March 2025
With our lovely early March weekend weather we decided to explore things to do in our surrounding area and we found real treats following the Wine Visitors Map South East www.winegbsoutheast.com around the Tenterden area. We had a delightful wine tasting and cheeseboard at Wayfarer Wines, Woodchurch, a small family run and worked vineyard www.wayfarerwines.com for a very reasonable £12 each, £5 refunded on any purchase from their well-stocked shop, selling local produce and their delicious wines.
We found two more similar vineyards, Woodchurch Wines www.woodchurchwine.co.uk and Warehorne Wines www.warehornevineyard.co.uk that were also most friendly and we’ll explore more thoroughly soon, we are spoilt for choice – all around us in Kent and Sussex – they’re great places for food as well as wine experiences. If you don’t want to drive there is a local company that do minibus tours www.winetoursofkent.co.uk
This year the Canterbury Wine Festival is on the 16th and 17th May. https://www.westgatehall.org/canterbury-wine-festival/ and English Wine week is the 21st to 29th June.
We combined our day out with a balmy day filled with birdsong and foliage aromas at Sissinghurst Castle Garden. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/kent/sissinghurst-castle-garden
We are blessed with lots of English Heritage and National Trust properties as well as private ones like Leeds Castle and gardens in the National Garden Scheme https://ngs.org.uk/ whilst the woods are now starting to bloom with anemones, primroses and violets – the wild garlic leaves perfect for eating now too.
We continued our exploration with a visit to Cineworld, Ashford to experience IMAX – do look out for their special offers, great value with their £5 all tickets on that day.
As part of the National Lottery Open Week 2025, when you get free entry to a host of English Heritage and National Trust properties, we visited Smallhythe Place near Tenterden https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/kent/smallhythe-place
We also visited Chapel Down Vineyard, just up the road from Smallhythe Place, where we were greeted very warmly and were able to taste several of their delicious wines, free as part of English Tourism Week. We explored ancient churches and woodlands on our way home.
We also visited Dover Castle and Walmer Castle, both English Heritage, again as part of the same Open Week, and stopped off at the Battle of Britain Memorial. https://www.battleofbritainmemorial.org/ The views of the White Cliffs are excellent from here.
A visit to the Folkestone Leas and a walk around the Harbour Arm https://folkestoneharbourarm.co.uk/ complete another lovely day in the neighbourhood – we are so lucky to have the best climate in the UK here and March can definitely be a good time to visit.