The Wealden Wine Trail
Sixteen mostly small, family-run vineyards in the High Weald, from Eridge to Rathfinny. Some open only on set days.
See the trailVineyard directory
All 35 Sussex vineyards that welcome visitors, on one map and in one list, grouped by area. Each area has its own page with full visiting details and how to plan a day there.
Want someone else to drive? See our Sussex wine tours. Details checked in October 2026.


Sixteen mostly small, family-run vineyards in the High Weald, from Eridge to Rathfinny. Some open only on set days.
See the trailSix vineyards between Rye, Bodiam and Winchelsea, several organic and most with places to stay. Two are walkable from a station.
See the triangleThirteen estates from Ditchling to Chichester, including Ridgeview, Bolney, Wiston and Nyetimber. The Ditchling group is easy by train.
See the DownsA round-doored cottage set into the hillside at Oastbrook, near Bodiam Castle. The estate also has a lakeside lodge and glamping.
A cottage for two on the organic vineyard farm, with use of the indoor pool, hot tub and sauna. The farm also has a studio and two shepherd’s huts.
An 18th-century oast house at the vineyard with three en-suite bedrooms and a hot tub. Minimum stay three nights.
Lodges among the vines near Chichester, from one bedroom for two. Harvest, the one-bedroom lodge, is the one listed on Expedia.
A 16th-century pub with 13 rooms in the village of Fletching, overlooking the Ouse Valley.
A Victorian Gothic country house hotel just minutes from Lewes and Uckfield, with its own restaurant and terrace.
The Mermaid Inn was rebuilt in 1420, with cellars dating to 1156, and has 31 rooms and a 2 AA Rosette restaurant on cobbled Mermaid Street.
A sixteenth-century coaching inn on Rye High Street, dating from 1575, with an original Georgian ballroom.
A historic village pub on West Street in the heart of Ditchling, beneath the South Downs, offering rooms as well as food.
An Elizabethan manor with a spa and a restaurant, in grounds overlooking Cuckfield Park.
More places to stay on each area page: the Wealden Wine Trail the Rother Wine Triangle the South Downs.
Enjoying this guide?
What is on at the vineyards, new tours worth booking and the bottles we are drinking. One short email a month, and you can unsubscribe whenever you like.
Taken from each vineyard’s own visiting information. A dash means the vineyard does not say, so check with them before you travel.
| Vineyard | Where | Booking | Food | Dogs | Stay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildwood Vineyard | Eridge | – | Yes | – | – |
| Birchden Vineyards | Groombridge | Book ahead | Yes | Yes | – |
| Busi-Jacobsohn Wine Estate | Eridge Green | – | – | – | – |
| Mousehall | Tidebrook, near Wadhurst | – | – | – | Yes |
| Bluebell Vineyard Estates | Near Uckfield | – | – | Yes | – |
| Downsview Vineyard | Crowborough | – | Yes | – | – |
| Coes Farm | Rotherfield | – | – | – | Yes |
| Winklestone Vineyard | Fairwarp, Ashdown Forest | – | – | – | – |
| Tickerage Vineyard and Winery | Blackboys, near Uckfield | Book ahead | – | – | – |
| Tilsmore | Mayfield | Not needed | – | – | – |
| Beacon Down Vineyard | Cross in Hand, near Heathfield | Book ahead | Yes | – | – |
| Hidden Spring Vineyard | Horam | Book ahead | – | – | – |
| Off The Line Vineyard | Hellingly | Book ahead | Yes | – | – |
| The Secret Vineyard | Herstmonceux | – | – | – | Yes |
| Henners Vineyard | Herstmonceux | – | Yes | – | – |
| Rathfinny Wine Estate | Alfriston | Some walk-in | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Oxney Organic Estate | Beckley, near Rye | Some walk-in | Yes | – | Yes |
| Tillingham | Peasmarsh, near Rye | Book ahead | Yes | – | Yes |
| Charles Palmer Vineyards | Winchelsea | Book ahead | Yes | – | Yes |
| Oastbrook Vineyard | Bodiam | Book ahead | Yes | – | Yes |
| Sedlescombe Organic Vineyard | Cripps Corner, near Robertsbridge | Some walk-in | Yes | Yes | – |
| Mountfield Winery | Mountfield, near Robertsbridge | – | Yes | – | – |
| Ridgeview | Ditchling Common | Not needed | Yes | – | – |
| Court Garden | Ditchling | Some walk-in | Yes | – | – |
| Artelium Wine Estate | Streat, near Hassocks | Book ahead | Yes | Yes | – |
| Albourne Estate | Albourne, north of Brighton | – | Yes | – | – |
| Bolney Wine Estate | Bolney, near Haywards Heath | – | Yes | – | – |
| Wiston Estate | Washington, below Chanctonbury Ring | – | Yes | – | – |
| Kinsbrook Vineyard | Thakeham, near Pulborough | Book ahead | Yes | Yes | – |
| Nyetimber | West Chiltington | Some walk-in | Yes | – | – |
| Nutbourne Vineyards | Gay Street, near Pulborough | Some walk-in | Yes | – | – |
| Stopham Vineyard | Stopham, near Pulborough | Book ahead | Yes | – | – |
| Tinwood Estate | Halnaker, near Chichester | – | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ashling Park Estate | West Ashling, near Chichester | Some walk-in | Yes | – | Yes |
| Breaky Bottom | Rodmell, near Lewes | Book ahead | – | – | – |
In brief, by area. Numbers match the map. For opening times, prices and booking, follow “Visiting details” to the area page.
Sixteen vineyards in the High Weald of East Sussex, from the Kent border near Tunbridge Wells down to Rathfinny near the coast. Mostly small and family-run, on clay, sandstone and marl.
The Wealden Wine Trail: map, visiting details and planning
Eridge
An off-grid family vineyard in woodland, planted in 2016.
Groombridge
A 23-acre family vineyard and farm on the Sussex and Kent border, where the vines are looked after by a team of local women known as the Vineyard Vixens.
Eridge Green
Founded by a Swedish couple and planted in 2015 on clay and greensand, not chalk.
Tidebrook, near Wadhurst
Home of Tidebrook wines and one of the UK’s first distilleries inside a winery.
Near Uckfield
Planted in 2005 on the edge of Ashdown Forest and named after its bluebell woods.
Crowborough
A small off-grid winery in the High Weald, growing six grape varieties.
Rotherfield
An organic vineyard on a family farm, planted in 2021, making natural wines with no added yeast or sulphites.
Visiting details Vineyard website Stay: The Granary at Coes Farm
Fairwarp, Ashdown Forest
A small certified-organic family vineyard planted in 2020, making a still white and a rosé.
Blackboys, near Uckfield
A five-acre family vineyard planted in 2007.
Mayfield
A small family estate making limited releases of traditional-method sparkling wine, with a woodland amphitheatre on its 100 acres.
Cross in Hand, near Heathfield
18 acres with views to Eastbourne and the South Downs, planted in 2015.
Hellingly
A rosé specialist, right beside the Cuckoo Trail cycle and walking path.
Herstmonceux
Run by two sisters on a sandstone ridge among lakes and ancient woodland.
Herstmonceux
Founded in the early 2000s, five miles from the Channel, and a founding member of Sustainable Wines of Great Britain.
Alfriston
Founded in 2010 in the South Downs National Park, on a south-facing chalk slope three miles from the sea.
Six vineyards in the Rother valley around Rye, Bodiam and Winchelsea, several of them organic and most with rooms. Rye and Robertsbridge make the best bases.
The Rother Wine Triangle: map, visiting details and planning
Beckley, near Rye
One of England’s leading organic producers, making still and sparkling wine, with a tasting barn in an oast house.
Peasmarsh, near Rye
A 13th-century farm with 26 acres of organic and biodynamic vines, making low-intervention wines in steel, oak, concrete and clay.
Winchelsea
Forty acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on a south-facing slope a mile from the sea, planted from 2006.
Bodiam
Within sight of Bodiam Castle, overlooking the Rother valley, making still and sparkling wine on the estate.
Visiting details Vineyard website Stay: Oastbrook’s earth-sheltered cottage
Cripps Corner, near Robertsbridge
Founded in 1979 and known as England’s oldest organic wine estate.
Mountfield, near Robertsbridge
A boutique family estate surrounded by ancient woodland, specialising in traditional-method sparkling wine.
The estates along the foot of the Downs, from Ditchling through Pulborough to Chichester, many on chalk. Home to some of the best-known names in English sparkling wine.
The South Downs: map, visiting details and planning
Ditchling Common
One of the pioneers of English sparkling wine, at the foot of the South Downs.
Ditchling
A family estate near Ditchling, and one of the vineyards most often visited on Sussex group tours.
Streat, near Hassocks
A vineyard and tasting room on the edge of the South Downs, with art installations among the vines.
Albourne, north of Brighton
Vineyards at the foot of the South Downs, a short drive from Brighton.
Bolney, near Haywards Heath
A long-established family estate in mid Sussex.
Washington, below Chanctonbury Ring
An old family estate on the chalk of the South Downs, with its own winery.
Thakeham, near Pulborough
A family vineyard and farm in West Sussex.
West Chiltington
One of England’s best-known sparkling wine producers.
Gay Street, near Pulborough
A family estate below the South Downs, with wildflower meadows, lakes, alpacas and a windmill among the vines.
Stopham, near Pulborough
Still wines from a vineyard on Sussex greensand, with the winery in a converted Grade II listed Victorian barn.
Halnaker, near Chichester
A sparkling wine estate near Goodwood, on the edge of the South Downs.
West Ashling, near Chichester
A vineyard and distillery estate in the South Downs National Park, making sparkling wine and gin.
Visiting details Vineyard website Stay: Lodges at Ashling Park
Rodmell, near Lewes
A tiny, much-loved vineyard in a fold of the Downs, reached by a long farm track.
Thirty-five are open to visitors in some form, listed on this page. The best known include Ridgeview, Rathfinny, Wiston, Bolney, Tinwood, Bluebell, Oxney and Tillingham. Nyetimber opens only on set open days.
The Sussex wine tourism partnership, which groups vineyards into trails. It launched with the Wealden Wine Trail and the Rother Wine Triangle.
Artelium is under 30 minutes’ walk from Plumpton. Ridgeview and Court Garden are close to Burgess Hill, Birchden and Wildwood are on the Spa Valley steam railway, and Charles Palmer is a walk from Winchelsea. Most others need a short taxi ride.
What is on at the vineyards that month, new tours worth booking, and our seasonal picks, from Christmas vouchers to harvest days. One email a month. Unsubscribe whenever you like.