CENTURY-old cider vats are on the move in Winkleigh in a unique operation to put them back at the heart of the cider-making process.
Four wooden vats, which hold 45,000 litres of liquid, are being shifted on a specially made contraption from the old Inch's Cider factory to a site 100 metres away now called the Winkleigh Cider Company.
Many larger cider-making companies now use fibre glass or stainless steel vats rather than wood, but brothers and business partners David and Graham Bridgman believe the traditional vats are best.
David Bridgman, who was a cider-maker for 30 years at Inch's before the site was closed in 1998, said the vats were so expensive to dismantle and erect again that an alternative way of moving them had to be found.
'We made up a frame and moved them whole — I have never heard of them being moved in such a way before,' he said.
Each vat, measuring 14 foot in diameter and 14 foot in height, was jacked up and a steel cradle assembled underneath it.
Four wheels were then bolted on and the frame was towed with a tractor.
After Inch's was taken over by H B Bulmers and the production moved to Hereford, Mr Bridgman bought part of the site and equipment to set up Winkleigh Cider Company with his brother last year.
At one time there were 30 wooden vats on site and some were four times as big as the ones being moved at the moment.
Mr Bridgman said the operation had saved a lot of time and money.
'It would take about two or three weeks for each one to be taken apart and put back together again,' he said. 'To move them whole, each one takes about six or seven hours from start to finish.'
The five ton vats are named after different types of cider apple — Cleopatra, Sheep's Nose, Kingston Black and Slack Ma Girdle.