Address: Chapel Down Vineyard, Small Hythe Rd, Tenterden TN30 7NG, United Kingdom
Phone: +441580766111
Rating: 4.7
based on 173 reviews.
Tour Experience
Pros:
"We had a fantastic time on our wine tour and learnt so much from our guide."
"A really great tour; informative, funny, and delicious!"
"Wow. We did the tour. What a difference from other UK vineyards. We found the information was very good."
"Alex was a really good tour guide, very funny and knowledgable."
"Excellent vineyard tour with Liam as our host. Very knowledgeable and informative who really knows the wine growing process."
"Visited for a tour of the vineyard and winery today. We had a fascinating and informative tour led by Suzie, who clearly knows a lot about wine and wine production."
"Russell was a great tour guide and we learnt loads in a fun way."
Cons:
"We wasn’t very impressed with our experience at Chapel Down, the restaurant manager told us 3 times that we were an hour late therefore we couldn’t have the menu we wanted."
"Watch out for the aggressive lady whose house is in the car park, not a very pleasant person."
"The only negative was that the tour was rushed as diners were late leaving the restaurant."
"The tour guide didn’t come round and talk to any of the groups individually and didn’t give anyone the opportunity to actually sit and taste the wine and talk about the taste of the wine with each other."
"Unfortunately this wine tour is definitely aimed at the more experienced, with 4/5 of the members of our group not really understanding what the guide was talking about."
"The tour guide spoke absolute jargon and slated off other wine companies."
"Feeling rushed because they’ve booked too many people in was not fun."
Wine and Tasting
Pros:
"The selection of 6 wines we got to sample were very good, so much so that we bought plenty to take home!"
"All the wines that we tasted were fabulous."
"We tasted 6 wines(3 still and 3 sparkling)."
"Tasted 6 different wines, all with interesting details from Henry."
"The wines are outstanding and the scenery stunning."
"We got to try their Bacchus, Chardonnay, Three Graces etc. - I enjoyed all of them."
"The wine tasting included a great range of 7 different wines and the tour guide as well as the rest of staff members were all so friendly and helpful."
Cons:
"Only negative was that the next day we found the house Brut sparkling wine in Sainsbury's cheaper than it was being sold for where it is made."
"The only minus are the prices of there wines."
"The wine was alright, shame it was served in plastic glasses."
"We enjoyed our tour but we are disappointed we were not made aware in advance the tour would be restricted due to tirage."
"Some of them were getting a bit pricey (£25 a bottle)."
"It was really rushed because we only had one glass, it would have been nice to be able to try them side by side so we could compare."
"Not family friendly and lots of other places that have better food and experience that I’d drive out of my way for."
Facilities and Environment
Pros:
"Everything was immaculately clean, loos were nice and fresh, shop was hugely well stocked, grounds are very well kept."
"Facility-wise there was ample parking, the shop is decent, and people were friendly."
"The facilities were very good, clean and welcoming."
"Great to come to a real British vineyard, set in beautiful surroundings."
"An excellent two course meal with wine from the vineyard & friendly professional service."
"The setting is beautiful and the weather was also fantastic."
"Beautifully kept & well renowned vineyard set in heart of Kent County side near the attractive town of Tenterden."
Cons:
"The shop staff were blasé and quite rude and we felt as though no one had a clue what was going on."
"Unfortunately could be a stunning place but biggest comment is there needs to be some measures put in for bad weather for some alternate sitting."
"No undercover areas to sit outside so we ended up standing in the shop awkwardly drinking while we waited."
"There also wasn’t anywhere you could sit to just enjoy a glass of wine despite them serving it by the glass in the shop so we just had to stand by the till awkwardly."
"There really needs to be some alternate methods put in for rainy days."
"Doing a refurbishment when I was there. Didn't obviously mark which wines had won awards."
"The herb garden - although beautifully laid out -was just a little disappointing, the only herb I could see was mint."
Staff and Service
Pros:
"All the staff were friendly and attentive will definitely book again."
"Staff are really polite and helpful."
"The staff here are so friendly and welcoming. All of the products here are of a superb quality and I can’t recommend them enough."
"Great selection of English wines. Generous tasting offered, staff were excellent and incredibly knowledgeable."
"Simon (who works in the restaurant) is an absolute legend of the first order, rescuing us when all seemed lost for a lift back to base with the young ones."
"Russel, the tour guide, was super knowledgeable and charismatic and made the whole experience."
"The shop assistants were all very friendly and extremely helpful."
Cons:
"Every time we visit we come away more disappointed. Unhelpful, pretentious staff who appear to judge you as to how much you are going to purchase."
"The staff were not welcoming at all and the guide was all over the place."
"9 of us had food and everyone’s food was cold."
"The coffee cups are really tiny and the coffee was only just warm."
"They're passing off English honey with English names, but in the fine print it's from Hungary."
"We were staying locally and found it hard to get taxis as the location is rather between towns so it’s worth pre-booking taxis if you need them."
"Myself and my partner arrived today at 15:00 hrs for some quality food and a few bottles of British wine, only to be told that there was no food to be had. At all."