Rathfinny, East Sussex
In the new wine heartlands of the South Downs, this 600-acre estate was started in 2010 and the first vintage of its Sussex sparkling wine arrived in 2018. With a tasting room and restaurant, staying here is a Napa Valley-style experience. There are also 10 en-suite rooms in the restored flint barns, including some with bunks, and prices are reasonable. A posh hostel vibe is at play here, with high thread counts and packed lunches, plus another – more casual – restaurant at the weekend, serving set meals.
• Doubles from £100, rathfinnyestate.com
Raasay, Kyle
Waiting for a malt whisky to mature involves patience. Reached by a 25-minute ferry from the Isle of Skye, the Hebridean island of Raasay (population 161) opened its first legal distillery in 2017 and the first casks will reach maturation this year. The whisky uses barley grown on the island, and the water comes from a well that dates back to Celtic times. In the meantime, a Victorian villa has been converted into a six-bedroom hotel for the faithful. Guests can try the distillery’s gin, which requires less patience and is already available, made from juniper picked on Raasay, citrus fruits and rhubarb.
• Doubles from £105 B&B, raasaydistillery.com
The Swan, Southwold, Suffolk
As an ale house, the site of the Swan predates the Adnams brewery by about 200 years, but the two have been in partnership since 1872. Style-wise, it may fit into this moneyed part of Suffolk with ease – there are plenty of velvet sofas in jewel colours and artfully scorched mackerel on offer within its generous Georgian proportions – but it’s not too sanitised. The Swan still backs on to the brewery, but the neighbouring buildings also house Southwold’s distillery, with spirits and liqueurs, including whisky and vodka. As well as standard tours, visitors can choose botanicals to create their own gin.
• Doubles from £200 B&B, theswansouthwold.co.uk
Ardbeg, Islay
With eight distilleries, producing some of the finest whiskies in the world, the Hebridean island of Islay is a place of pilgrimage for whisky lovers. On the south coast, the whitewashed, low-slung Ardbeg, famous for its 10-year-old single malt, was founded in 1815. Now owned by luxury behemoth LVMH, its guest accommodation is refreshingly low-key. Seaview Cottage is housed in the middle of the distillery grounds and has three bedrooms, all en suite, decorated with local furnishings and walker-friendly extras such as a drying room. Tours start at £8, with a dram at the end. There’s also a small café.
• From £220 a night (for up to six people) self-catering, ardbeg.com
Llanerch Vineyards, Vale of Glamorgan
A former dairy farm in Hensol which started a trial-and-error form of viniculture in the 1970s, Llanerch has evolved to grow a core variety of grapes, including orion, perle, bacchus, huxelrebe, reichensteiner and the red triomphe d’Alsace. The estate produces its wine with input from the acclaimed Three Choirs vineyard in Gloucestershire and has created the award-winning ortega and rosé blends. The evolution continues with a 37-bedroom hotel and a restaurant; tours run from April to October and cost £14pp.
• Doubles from £75 B&B (some rooms are accessible), llanerch.co.uk
In the Welsh Wind, Cardigan
This distillery, opened in 2018 by Alex Jungmayr and Ellen Wakelam, specialises in bespoke blends of gin. Once a blend has been devised, there’s a mobile still here that can be taken to weddings and other celebrations. Tastings start at £25pp; bespoke gin-making sessions cost £145 for two people. Its one-bedroom Distiller’s Cottage overlooking Cardigan Bay is popular with couples – many stay here to devise their own gin before a wedding.
• Cottage from £100 self-catering, inthewelshwind.co.uk
Gin Distillery, west London
Opened in 2017, this is a working gin distillery in what was once a notorious Notting Hill boozer. There are three mid-century rooms, a bar and restaurant, and the hotel produces its own Portobello Gin from a copper still on site – ingredients include citrus, juniper, Indonesian-sourced nutmeg and orris from Italy. Think you can do better? There’s a Ginstitute on site, where guests can create their own gin using a blend of botanicals.
• Doubles from £150, the-distillery.london
BrewDog, Aberdeen
BrewDog, which started in 2007, has just opened its first hotel in the company’s hometown of Aberdeen. The Kennels is aimed at weaning millennials away from Airbnb; all rooms have food delivery from the bar downstairs and bedrooms with their own beer-filled fridge. While there’s no brewery on site, the company’s main production area at Ellon is a 25-minute drive away – a 90-minute tour costs £15 including tastings.
• Doubles from £75, brewdog.com
Polgoon, Cornwall
Ortega is a three-bedroom cottage in the middle of the vineyards and orchards that make up the 23-acre Polgoon estate. Started by local couple Kim and John Coulson in 2006, a variety of different thirsts are catered for here, including soft drinks. Sparkling wines are especially strong, with a single estate seyval, an elderflower wine and a raspberry aval – the latter named after the Cornish for apple and served by Marcus Wareing at the Gilbert Scott restaurant. Its ciders, perry and scrumpies have been garlanded with awards and the 2019 sauvignon blanc harvest promises to be a stonker. Everything produced is certified vegan, and the setting, just outside Penzance, is superb.
• From £600 a week self-catering, sleeps six, polgoon.com
Pied Bull, Chester
The only microbrewery in the centre of Chester is in a building that dates back to the 11th century, and has been licensed since 1535. Located underneath the Pied Bull’s bar, the Camra-awarded microbrewery offers tours on Thursdays, Fridays and at weekends, with a range of bitters and IPAs to sample. There are 31 rooms carved out of the former coaching inn, some with Jacobean panelling, others in former brewers’ cottages. Doubles from £79, piedbull.co.uk
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