championship as Pub Revives Tradition

The cider farm that has organized the World Nettle Eating Championships for the past three years has announced it will not host the competition in 2025. Dorset Nectar Cider Farm revived the distinctive competition following the closure of The Bottle Inn in Marshwood in 2019, with dates for the summer already having been publicized. However, once the new proprietors of the pub, the original venue for this tradition, disclosed their intentions to reinstate the event, the present organizers chose to withdraw. Penny Strong, co-founder of the cider farm, stated, “If there were two [contests], they would have diminished each other.” She added, “We wish them well.” This unusual tradition involves participants consuming as many leaves as they can, after which the remaining empty stalks are tallied. Tessa and Julian Blundy, currently undertaking renovations at The Bottle Inn, indicated they were responding to consumer requests by returning the competition “back home,” though a specific date has yet to be established. The cider farm, located in Waytown, had previously promoted its event for June 21, 2025, and initially confirmed its intention to proceed. Nevertheless, on Monday afternoon, it declared via Facebook that it was “handing over the baton.” Mrs. Strong informed Radio Solent that the tradition “was being forgotten” prior to the cider farm’s revival of it in 2021. She stated, “It hadn’t run for some years and the pub where it had started was completely derelict.” “We took it on, breathed new life into it – this incredibly beautiful and fantastically quirky festival,” she added. She noted that “Now, the pub is in a much stronger position.” “It is where it originally started in 1986 and we think it’s the right thing to hand it back to them,” she concluded. Refurbishments are ongoing at The Bottle Inn, which has been accessible to local residents on specific days and is scheduled for a complete reopening in the new year. Among the cider farm’s other scheduled events is the annual Wassail, set for January 25.