Features Tour details Individuals & Groups Tours are offered but not on a regular basis.Please ring beforehand, whether it is just for yourself or a large group. Course details Lyne Down Cider & Perry hosts school visits. Prices Free Public transport Train: Ledbury, 6 milesHereford, 10 miles Bus: Ledbury to Ross-on-Wye Sustenance…

With a history stretching back to 1845 and always the need to look after hordes of thirsty Londoners, a tour around Fuller’s was always going to be interesting. And so it is. With upwards of 12,000 visitors per year, this is a welcoming, well-run operation. It offers an insight into…

Simon Woodhead used to work in Formula One racing. Now he’s overseeing his young vineyard as it heads towards full production. Planted in 2007 with a selection weighted towards his favoured region, Alsace, the first full harvest took place in 2010. Even though a youthful venture, with prior notice, Simon…

Marston’s has been at the heart of Britain’s brewing mecca, Burton, for nearly 170 years. It sustains its reputation as an upholder of tradition with energy, being the only brewer still to employ coopers and to use Burton Union sets to ferment its beers – opposing regiments of casks connected…

Sustainability has always been important to the McCaigs, and their new Eco-cellar illustrates their ability to back up conviction with action. Burying half of it in the ground, using clever construction methods and installing both solar panels and a sedum roof means the brewery saves the equivalent of 6.5 tonnes…

Welbeck Abbey is a majestic estate in Nottinghamshire – think Robin Hood country – with historic roots stretching back to the Domesday Book. Following several hundred years as a monastery, the grand house became home to a succession of earls and lords, until it was leased to the MoD as…

Sixteen acres of orchards with 3000 trees and 10 varieties of apples provide Robert and Val Fitchett with their ingredients for their artisanal products. Originally the orchard provided fruit to the Taunton Cider company. In 1983 the founder, the late Stan Lynch, decided to make his own cider, and Upton…

Rough Old Wife is a family-friendly cidery and they welcome anyone who would like to join in the fun of apple picking, loading, barrelling or pressing. They have an on-site B&B and their very own farm cottage to let for people who are interested in making a holiday of helping…

Set in a beautiful location with striking views of the South Downs, Plumpton College is technically part of the University of Brighton. The Wine Studies Centre produces and sells award-winning wine in its own right and, with its highly knowledgeable, friendly staff, it is worth paying a visit on one…

Two decades on, Meopham Valley Vineyard – set up by David and Pauline Grey with the help of English wine authority Gillian Pearkes – continues to do well, particularly with its sparkling wines. This two-hectare vineyard produces both still and sparkling of all hues. Although there is no winery on…

Hard to believe that the vines at Hush Heath estate are less than ten years old so much has been written about the wine produced. But then owner Richard Balfour-Lynn always had his sights set high – “I want to make the best rosé in the world,” he says with…

The most northerly distillery in the world, Highland Park still uses traditional methods to create its highly regarded whiskies. Established in 1798, it retains its own maltings, hand turning the malt and drying it over peat, and swears by the use of sherry casks for the all-important maturation phase. With…

Blaengawney Farm is the home of the only cider orchards in Caerphilly. With seven acres of new orchards set in a picturesque valley, visitors are free to roam around if they contact owners Andy and Annie Hallett in advance. With its surrounding wildlife areas, formal gardens, ponds and vegetable patch,…

The Captain Cook brewery sits out the back of the White Swan, a traditional 18th century hostelry in the handsome market town of Stokesley. In the heart of Herriot Country, and known as the northern gateway to the North Yorks Moors, Stokesley was mentioned in the Domesday book and is…

Established in 2005 by Jim Minkin and Paul Halsey, alongside a wish to produce tasty brews, Purity has always had a green approach at its core. Located on a farm in the picturesque Warwickshire countryside, Purity is not content with sending off its spent grains to cattle and recycling its…

Norwich City of Ale is back, and it is bigger and better than ever. Honestly, it’s true. It already had an ample sufficiency of pubs and breweries involved. This year, there are even more, plus a clutch of Ale Trails, and the inaugural FemAle festival. Now in its fourth year, in…

Winding down the wooded road towards Trevaunance Cove near St Agnes on the north Cornish coast you feel as if you are going back in time. Just before you reach the beach, you’ll see the cheery white-painted stonework and blue-edged windows of the Driftwood Spars. Now under the direction of…

Near the medieval forest of Wych Wood on the edge of the market town of Witney you’ll find the home of Hobgoblin, a creature of legend with a fanbase the world over.  The home of Britain’s third bestselling bottled premium beer, Wychwood Brewery receives thousands of visitors, a fifth from…

Step back in time when you reach Hook Norton brewery in rural Oxfordshire. After all, this is widely regarded as the best example of a working Victorian tower brewery, the whole affair is powered by a green giant of a steam engine, and beer is delivered locally by shire horses.…

Founded in 1790 and Sussex’s oldest independent brewery, Harveys is almost synonymous with the delightful market town of Lewes. Once the font of revolution – the free-thinker and US founding father Thomas Paine spent six formative years here – more recently Lewes became a pioneer of local sustainability. It was…

Ross-on-Wye Cider & Perry is made at the welcoming Broome Farm, near the picturesque village of Peterstow. Family-run for the last 70 years, Mike Johnson is an expert in traditional cider apples and perry pears and boasts over 70 different varieties. Originally solely a supplier to Bulmers, Mike now also…