My new friend Megan is a girl after my own heart, she loves exploring new parts of Surrey. So when I saw a Groupon for a trip to Denbies wine estate, I knew she was the girl to come with. Aside from driving past it a few times on my way to and from other parts of Surrey, I didn’t know much about Denbies.
Situated just outside of Dorking, Denbies is an English vineyard that makes lots of different types of award winning wines, including sparkling, red, rose and white. They cover the whole lot. And for none wine drinkers, they even have a brewery onsite making Surrey ales.
Megan and I walked down from Dorking station to Denbies, and walking into the estate we were immediately greeted by row upon row of vines with little green grapes drooping down.
On arrival at the main house we confirmed our booking, were handed two empty glasses and made our way out to the train (not really a train but a Land Rover pulling along some carriages) which took us through the vineyard.
Glasses topped up with some sparkling wine, the train tour took about an hour through the estate, with a couple of photo stops. We had a good tour guide who stopped and explained about the different varieties and a PA system gave a history of the vineyard.
Once back to the start Megan and I walked around the shops, but were very restrained. They have their own farm shop on site too, and sell the fruits and veggies they grown on site, as well as beautiful flowers.
It was a really fun way to spend the afternoon and I really enjoyed the wine we were given. The vineyard is really interesting and full of public rights of way. The views we saw and the backdrop of Box Hill and Leith Hill were beautiful. Apparently they do an Autumn marathon and half marathon, which I would definitely be interested in doing next year. You can expect me to go back to explore some more along the public pathways, and maybe even attempt a few runs around there!
Ps, who can resist this man totally photobombing us!
Stripes and Snapshots 