The East Midlands Wine Trail

The East Midlands Wine Trail launched in May 2025, linking eight producers across Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. It's a newer, more spread-out trail than Kent's or Sussex's, so this route covers five of the eight in two days rather than trying to force all eight into one loop.

New Lodge Vineyard, at Earls Barton near Northampton, opens Friday to Sunday year-round (Fridays from midday). It's the most established of the Northamptonshire members and has accommodation on site.

Silkstone Vineyard, near Bourne in south Lincolnshire, is a small, single-varietal Bacchus producer. Visits are by booking only: a 45-minute guided walk and tasting, £10 a head, refunded against a wine purchase. Their licence restricts tastings to ages 25 and over.

Hanwell Wine Estate, near Melton Mowbray, is the trail's most flexible stop: the cellar door opens Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 9am to 4pm, year-round. Guided vineyard tours run Wednesday to Friday from May to October (£54.95pp, booking required).

Scaddows, near Ticknall in South Derbyshire, is a working fruit farm that's diversified into wine, making still white and rosé alongside a sparkling rosé. The Cellar Door Shop opens Saturdays, 10am to 1pm, in season, with vineyard tours on selected dates in August and September.

Amber Valley Wines, at Wessington in North East Derbyshire, opens Saturday afternoons, 1pm to 4pm, February to December (closed in January). It's one of the more accessible vineyards on the trail, with disabled access across the site and holiday cottages available nearby in Belper.

The trail has eight founding members. Alongside the five above, Welland Valley Vineyard and Stonyfield Wine are both close to New Lodge in Northamptonshire but keep such limited hours that they don't fit reliably into a routed itinerary: Stonyfield opens only on the second Sunday of each month (every Sunday in July, the first three Sundays in August), and Welland Valley keeps just one weekend of fixed hours a year (check their site for the current date), otherwise operating by appointment or an informal walk-in if a car happens to be at the vineyard. If your trip lands on one of those dates, both are within 15 miles of New Lodge and worth adding on.

Wressle Vineyard, in north Lincolnshire near Brigg, is the eighth member. It isn't part of this route: it has no public tasting room yet (one is planned) and sits 50 to 90 miles from every other trail member, too far out of the way for a two-day loop. Wine can be bought from their online shop, and they run occasional ticketed Wine & Cheese Tasting evenings.

Start at Silkstone, near Bourne, with a booked morning tasting. From there it's around an hour south-west to Earls Barton for New Lodge, which opens from midday on Fridays, so the timing works well arriving early-to-mid afternoon. Base in Northampton or Kettering for the night.

This day needs to be a Saturday, the one day Scaddows and Amber Valley both open. From Northampton, it's about 45 minutes to Hanwell near Melton Mowbray; the cellar door opens at 9am, so an early start works. From there it's roughly 35 minutes on to Scaddows, whose Cellar Door Shop closes at 1pm, then about 25 to 30 minutes to Amber Valley, which opens at 1pm; the timing lines up well if you leave Scaddows by half past twelve.

Three of the featured vineyards have their own accommodation. New Lodge Vineyard has glamping right where day one ends. Hanwell Wine Estate runs a simple grass-paddock campsite (from £14pp, weekends May to September, with Sundays added in August) and an on-site café bar for light meals while you're there. Scaddows has a small Caravan and Motorhome Club site, for caravans and motorhomes rather than tents.

For a conventional hotel near Earls Barton, The Hind Hotel in Wellingborough is a 17th-century coaching inn with its own restaurant.

This route only works starting on a Friday: day one needs New Lodge's Friday-to-Sunday opening, and day two needs to land on the Saturday that follows, since Scaddows and Amber Valley are both Saturday-only.

Amber Valley is closed throughout January. Silkstone needs booking ahead regardless of the day, and their licence means it's not a stop for anyone under 25.

A car is the only realistic way to do this route; the East Midlands doesn't have the rail density of Kent or Sussex, and several of these vineyards are down single-track lanes with no useful public transport link.