June is almost upon us and there are important dates for your diary!
National Beer Day is an annual event that happens on 15 June. And the drinking doesn’t stop there. In fact, just a few days later, there’s a whole week dedicated to English wine – with Celebrate English Wine week occurring between 18 and 26 June.
To help you plan ahead for each of these occasions, or simply because you love an excuse to enjoy a glass of wine or pint of beer, we thought we’d share a few British breweries and UK vineyards worth a visit.
Because National Beer Day is up first in the calendar, let’s start there…
3 British breweries worth a visit
Beer-lovers can travel all over the UK tasting beer and visiting historic British breweries. Over the last few years, the craft beer revolution has resulted in small micro-breweries popping up across the country.
So, whether you want to take a brewing masterclass, explore with guided tours, simply enjoy a beer tasting or visit a festival, you really are spoilt for choice.
Thornbridge Brewery, Derbyshire
A pioneer of the UK’s craft beer movement, Thornbridge Brewery is an easy 10-minute walk from the centre of the popular market town of Bakewell.
Thornbridge started brewing beers back in 2005 when the brewery was originally based in the grounds of the rather grand Thornbridge Hall, a 100-acre estate situated in the Peak District National Park.
Today, you can tour the brewery, allowing you to enjoy a guided introduction to the brewing process and, of course, taste the award-winning beer.
Hook Norton Brewery, Cotswolds
Hook Norton is one of the finest example of a Victorian Tower Brewery in the country. The award-winning brewery has a shop, Malthouse Kitchen Cafe, and free museum. Not to mention 36 pubs that serve great drink and food across the Cotswolds. If you’re planning to stay for a while, several of their pubs offer accommodation, too.
Brewery tours last approximately two hours. You’ll get to see the brewery’s original steam engine, learn about their history, and how they make their range of delicious beers today.
Following the tour, you can visit the stables where you may see the beautiful Shire Horses who, even to this day, deliver beer to their local pubs in the traditional way.
If you’re in the area and want more beer, visit Hawkstone Brewery in Bourton-on-the-Water. A half-hour drive from Hook Norton, you’ll find the brewery made famous by Jeremy Clarkson.
Knoydart Brewery, Scotland
Situated between Loch Nevis and Loch Hourn in 85 square miles of wilderness, Knoydart is “probably the most remote brewery in Scotland”.
With no road access, it feels like an island and most people arrive by boat. However, the hardy have been known to hike across the mountains while others take to the air and arrive by helicopter, or even microlight.
Owners Sam and Matt wanted to turn a hobby into a full-time job and provide a local brew to the community of 120 people and visitors. While they’re too small (and remote) to run official tours, the guys are always happy to meet people and will be especially welcoming if you buy some beer from them.
They have a license to sell bottled beer from the door of the brewery and if they’re not too busy brewing, cleaning, bottling, casking, delivering, or doing admin, they’ll happily stop and talk about beer, and pretty much anything else, with you.
3 wonderful vineyards offering tours and tastings
While neat rows of green vines ripe with fruit are a common sight in France and Italy, they’re less common on UK soil. But British wine is a growing market and vineyards across the UK have won various international accolades.
Here are just a sample of three that you might enjoy visiting.
Hambledon Vineyard, Hampshire
Discover England’s oldest vineyard and decide if you think they offer the finest English fizz.
A guided tour led by an in-house experts will allow you wander through the vineyards, visit the state-of-the-art winery, and explore the estate’s underground cellars, that are cut directly into perfect white chalk.
Top off your tour by sampling their award-winning range of sparkling wines – so fine they’re celebrated around the world for their quality and craftsmanship.
You can find a comprehensive list of local accommodation on the vineyard’s website, with options ranging from rustic shepherd’s huts to luxury hotels.
Llanerch, Wales
Just 20 minutes from Cardiff city centre, Llanerch is the UK’s first hotel located on a vineyard. Nestled in the quiet Welsh countryside and surrounded by woodland and vines, the hotel offers both wine tasting and vineyard tours, and boasts an award-winning restaurant to boot.
The oldest vineyard in Wales produces grapes for award-winning Cariad wines. You can discover the vineyard and learn how the grapes are made into wine on one of the daily group tours or arrange a private tour. Tours are run year-round and, naturally, include a wine tasting.
Voted AA Hotel of the Year Wales 2022/23, the small family-run business offers accommodation for everyone, including accessible rooms on the ground floor, family rooms, and even dog-friendly rooms.
Ryedale Vineyard, York
A little closer to home, Ryedale Vineyard is tucked away in an idyllic corner of the Yorkshire Wolds. It was also voted one of the best vineyards to visit and tour in England and Wales in 2019.
Nestled on sunny, south-facing slopes, the vines at the most northerly commercial British vineyard produce award-winning wines.
Take a guided tour of the 12-acre working vineyard and you’ll discover all aspects of wine production – from pruning to harvesting to pressing, fermenting, bottling and labelling, which are carried out by hand in a converted cow byre.
If you’re at a loose end next weekend and fancy an outing, they are holding an open day on Saturday 29 May between 11am and 4pm. So why not go along to explore the vineyard and tuck into a cream tea with your wine tasting.
