Bolney Wine Estate

Bolney Wine Estate is open seven days a week and is one of the most accessible vineyards in Sussex for casual visits as well as planned experiences.

Walk-in visits & booking:

You’re welcome to visit the estate shop and café without booking. For tours, tastings, and dining in the restaurant, booking ahead is recommended, particularly at weekends and during peak seasons.

Vineyard Tours & Wine Tastings:

Bolney offers vineyard tours and tastings year-round, with a range of formats available. These include introductory tastings, food-paired experiences, and longer tours focused on sparkling wine. Cellar Door Tastings also run regularly, offering a more straightforward way to sample the wines. Mid-week tours are sometimes available at a lower price point.

Restaurant & café:

The Eighteen Acre Restaurant and Café overlooks the vineyards and serves seasonal menus for breakfast and lunch, using locally sourced ingredients. On Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons, a wine bar operates on a walk-in basis, serving drinks and small dishes rather than full meals.

Special events:

Bolney runs a steady programme of events through the year, including chef-led dining experiences, themed tastings, and live music nights. The estate is also used for weddings and private celebrations, supported by its scale and hospitality setup.

Dogs & children:

Dogs are welcome in designated café seating areas. Families are well catered for, with a children’s menu available and a vineyard trail designed to make visits more engaging for younger visitors.

Accommodation:

There is no on-site accommodation at Bolney Wine Estate.

Bolney produces a wide range of still and sparkling English wines, alongside spirits including gin and vermouth. Sparkling wines sit at the core of the range, with still wines made from varieties such as Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Bacchus, and Chardonnay complementing the portfolio.

As one of England’s earlier commercial vineyards, Bolney has played a visible role in shaping how English wine is presented to the public. Its wines have received sustained recognition over many years at major competitions, reflecting consistency and breadth rather than a narrow stylistic focus.

Winemaking takes place in a fully equipped on-site winery. The estate operates under a sustainability framework that includes composting vineyard waste, reducing water usage, generating power via solar panels, and re-purposing by-products from winemaking. These practices support the scale of the operation while maintaining a long-term view of land use.

By car

Bolney Wine Estate is located around 10 miles south of Crawley, with good access from the A23 and A272. Driving is the most straightforward way to reach the estate.

By public transport

The nearest mainline stations are Haywards Heath and Burgess Hill, both around a 15-minute taxi ride away. Local bus routes also serve the area, with stops within a short walk of the estate, though services can be infrequent.

Bolney sits within easy reach of other Sussex vineyards, country house hotels, and cultural attractions, making it straightforward to build a full day or weekend around a visit.

Nearby vineyards

• Albourne Estate – A smaller Sussex vineyard with tours and tastings.
• Leonardslee Wine Estate – Vineyard and gardens combined into a larger visitor attraction.

Restaurants

• Ockenden Manor – Fine dining in a country house setting.
• South Lodge Hotel – Multiple dining options, including Michelin-starred restaurants.

Hotels

• Ockenden Manor Hotel & Spa – A spa hotel set in landscaped grounds.
• South Lodge Hotel & Spa – A five-star country house hotel nearby.

Attractions

• Wakehurst – Botanical gardens and home of the Millennium Seed Bank.
• Glyndebourne – Internationally known opera house and gardens.

Bolney’s roots go back to the early modern era of English wine, with vines first planted in the early 1970s at a time when commercial vineyards were still rare in the UK. That long history has allowed the estate to evolve alongside the wider English wine industry, moving from early experimentation through to large-scale, visitor-focused production.

Over the decades, Bolney became one of the most recognisable names in English wine, particularly for helping normalise the idea that vineyards could be both working agricultural sites and accessible tourist destinations. Its scale, range of styles, and early embrace of hospitality set it apart from smaller, single-site producers and helped establish a model that many later estates would follow.

In recent years, the estate has entered a new phase following its acquisition by new ownership, marking a shift towards renewed investment across the winery, visitor facilities, and sustainability initiatives. While the core identity remains rooted in approachability and breadth, this transition reflects a broader ambition to modernise operations while maintaining Bolney’s long-standing role as a gateway vineyard for people discovering English wine for the first time.

This combination of longevity, scale, and adaptability makes Bolney less about chasing trends and more about continuity — a vineyard that has repeatedly adjusted its focus to match where English wine and its audience have moved over time.