Book a room and make the most of your visit to one of these stunning wineries
With restrictions easing on stays in the UK, here are some of the South East’s vineyards where you can stay overnight. Check individual websites for opening dates and social distancing measures.
Denbies Wine Estate, Surrey
In 2019 Denbies Wine Estate in Dorking transformed its on-site cottage-style B&B into a modern eco-friendly hotel with the addition of 10 new rooms and a complete re-model of the existing building. There are now 17 bedrooms and suites, a fabulous orangery restaurant and heated garden cabanas, which look out onto the vines.
Oh and your key card doubles up as an entry card for the enomatic wine serving system so you can literally help yourself to a glass of Denbies’ award-winning wines whenever you like.
Oxney Organic Estate, East Sussex
The ethos of this organic farm near Rye runs through the entire estate, accommodation included. Every formerly abandoned building on this 850-acre estate is being used; old barns have been converted into lovely holiday cottages and there are also two shepherd’s huts – one located next to the Pinot Noir and one next to the Chardonnay plantings, so you really can sleeping right among the vines.
For those staying in the shepherd’s huts, which were handmade on-site by a local carpenter, you’ll need to park in the main vineyard car park but they’ll provide you with a wheelbarrow to transport your belongings – rustic!
Rathfinny Estate, West Sussex
This youthful vineyard, in Alfriston, only produced its first batch of sparkling in 2018 but it is making waves in the wine world. With wines separated by wild flowers and surrounded by the South Downs, it’s one of the most tranquil spots to enjoy a glass of their ‘Sussex Sparkling’.
Visitors can stay overnight in a stylishly converted 1860s Flint Barn, which can be hired on an exclusive basis and for functions throughout the year. It sleeps multiple people in 10 en suite bedrooms and family suites. Stays are available on a B&B basis but the Dining Room restaurant is open at weekends for evening meals and Sunday lunches.
Tinwood Estate, West Sussex
Next to the world-famous Goodwood Estate, near Chichester, Tinwood was initially developed in 1985 by Dutchman Arie Tukker as land for growing iceburg lettuce. Twenty years later Tukker’s son, Art, took on the land to grow vines for English wines and he and his wife Jody now tend to around 100,000 vines growing across the 65-acre estate.
There is also a trio of luxury lodges, nestled right next to the vines with private terraces appointed to maximise the views, huge jet baths and a barrel sauna.
Hush Heath Estate and Winery, Kent
Okay so officially this accommodation isn’t on-site bit it is owned by the winery and is only four miles down the road. Famous for its world-class sparkling Balfour rosé, Hush Heath, in Staplehurst, is set within gorgeous gardens and acres of ancient orchards and woodland.
While you can’t stay at the winery itself, the Balfour family owns a collection of pubs in the South East including the Goudhurst Inn, which is just 10 minutes away by car.
