Jim (left) and Rebecca Barker, with son James (right) have taken over ownership of Ravenskill Orchard and Gabbie’s Cider. Derek Kilbourn photo
Derek Kilbourn
Sounder News
Ravenskill Orchards, and Gabbie’s Cider, is under new ownership.
This past winter, Jim and Rebecca Barker, along with their son James, purchased the orchard and cidery from founders Keith Mackenzie and Marti Wright. The family came to Canada from Manchester in 2012, and landed in Vancouver. Jim refers to himself as serial entrepreneur, he’d had lots of different businesses in the UK, including wine bars, a restaurant, and a gastro pub.
Eventually, as their kids were growing up in Vancouver, Jim and Rebecca had been involved in new careers there, and then Ravenskill came on the market.
“We have friends on Gabriola, and we knew Gabriola well, it seemed so perfect for the family.”
James lived on Gabriola for a year before the family took over the taking over, clearing blackberries and chicken wire from a property, as well as working with the Gabriola Recreation Society coaching youth softball.
Jim said, “I think it’s important to say that Keith and Marty have been really, really good with us on the sale.
“We have an agreement that they will now have a long hand over, but even so, they’ve gone over and above and really helping us to settle in.”
James added, “they want us to succeed. They’ve done so much work to making this place what it is.”
Official takeover date was November 12, 2024.
Jim says they haven’t made any decisions on if they’ll change anything with the cidery or orchard.
“Because there’s so many possibilities of what you can do.”
That being said, he does believe the orchard needs to be expanded, to be ableto make more cider. And, “I think we’ve got to definitely focus more on agri-tourism.”
He would like to be able to offer more than just cider for consumption at Ravenskill – potentially finding ways to get a kitchen and inside seating, working with the local governments on what can and can’t be done.
“We won’t ask for anything that’s extraordinary.”
As for what attracted them to cider – compared to the wine and beer markets in BC – Jim said he had considered getting involved with a micro-brewery when they first moved to Canada.
“I just thought it’d be fun,” he said, “but they seemed to be everywhere.”
He said Ravenskill came on the market, “and the idea of that, it’s a beautiful place. Great reputation, great product….and I thought, this is something that the whole family could get involved in over time, and maybe, you know, it could become a generational small Business. The idea just grew from there.
“I do think cider is on the up.”
Both Jim and Rebecca went gluten free, and she said while they do enjoy wine, “you don’t always want wine, and sometimes you just want a refreshing drink. So we started drinking cider.
“You do notice, though, when you when you start to drink cider, how in the main outlets, how limited decent cider is.
“But when we visited here, we were like, wow, these are really good. These are fabulous.”
James said he doesn’t think cider has had it’s time in the spotlight like beer and wine.
And he and Jim both want to see if Gabbies can eventually get into the non-alcohol market that is growing in the beer and wine industry.
James and Jim stressed that for now, the focus is on keeping the successful parts of the business moving forward, and looking for the ways that things could grow – whether that’s planting more apple trees, and preparing for more cider production, or expanding what’s available at the Cidery.
Jim said, “I think it’s important that we’re coming into this fresh. We can take a different view of the whole place, but we’ve also got to really, truly understand what we’ve got, and that takes time.
So we’ll learn how is, and then we’ll take it from there.
“It’s almost like a stewardship, in a way, you know, continue the growth, not changing it to fit what you perceive.
“What will best serve the community and serve the business so it can continue to serve the community.”
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