Food & Drink section:Layout 1
5/24/18
2:51 PM
Page 25
A L D W I C K V I N E YA R D
All about Eve
SPRING Bank Holiday weekend signals the start of English Wine Week. A flurry of activity animates Aldwick as I write, particularly with preparations underway for our first-ever Vineyard Open Day on Sunday, the 27th of May. Heightened awareness of the UK wine industry has With ramped-up demand for pre-booked ELIZABETH places on Aldwick’s bi-weekly Tour, LAVER Taste, Toast experience. Treated to a guided ramble through the vineyards, visitors observe the development stage in the seasonal cycle. Most of the vines have already attained Eichhorn-Lorenz 12: five to six leaves unfolded, inflorescences clearly visible. Amidst the thousands of vines, an often solitary figure can be discerned bobbing up and down, moving slowly along the row, tending each plant in turn. To the uninitiated, this might seem an idyllic, even romantic scene. Perhaps unappreciated is the magnitude of focus, dedication, and toil needed to nurture a crop of grapes for each vintage. Eve Sinclair recently returned to assist with summer tasks, to my delight. She ably demonstrates the mental grit and physical stamina required to persevere, where lesser mortals drop out after a few days’ work. Rubbing buds and emerging shoots from vine trunks is an essential task, and Eve has delivered impressive results in record time. Aldwick needs another Eve!
FOOD & DRINK
E OF FEATHER M U S PL
DUCK RACE SATURDAY 7th JULY
Starting at 5pm. Great family fun evening with a local band playing, best dressed duck competition, duck racing, BBQ, pig roast, face painting, ice cream stall, 3 bars open. Come and get your ducks from the Plume, decorate at home or at the Plume from 5pm and enter them before 6pm. All monies from the duck racing, best dressed plastic duck competition and car park goes to Burrington primary school, Blagdon cubs and to get a defibrillator for Rickford village.
Rickford, Somerset BS40 7AK
01761 462682
Visit www.theplumeoffeathers.com
Elizabeth Laver is Vineyard Manager For wine & vineyard tours visit www.aldwickcourtfarm.co.uk
MENDIP TIMES • JUNE 2018 • PAGE 25