On the back of Ashling Park Estate’s publicity material is its what3words location. Rather brilliantly, for what is, ostensibly, a vineyard, it says “gracing.indoor.bars”. However, in reality, it needs considerably more than three words to paint the full picture. Ashling Park is a vineyard and winery – and what wine it is – but it also offers a gin school, an excellent restaurant and some delightful luxury lodges.
Why come here?
Why? Because the vineyards of West Sussex can be exquisitely beautiful or, at least, be surrounded by countryside and towns that are. Ashling Park is pretty much both. It’s a fine sprawl of British greenery, surrounded by even more, with places such as Arundel, Goodwood and Chichester – or the seaside – all just short drives away.
As a base to explore the region, Ashling Park has much in its favour. As a destination in its own right... Ashling Park also has much in its favour. The team is charming, knowledgeable and helpful. The visitor centre and shop is very good and the tour is informative. The gin school – where you get a chance to distil your own bottle of gin – is both tremendous fun and wonderfully educational.
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And the lodges, built for the 2022 season, are super: comfortable, quiet, well-appointed with wood burners, a kitchenette of sorts – well, a toaster, fridge and microwave – an outdoor deck, comfortable beds and beautifully decorated. They come in one- or two-bedroom versions. Wine, as you may cheerfully assume, is freely available, too.
Eating and drinking
The drinking is, frankly, excellent. Every year, wine experts have got together to do a blind tasting of every British wine and declare their winners. Ashling Park has been named “Best Classic Cuvée NV” for two years running at the Wine GB Awards, seeing off all the more familiar names within the industry. It’s also a Decanter Gold Medal winner. And it is spectacular, with complexity and remarkable length, and yet, oddly, is still relatively unknown outside of industry circles. Ashling Park is worth the visit if only to acquaint yourself with that fact. Come for that, but stay for the still and sparkling rosés and medal-winning blanc de blancs…
The eating is very, very good, too. There’s a big focus on local produce, from nearby suppliers – the meat comes from a neighbouring farm less than a mile away – and, even closer to hand, wine and gin and honey from the estate itself. Cooking, while not necessarily what you’d call cutting edge, per se, is solid, creative and hugely enjoyable: simple, tasty, comforting and letting the hero ingredient(s) shine. Think gin cured salmon, pressed ham hock, decent slabs of good rib eye, lamb rump… but also a foraged nettle bhaji. Bread comes from a local Scandinavian-influenced bakery, and the breakfast, as you might imagine, is a no-nonsense joy.
Things to do
As mentioned above, historical sites such as Chichester and Arundel are very short drives away, ditto Portsmouth. You’re also only an hour or so from Brighton, and even closer to Selsey, Bognor and Worthing. As a spot to explore the joys of the south coast, Arundel’s lovely RSPB reserve or castle, etc, Ashling Park is rather perfect. If you don’t want to move, however, the estate is lovely, the wine tour is informative and gin school is fun: the resulting “coursework” has its obvious appeal, too.
Neil Davey was a guest of Ashling Park Estate. Vineyard tour and tastings start from £25 per person; the gin-making experience costs £80 per person; and lodge stays start from £195 per night. Funtington, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 9DJ; ashlingpark.co.uk
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