A masterclass in Kent wine & English wine tourism

We were keen to explore the vineyards of Kent in England’s South-east wine region and were drawn to Balfour Wines on the Hush Heath Estate - a beautiful 400 acre estate; a winning sparkling rosé in the 2008 International Wine Challenge; a state-of-the-art winery and visitor centre, onsite shop and restaurant, apple orchards - and - award winning cider too! 

We had also heard that Hush Heath was a place which took not just its wines, but wine tourism seriously, with a reputable focus on guest experience that just needed to be sampled! Our visit coincided with our wedding anniversary - so we couldn’t resist!

Kent’s Hush Heath Estate & Balfour wines

The 400 acre Hush Heath Estate, lying in some of Kent’s most beautiful countryside has been owned and managed by Richard Balfour-Lynn - a property and hotel tycoon - and wife Leslie, since 2000.  They set about planting 5 acres of vineyards in 2002 to try their hands at making an English sparkling wine - and were astounded when the first vintage - 2004 - won a gold medal at the 2008 International wine Challenge as well as the trophy for Best English Wine. The rest of the wine world was also astounded - ‘What, an English wine????’

Richard and Leslie proceeded to develop what is today, one of England’s leading wine estates, with a great reputation for both English sparkling and still wines. 

What really makes Hush Heath Estate and Balfour wines stand out however, is their focus on developing a prime tourist attraction for wine enthusiasts and wine lovers. The vineyards, the winery and the Balfour wines are the primary attraction but the visitor is treated to a lot more besides - to experience Richard and Leslie’s love and passion for this magnificent English estate and to experience their vision in action to protect and nurture the land, nature and its heritage.

See Richard and Leslie talking about the Estate here.

The Estate’s Kent vineyards

Today 130 acres of the estate are under vine - the rest of the 400 acre estate is made up of ancient woodland, apple orchards, wildflower meadows and of course the winery and huge visitor centre.

The vines are planted on gentle slopes about half a mile away from the visitor centre, in clay soil which favours the Champagne grape varieties of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier. These are thin skinned so having the best chance of ripening in an English Summer.

Whilst not classified as organic, gentle farming techniques are used throughout the vineyards and apple orchards. All fruits are harvested by hand and the budding vines are protected from damaging air-frosts by some 800 candles, placed by hand between the rows of vines.

The vineyards benefit from a unique microclimate, with higher than average temperatures and receive much-needed shelter from the challenges of the English climate from the surrounding ancient woodlands. Kent is known as the Garden of England, with optimum growing conditions for fruit and hops - so it stands to reason that the grapes grown here are going to be top quality.

Winery and visitor centre

The estate boasts a superb winery and tasting room, built in 2010, which was then further extended in 2017/18, incorporating a state-of-the-art visitor centre. This impressive, spacious two-storey building incorporates learning and tasting areas, a shop, a huge balcony - called ‘The View’, with beautiful views across the vineyards and estate and a large space to relax and enjoy not just the wines, but some lovely, fresh, seasonal food.  

The onsite, bespoke winery gives the winemaking team the flexibility to produce the best wines from the grapes which have been so lovingly grown and nurtured on the estate.

Kent wines from Balfour

Balfour Wines are known for their clean, elegant style, wonderfully fruity on the nose and balanced, fresh acidity on the palate, giving way to a long mouth watering finish. Some 450,000 bottles are produced each year, with customers not just in the UK, but across the Globe.

The range is comprehensive and includes both vintage and non-vintage sparkling wines, made by the traditional (Champagne) method and a range of still white, red and rosé wines.

Our wine tour to Balfour - Hush Heath Estate

Our visit to Hush Heath was part of a 4 day trip in Hampshire, Kent and E.Sussex where we got to visit 4 vineyards in total. As our Hush Heath Estate tour fell on the date of our wedding anniversary, we decided to treat ourselves and go for the guided tour and wine tasting and added on a shared food platter! Our first impression on arrival was ‘wow’!!

Everything is set up and designed to impress and maximise the guest experience. On entering the impressive visitor centre you feel like you are visiting an ultra-modern, sleek wine estate in somewhere like Austria or perhaps California. The building is light and airy, with lots going on to entice you to explore - and shop!

We were introduced to our guide Barry who then took our group of about 20 people (the largest group we have been in for a wine tour) outside to begin our tour of the vineyards and estate.

Vineyard & Estate tour

The tour of the vineyards and estate lasted about 90 minutes and was extremely informative, comprehensive and enjoyable.

Barry walked us through the vineyards explaining about the farming processes and the different vines and grape varieties and we found him to be very knowledgeable. What makes this vineyard tour stand out to other wine tours (but you do pay extra for it - see later!), is that we were also taken through the estate’s apple orchards, planted with Cox, Bramley and Russet apple trees and learned all about the cider-making process. We also strolled through the beautiful wild flower meadows and the 500 year old ancient woodland paths, learning all the time about nature and the ongoing conservation projects, championed by Leslie Balfour-Lynn.

See Leslie’s update on the wild flower meadows here.

We also had the opportunity to gaze at the beautiful 16th century tudor family home of the Balfour-Lynns, right in the middle of the estate and vineyards - it really is idyllic!

We were fortunate to visit this beautiful 400 acre estate on a stunning Summer day - but even if the weather weren’t so good you couldn’t fail to be impressed by what is happening here. The family are working on a lifetime legacy to ensure they pass this beautiful part of the world on to the next generation, representing the best possible example of conservation, sustainability and biodiversity.

Balfour Wines - wine tasting

Our tour was on a weekday so we weren’t able to visit the winery - this is only possible on weekend tours. This was replaced by a video where the whole ‘grape to glass’ winemaking process was presented to us by Head Winemaker, Fergus Elias. The video was very professional but it doesn’t really replace an actual tour of the winery and unfortunately there was another quite noisy group in the centre, which made hearing and understanding everything quite a challenge! 

The actual wine tasting was excellent. We got to taste 3 wines - firstly the Balfour Brut Rosé, 2017, the wine from which everything started, winning the 2008 International Wine Challenge. We found this to be a lovely English sparkling wine, with a lovely summer fruit taste and a very long finish. We then went on to the Springfield Chardonnay, 2018, which we enjoyed but found it to be overpowered a little by the long after-tase of the Rosé. Finally we got to taste a red wine, Luke’s Pinot Noir, 2020. This was a classic Pinot Noir with lots of red berry fruits, but we found it perhaps a bit too young. For our taste it could do with another year or two ageing!

We enjoyed tasting a range of wines at Hush Heath and not just sparkling wines.

The cheese and charcuterie platter on the terrace was a real treat and we matched with a stunning cider (Jake’s cider) and a glass of Nannette’s Rosé, 2020, which we loved!

Where to buy Balfour wines:

You can purchase Balfour wines via their own website and direct from the cellar door, but they are also widely available in national stores including Waitrose, M&S and Majestic.

Useful information for your Balfour - Hush Heath Estate visit

Wine tours and wine tasting options

The Hush Heath Estate offers a great choice of tours - with something for everyone, including the nature lover, the wine enthusiast and the foodie! You can enjoy a self guided tour around the estate walking through vineyards, apple orchards, wild meadows and ancient woodland, or you can join a guided tour and wine tasting experience in the Balfour winery/tasting room. If you just want to taste the wines, then you can opt for either a self-tutored tasting or a tasting masterclass - or you can go the full hog and enjoy a platter of cheeses and/or charcuterie - or a 3-course lunch! And you can even mix a wine tour with an art tour! Balfour-Hush Heath has all the tour options and they really have ‘wine tourism’ cracked!

What to see and do in the area

For ideas about what to see and do near Hush Heath, see here.

Kent is a stunning corner of England with a multitude of things to see and do - you have the coast with its stunning and award-winning beaches, ancient castles, stately homes to visit and miles of walking and cycle paths to explore.

The inland towns of Tenterden, Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells are all worth a visit and over on the East coast, the seaside towns of Margate, Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Whitstable aren’t to be missed - especially if you like seafood!

We also loved exploring nearby Rye, which is actually in Sussex, with its medieval houses and cobbled streets as well as the beautiful Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. We spent some time on Camber Sands beach just 3 miles from Rye - 3 miles of clean sandy beach and dunes and where the movie Dunkirk was filmed!

Where to stay and where to eat near Hush Heath

We stayed in beautiful Rye for 3 nights during our trip which was a 45 minute drive away from Hush Heath. We loved everything about the Rye Windmill where we stayed and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. It served as an ideal base for us to explore Rye (a must) and other surrounding villages, Romney Marsh and Camber Sands on the coast.

The Balfour-Lynn and Hush Heath empire extends beyond the 400 acre estate and to a growing range of hospitality properties. Today there are 8 Hush Heath pubs, with all but one offering boutique-style accommodation. We originally tried to book accommodation in one of the four local pubs but they were full - The Goudhurst Inn, The Tickled Trout in West Farleigh, The Woolpack in nearby Tenterden and The Ship Inn in Rye. 

Kent is not short on great places to enjoy its wonderful produce - the best of the vine, the hop and the land, as well as the sea!

We had a fabulous meal in Kent at ‘Webbe’s at the Fish Café.’ Superb fresh fish and shellfish - an award-winning restaurant in a restored warehouse.

We can also recommend The Hoof in Rye for meat lovers - and for curry lovers, also in Rye, an excellent Bangladeshi restaurant called Mahdi Lounge (most amazing lamb curries!)

For ideas about where to stay and where to eat, see here.

Transport

A large car park is available if you are driving, but you can also go by train. The nearest train station is in Marden and trains run from London Bridge every half an hour. (Trains also run to Staplehurst).

Hush Heath can arrange a mini-bus pick up at the station for groups.

Address: Hush Heath Estate, Five Oak Ln, Staplehurst, Tonbridge TN12 0HT

Other UK vineyards to visit in the area:

Kent and neighbouring East Sussex are home to some wonderful vineyards and wineries. Here are others you could combine with a visit to Hush Heath:

• Oxney Organic Estate

• Gusbourne  (see our blog about our visit to Gusbourne here)

• Chapel Down

Conclusion

We really enjoyed everything about our wine and nature tour at Balfour Winery and Hush Heath Estate and it was a great way to spend our wedding anniversary! Because it was our wedding anniversary however, we were willing to splash out a bit - and for £125, we did splash out! The cost of the guided tour and tasting at £45pp is steep compared to other English vineyards and wineries, which tend to be less than half the price. The cost of a sharing food platter at £35 is also steep. In addition to it being our special day, we were willing to overlook this high cost because the estate tour was so interesting and comprehensive. However it’s interesting to note that this is so far the only winery where we didn’t purchase any wine (we bought some cider though!) So the high cost of the tour could prevent people from spending more in the shop?

Having said all of this, the Balfour wines are impressive, but what impresses the most is the well-oiled and highly professional wine tourism operation at Hush Heath. On the day we were there it was very busy and you can understand why.

In our opinion it is worth the money, because this is so much more than a vineyard tour and wine tasting - I think the photos below show how much we enjoyed it!!

Visit Balfour-Hush Heath’s website for information and to book your visit.

Refer to our web pages for more information about UK wines and the South-east wine region of the UK

We hope you get to visit Hush Heath - let us know how you get on!

Inspired? Pin it!