Our new venue
We moved out of our old premises in March 2021 into an uncertain future. We lost out on 12 other buildings by the time we had to leave, and negotiations on the new "Old Stables" moved slowly, but at last in July 2021 we finally moved in.
The new building is a little bigger than the old one but was in need of very much TLC, we managed to get our act together for production of the 2021 harvest only to have probably the worst harvest on record. Never rains but it poors!
Now we are looking forward and we have introduced the charcuterie option, which is proving very popular, and the upstairs tasting room is almost completely finished. We still have works to complete downstairs in the winery itself, but we are aiming to open up the outside tasting area in the Spring. Groupon are again promoting us, as are Wowcher and the deal is a good one so please take a look. New deals will follow soon.
We still have so many positives ahead of us, a bigger venue, a bigger bar, our own car park, our own entrance and a second access through Moorhouse Sand Pits off the A25, postcode TN16 2EU (only Monday to Friday presently up until 4:00pm) where we had hoped to plant a vineyard and possibly put in another building for later expansion, but the estate had other ideas. If you visit us during the week pull into the access road to the quarry and turn right at the gatehouse, follow the track (watch out for deer) to our car park, simple as that.
The New Bar
Our new bar looks very similar to the original bar but has far more storage and a lot more shelving so is more efficient, more than 3 times the space and we are looking for more fridges than before as well. We think it is a big improvement on the old bar, we did learn a lot from the old building and tried to apply those lessons wherever we could.
As for table space that has doubled in size so we will be able to entertain more guests and that's before we open up the outside tasting area which is scheduled for Spring 2024, unless we can manage to do it sooner than that, we are also looking for a marquee to cover the area and put in some nice shrubs and flowers to pretty up the yard as well.
We still enjoy spitfires flying past nearly everyday, sometimes as often as ten times a day and often two of them in formation.
We are looking to purchase a new press in time for the harvest in 2024, we actually did buy one last year but it was faulty and we are now pursuing a refund, watch this space.
Also on the cards will be a pizza oven, air fryer and coffee machine. We are open for drop in customers to have a coffee, tea, soft drinks, beer, cider, wine or spirits. If the gates are open then we are open!
We are working on re-jigging the ground floor to increase production space and putting in the kitchen at first floor too.
We retained our signage, new brown signs are now up on the A25. The new gates are now in and fencing of the car park is 80% complete, and we have planted our vine hedge, we await the gate to arrive for the top of the car park and automatic gates will soon be installed to the Clacket Lane entrance.