Kent vineyards: Chapel Down

Back in 1067, records from St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury mention vines growing on the Kent chalk—geology that mirrors Champagne’s limestone. Fast-forward to today and Chapel Down in Tenterden crafts award-winning traditional-method sparkling wines from Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier, regularly cited at the Decanter World Wine Awards. The 40 km drive from Canterbury to Tenterden slips past hedgerows, old pilgrimage lanes and Romney sheep pastures—landscape clues to why the county has been called the Garden of England since the 18th century.

Collected from your Canterbury hotel, you travel in a Mercedes with a dedicated driver, the car on standby all day for flexible timing and weather tweaks. After a guided tour and tasting at Chapel Down, continue to your second estate—Simpsons in Barham (about 20 minutes) or Gusbourne in Appledore (around 30 minutes)—with a vineyard lunch pre-booked. Within and around Canterbury, your private chauffeur handles the hops between tasting rooms, vine rows and photo stops while you taste at ease—we drive, you discover.