We’re an independent guide, not the official trail. Details checked in September and October 2026.
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The northern end of the trail, on the Kent border. Two of these vineyards can be reached on the Spa Valley steam railway from Tunbridge Wells.
Eridge
An off-grid family vineyard in woodland, planted in 2016. Grows Bacchus, Pinot Noir and Regent for still and sparkling wine.
Visiting: Tours and guided tastings most weekends from May to September, with a cheese plate and a children’s nature trail. You can arrive by the Spa Valley steam railway.
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.
Visiting: Café and tasting room open six days a week, tours and tastings, and vineyard picnics Tuesday to Saturday all year (book ahead). Dogs welcome. Walk across the fields from Groombridge on the Spa Valley Railway.
Eridge Green
Founded by a Swedish couple and planted in 2015 on clay and greensand, not chalk. Makes vintage-only traditional-method sparkling wine.
Visiting: Vineyard tours led by the owners.
Tidebrook, near Wadhurst
Home of Tidebrook wines and one of the UK’s first distilleries inside a winery. Its Staddle Stone Chardonnay won a Decanter Platinum medal in 2026, a first for a Sussex still wine.
Visiting: Guided tours and tastings, and stays in Mousehall Oast.
High Weald countryside around Ashdown Forest, with some of the trail’s smallest and newest vineyards alongside one of its best known.
Near Uckfield
Planted in 2005 on the edge of Ashdown Forest and named after its bluebell woods. Known for its Hindleap sparkling wines and its library of older vintages.
Visiting: Guided vineyard and winery tours, tutored tastings, wine by the glass on the terrace and a woodland trail. Well-behaved dogs welcome.
Crowborough
A small off-grid winery in the High Weald, growing six grape varieties.
Visiting: Open in spring and summer for wine by the glass, local cheese and charcuterie, and pizza from the outdoor oven.
Rotherfield
An organic vineyard on a family farm, planted in 2021, making natural wines with no added yeast or sulphites.
Visiting: Natural wine tours and tastings, and holiday lets with a pool, hot tub and sauna.
Fairwarp, Ashdown Forest
A small certified-organic family vineyard planted in 2020, making a still white and a rosé.
Visiting: Informal: the owners invite you to drop in, try the wine and have a chat.
Blackboys, near Uckfield
A five-acre family vineyard planted in 2007. Its sparkling wine spends at least five years on the lees before release.
Visiting: Open days and a private wine tasting experience, both booked through the vineyard’s own site.
Mayfield
A small family estate making limited releases of traditional-method sparkling wine, with a woodland amphitheatre on its 100 acres.
Visiting: Tours, tastings, events in the amphitheatre and self-guided woodland walks.
The heart of the trail, where the High Weald drops towards the Pevensey Levels and the sea.
Cross in Hand, near Heathfield
18 acres with views to Eastbourne and the South Downs, planted in 2015. Grows five varieties, including an unusual medium-sweet Riesling.
Visiting: The café and shop have opened: Tuesday to Saturday 9am to 6pm and Sunday 10am to 5pm, closed Monday, serving wine by the glass, cakes and lunch platters of Sussex cheese and charcuterie. Fully guided tours with a tasting of all the current wines, and picnics, run all year and are booked online.
Hellingly
A rosé specialist, right beside the Cuckoo Trail cycle and walking path.
Visiting: Cellar door wine bar and kitchen open all year: Thursday 12pm to 5pm, Friday and Saturday 12pm to 8pm and Sunday 12pm to 5pm. Guided tours and tastings run at weekends from May to September and are booked by email.
Herstmonceux
Run by two sisters on a sandstone ridge among lakes and ancient woodland. Makes white and rosé wines.
Visiting: Guided tours and tastings, stays in a lakeside cabin, shepherd’s hut or cottage, and wine and wellness days with wild swimming and a sauna.
Herstmonceux
Founded in the early 2000s, five miles from the Channel, and a founding member of Sustainable Wines of Great Britain.
Visiting: Cellar door open Thursday to Sunday through the winter, 11am to 4pm on Thursday and Sunday and 11am to 5pm on Friday and Saturday. A vineyard tour and tasting is £29 a head, £58 for two, or £80 to £85 for two with cheese, or cheese and charcuterie.
The trail’s one chalk vineyard, a few miles from the Seven Sisters.
Alfriston
Founded in 2010 in the South Downs National Park, on a south-facing chalk slope three miles from the sea. Makes vintage-only Sussex sparkling wine.
Visiting: Cellar door shop open daily, and a free self-guided vineyard trail that needs no booking. The winter tour and tasting lasts an hour and three quarters and costs £34, on Saturdays at 10.30am, 1pm and 3pm and Fridays at midday from late October to late April. A one-hour Sussex wine tasting is £24, on Sundays from November to late April. The Flint Barns Dining Room serves dinner from Wednesday to Saturday and lunch on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and there are rooms and a lodge to stay in. Dogs are welcome in the shop and on the trail but not on tours. Berwick and Polegate stations are a short taxi ride away.
Our full guide Vineyard website Buy the Blanc de Blancs, £42.95
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.
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.
Set within 14 acres of grounds on the edge of Royal Tunbridge Wells, with 70 individually designed bedrooms and The Orangery Restaurant.
Built in 1345 as a hostel for monks and pilgrims, The Star has a 15th-century frontage on Alfriston High Street and a restaurant opening onto a central courtyard.
Prices are often the same either way, so compare the booking site with booking direct.
The trail vineyards mostly take bookings themselves. If you’d rather have the day organised for you, these guided tours visit Rathfinny and other Sussex vineyards nearby, with transport or a guide included.
A guided walk through the South Downs countryside, lunch at a village pub and a visit to an award-winning vineyard.
Starts Alfriston, East Sussex
A 1960s Routemaster to two Sussex vineyards, with a picnic of local produce in between.
Starts Brighton station, Brighton
Rathfinny Wine Estate, historic villages and the Seven Sisters cliffs by minibus, with a stop at a local brewery.
Starts Hotel pickup in Brighton
A guided countryside walk between Charleston, the Bloomsbury group’s farmhouse, and Rathfinny Wine Estate, with no car needed.
Starts Charleston, near Lewes, East Sussex
More ideas on our Sussex wine tours page. East of the trail, around Rye and Bodiam, the vineyards of the Rother Wine Triangle make a good second day.
A group of 16 vineyards in the Wealden district of East Sussex that welcome visitors, set up by Wealden District Council in 2024. It’s part of Sussex Winelands, alongside the Rother Wine Triangle.
Wildwood, Birchden, Busi-Jacobsohn, Mousehall, Bluebell, Downsview, Coes Farm, Winklestone, Tickerage, Tilsmore, Beacon Down, Hidden Spring, Off The Line, The Secret Vineyard, Henners and Rathfinny.
Partly. The Spa Valley steam railway stops near Birchden and Wildwood, and Off The Line is on the Cuckoo Trail path. For the rest you’ll need a taxi or a designated driver.
For tours, yes, and it’s wise to check opening days for tastings too. Hidden Spring and Winklestone welcome drop-ins, and Off The Line’s wine bar opens Thursday to Sunday.
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.
