RIDGEVIEW

Ridgeview Vineyard is down near Brighton, on the Ditchling side. I took the A24, because the M23 is, like most motorways, boring. So, from London, A24, A272 all the way under the M23 Junction up to Ansty, then the B2036 (fun, and in good condition for a B road) towards Ditchling. Ridgeview is on Fragbarrow (I love English place and road names sometimes), off the B2112. 

Now for the important stuff: Fragbarrow is paved. As is the Ridgeview driveway, AND half their parking. I am a HUGE fan of road surfaces on which my bike and boots have grip and parking surfaces on which my bike stand will live up to its name, rather than sinking down into gravel or mud.

The other half of their parking is gravel, but under a very fine mesh that stops the sinking aspect nicely by providing non-gravel bits to go under the stand.

Ridgeview’s shop only sells wine and wine-related items, but if you walk around the corner, they have a restaurant on site, which serves a fairly limited menu of drinks and dishes it does very well. I recommend their Sunday lunch.