Denbies Wine Estate
Encyclopedia
Dorking
Dorking is a historic market town at the foot of the North Downs approximately south of London, in Surrey, England.- History and development :...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
has the largest vineyard
Vineyard
A vineyard is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
with 265 acres (1.1 km²) under vines, representing over 10% of the plantings in the whole of the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It has a visitors' centre which attracts around 300,000 visitors a year.
The estate is named for an early owner called John Denby. Originally Denbies was a farmhouse. In the mid 18th century it was rebuilt as a gentleman's residence by Jonathan Tyers, proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens
Vauxhall Gardens was a pleasure garden, one of the leading venues for public entertainment in London, England from the mid 17th century to the mid 19th century. Originally known as New Spring Gardens, the site was believed to have opened before the Restoration of 1660 with the first mention being...
near London. Tyer's own garden at Denbies was a startling contrast with the frivolities of Vauxhall, being adorned with memento mori ("reminders of death"). The property passed through several other hands, and in the 1850s it was rebuilt on a larger scale by the preeminent Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
master builder, Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt
Thomas Cubitt , born Buxton, Norfolk, was the leading master builder in London in the second quarter of the 19th century, and also carried out several projects in other parts of England.-Background:...
. He was visited at Denbies by Prince Albert, who planted a commemorative tree which survived until the Great Storm of 1990. The house remained in the Cubitt family until the Second World War, when it was requisitioned by the military. In the 1950s Cubitt's great grandson decided to demolish the house as he lacked the funds to restore and maintain it. He converted the laundry and gardener’s house into a smaller Regency-style house. In 1984 the Estate was purchased by a local businessman named Adrian White. From 1986 to 1989 he had the south facing slopes planted with vines. These cover 265 acres (1.1 km²) of the 627 acres (2.5 km²) estate, the remainder of which is woodland and pasture. Denbies is situated on the North Downs
North Downs
The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. The North Downs lie within two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty , the Surrey Hills and the Kent Downs...
which are a range of chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
hills, and the topsoil consists of fertile loam interspersed with flints. The average yield is 300,000 litres of wine per year .
Around 65% of Denbies' wine is sold at the visitors' centre, with the remainder being sold to supermarkets, wholesalers and through mail order.
The Denbies Vineyard was the location for chosen for James May
James May
James Daniel May is an English television presenter, journalist and writer. He is best known for his role as co-presenter of the award-winning motoring programme Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond....
's Lego House, which was built as part of the James May's Toy Stories
James May's Toy Stories
James May's Toy Stories is a television series presented by James May. The series was commissioned for BBC Two from Plum Pictures. The first episode, "Airfix", was shown on BBC Two at 8:00 pm on Tuesday 27 October 2009....
BBC television series. The house has since been taken down, as a buyer for it could not be found.
The Surrey Performing Arts Library is also located on the estate and brings together major collections of materials covering music, dance, theatre and cinema.