Weekend Break, Day Three.....

We had a later start on our third day of the trip as our first port of call was only 20 minutes away from the hotel.  After breakfast we boarded the coach for the 20 minute journey through the beautiful Surrey countryside to Denbies Wine Estate.  There was a low bridge at the entrance to the estate which barred the coach  from going further but there was a nice man in a Landrover pulling a little train of carriages waiting to take us to the main building where we would start our tour.    Apparently, in summer, the landrover train tours the actual vineyards, which must be a glorious sight however, as it was winter all the vines appeared to be nothing but sticks! 

Denbies Vineyard is, however, an all-weathere destination the "Indoor Wine Experience" tours operate all year round. Denbies produce around 400,000 bottles of fine wine a year and is the largest vineyard in England with 26 acres under vine.  The main distributors of Denbies Wines are Waitrose (South East), smaller independent specialist food shops, farm shops and independent wine merchants and of course the vineyard shop.

After watching short film about the beginnings and workings of the estate we then boarded an small train which took us on a tour of the wine making process.    We were able to take a few pictures as we listened to the running commentary about the various processes.

Fermentation tanks

Oak barrels for maturing the wine

The bottled wine.  Each cage holds 400 bottles.  

Decorative Oak barrels carved by a Belgian from Oak trees that were blown down in the great storm.

Unfortunately they cannot be used for maturing the wine because the wood itself has not been seasoned properly.   However they are very beautiful.

The very knowledgeable lady who explained all about the processes and different wines whilst allowing us to taste them.    We even got to keep the monogrammed tasting glass.

After the very enjoyable tasting we were taken up to the restaurant where a lovely lunch was waiting for us after which we had free time to spend in the shop which sold not only Denbies Wines but all manner of fancy goods too.  Of course we bought two bottles of the wine we enjoyed the most at the tasting to bring home.

After a very enjoyable visit, the nice man with the Landrover train was waiting to take us back to our coach for the next leg of our journey which was to  Wycombe Museum, an 18th century house on a medieval site. Surrounding the museum are Victorian gardens, including a nature trail.

Set in beautiful grounds, and with exciting hands-on activities, Wycombe Museum is a great place to discover the fascinating and varied history of the district and the famous collection of Windsor chairs, which have been manufactured in the area for many years.   Although it is a very small museum (just about enough room for 20 of us) there are a range of galleries to view including the 1920's kitchen, furniture gallery, history rooms as well as the art collection and opportunities to take fun photos.

We spent an enjoyable hour in the museum but it was time to return to the coach for the journey home.   We thoroughly enjoyed our action packed weekend and came home with some lovely memories and momentos.

I hope you enjoyed our weekend away.