There are many great things about living in the West Country, the picturesque rolling hills, a simple way of life and the delicious array of local produce.

But perhaps the greatest thing has remained a local secret until fairly recently.

Where cider drinkers used to be lumped into a certain somewhat unflattering stereotype, they now comprise a cross section of society.

Rather than red-nosed bearded men knocking back pints of the cloudy stuff while glued to the bar of their local pub, cider is now being drunk at dinner parties and business lunches.

Women are ditching wine spritzers in favour of a glass of sparkling cider and tens of thousands of festival goers are swapping Stella for Somerset cider.

While it may have been the big Irish cidermaker Magners which instigated the wave of change with its multi-million pound mass marketing campaigns, smaller independent makers in the region are reaping the rewards.

"It's a brilliant time to be in the cider business," said Martin Thatcher, Managing Director of Thatchers Cider in North Somerset.

"Cider is no longer predominantly a West Country drink. The West Country has always known that cider is good, it's just taken a bit longer for everyone else to realise that.

"We supply places across the country, from North Yorkshire to Cornwall.

"We have got all the major supermarkets, which is very good for us because they can help with distribution. We could never have achieved that on our own."

He's not the only one benefiting from a resurgence in cider drinking.

Melvyn Dickinson, marketing manager at Westons Cider in Herefordshire, which also makes Stowford Press cider, said: "Over the last three years, maybe more, its been a growing phenomena.

"We first made Westons Organic 13 years ago and it was ahead of its time. It wasn't very popular and was dropped. We kept it going and a couple of years later it was taken on again.

"Now, we are getting into more chains, with greater distribution.

"More recently we launched Westons Organic Pear Cider. We've been making cider and perry for years and it was quite a big step for us to go with that name, pear cider.

"It's not a flavoured cider, such as cider with raspberry, but a perry. Perry has been in existence for a long time and we had been looking to produce an organic perry for quite some time. When Kopparberg and St Helier started to prove really popular we thought it was the perfect time to do it."

Cider makers across the region are coming up with new typed of cider every year, to suit all palates.

"I have lots of favourite ciders - depending on the time - a cider for the pub, with a meal, on a summer's afternoon or after work," said Mr Thatcher, who hopes daughter Helen, nine, or son Peter, six, will one day take over the family business which was founded by his great grandfather in 1904."Our latest innovation is Katy Rose cider, which appeals more to wine drinkers.

"We kept getting Katy Vintage that was very pink so spent a couple of seasons working on getting a real rose.

"There's quite a lot to making cider. Everyone has their own input.

"We've now perfected it. Often the best inventions come by accident."

Mr Dickinsons also highlighted the 'art' of cider making at Westons, which was established in 1880.

He added: "We have got a master cider maker. His skill is the blend and the fermentation. He will put them in big oak vats, allow them to mature for three or four months and when it comes to a blend, he will take some from here and some from there and its his skill that allows that consistency.

"But we cannot control the colour. If the apples are different, the cider will be a little bit darker or lighter. We will not add any artificial colouring, so don't think there's something dodgy if the colour's slightly different - absolutely not."

Mr Dickinson says Herefordshire is very strong on the bitter sweet cider. "It's distinctive but not offensive on the pallet," he said. "You get the sweetness first and as you swallow, you get a touch of that bitterness."

He added: "There are a lot of apples with really interesting names, such as the Slap Me Girdle apple.

"There are more single varieties in somewhere like Somerset and they too make very good ciders."

And there's no need to import the produce.

Orchard Pig cider and apple juice is going from strength to strength (not literally). So successful has the West Bradley based-company been in resurrecting orchards across Somerset that the National Trust has employed the company to help advise them on how to look after their disused orchards in the region."

June MacFarlane, from the Orchard Pig, said: "All of our apples are sourced locally and mostly from orchards managed by us. They don't come from Poland, they come from Somerset."

Colleague Neil Macdonald added: "We are importing 60 per cent of apples in to this country. It's mad. We have got a huge market here we could capitalise on.

"We have a multitude of orchards dotted over Somerset and are always keen to hear from landowners wanting to restore old orchards.

"As a county we have been falling away as the leaders in bitter sweet cider. We are very keen to put Somerset back on the map."