Balfour vineyard walk and tasting
A walk through the vines at Hush Heath, home of Balfour, and a tasting of three of their wines.
Starts Balfour Winery, Staplehurst, Kent
Kent Wine Tours / Vineyards / Balfour
Vineyard guide · Staplehurst
Visiting Balfour at Hush Heath
Balfour is the winery behind Balfour Brut Rosé, on the 400-acre Hush Heath Estate near Staplehurst. It opens every day, and at weekends a free shuttle runs from Marden station, which makes it one of the easier Kent wineries to visit without a car.
Balfour at a glance
| Founded | Planted 2002 |
|---|---|
| Known for | Balfour Brut Rosé, plus still wines including Bacchus |
| Awards | International Wine Challenge gold medal and trophy for Balfour Brut Rosé (2007), the first for an English wine; WineGB Awards 2026 Best Still White (not Chardonnay) for Liberty’s Bacchus 2025 |
| Open | Daily, 10am to 6pm, to 10.30pm Thursday to Saturday |
| Booking | Book tours, tastings and dinner, the estate walk needs no booking |
| Tours from | Free estate walk, self-tutored tasting £15, tutored tasting from £40 |
| Food | The Winemakers’ Kitchen, lunch daily 12pm to 3pm and dinner Friday and Saturday 7pm to 9pm; Cellar Door platters and flatbreads 12pm to 4pm |
| Children | Not on tours or in the winery, for safety reasons; tastings 18 and over |
| By train | Marden (free shuttle at weekends) or Staplehurst |
Checked on the vineyard’s own website in October 2026.
About Balfour
Leslie Balfour-Lynn and her husband Richard wanted to make a pink sparkling wine as good as their favourite rosé Champagne. Hush Heath has been in the Balfour-Lynn family for three generations, and Leslie bought the 400 acres of farmland that go with it. In 2002 the couple planted five acres of vines. The first harvest, in 2004, made 10,000 bottles of Balfour Brut Rosé, and in 2007 it became the first English wine to win a gold medal and a trophy at the International Wine Challenge. It was later the first English sparkling wine served in British Airways First Class, and it was poured at the London 2012 Olympics.
The winery and tasting room opened on the estate in 2010 and were greatly expanded in 2018. Balfour now makes more than 400,000 bottles of still and sparkling wine a year, and some beer and cider too. Owen Elias, six times UK Winemaker of the Year, has made the wine since the first vintage, and now works with his son Fergus, the head winemaker. The estate is managed by the Turner family, whose relatives looked after Hush Heath when it was a working farm.
Hush Heath is a Tudor estate of vineyards, apple orchards, wildflower meadows and ancient oak woodland, with barn owls, fallow deer and buzzards. More than half of Balfour’s vineyards are here on Wealden clay, and these supply the single-vineyard wines, the Brut Rosé among them. Grower partners elsewhere in Kent plant the rest for Balfour, on greensand and chalk.
The wines
Balfour Brut Rosé is the wine to try, a single-vineyard vintage wine from the estate itself. Every wine in the vintage sparkling collection is single-vineyard. Leslie’s Reserve is the non-vintage sparkling range, with Gold, Brut, Rosé and a Sparkling Red. The still range is growing, and Liberty’s Bacchus is the one to look for after its 2026 WineGB award. The limited Winemakers’ Collection carries labels by commissioned artists. The house style is clean, fresh and precise. Where to buy them.
Tours and tastings at Balfour
With an hour or two to spare, start with the free estate walk. Collect a map at the Cellar Door, pick one of two routes, and check in with the team before going into the vines, which occasionally close for spraying, so phone on the day. For a proper look behind the scenes, book the two-hour Tour and Tasting at a weekend, when it also takes in the winery, harvest permitting. Tours run in all weathers. The Cellar Door has the wine shop, and you can book a self-tutored tasting there from £15. Lunch upstairs in the Winemakers’ Kitchen takes walk-ins, though booking is recommended, and dinner must be booked. The restaurant is reached by stairs only; the tasting room, the Cellar Door and the toilets are accessible. Balfour opens every day of the year, from 10am to 6pm Sunday to Wednesday, and on Christmas Day by booking only.
| Experience | Price | Length | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-Guided Tour Collect a map from the Cellar Door and follow one of two routes through the vineyards, orchards, meadows and oak woodland. Check in with the team before going into the vines. | Free | At your own pace | Daily, 10am to 5pm, no booking |
| Tutored Wine Tasting A guided tasting of six Balfour wines. | £40 Monday to Wednesday, £45 Thursday to Sunday | 1 hour | Monday to Wednesday and Sunday 1.30pm; Thursday to Saturday 11.30am and 5.30pm |
| Tour and Tasting A guided walk through the vineyards, orchards and woodland, then a tutored tasting of six wines. At weekends it also goes through the winery, subject to harvest. | £50 Monday to Thursday, £70 Friday to Sunday | 2 hours | Monday to Thursday 10.30am; Friday to Sunday 10.30am or 2pm |
| Tour, Tasting and Sharing Platters A vineyard tour and a tasting of three wines, followed by a sharing platter of local cheese and charcuterie. | £60 per person | – | Monday to Thursday 11am to 1pm, November to March |
| Winemakers’ Kitchen Lunch and Tutored Wine Tasting A guided tasting of four wines, then a two-course set lunch in the Winemakers’ Kitchen. | £70 per person | About 3 hours (11.30am to 2.30pm) | Monday to Wednesday |
| Wine and Dine Experience Transfers from Marden station, a tour including parts of the estate not on other tours, a winery visit, a six-wine tasting and a three-course lunch with wine pairings. Up to 16 people. | £190 per person | 11am to 4.30pm | Thursday to Sunday |
Book these on the Balfour website.
Tours that include Balfour
If you would rather not drive, these tours take you there, with tastings included.
Give a visit as a present
Wine and dine at Balfour
A vineyard and winery tour, a tasting of six wines, then a seasonal three-course lunch with a glass matched to each course. Transfers from Marden station are included, so nobody drives.
Good to know Thursday to Sunday, all year. The retailer voucher is £300 for two and valid for twelve months; the estate charges £190 a head for the same experience, and its own tour voucher is an open amount from £10 that lasts a year.
Where to stay
The George Hotel
A Grade II listed coaching inn from around 1300, with 12 en-suite bedrooms, each decorated differently.
The Queen’s Inn
A countryside hotel and restaurant on the Rye Road at Hawkhurst.
The White Lion
A Grade II listed pub on Tenterden High Street with oak beams and 14 bedrooms above the bar.
Holiday cottages around Tenterden
Cottages, oasts and barn conversions around Tenterden and the Kent Weald, close to Chapel Down and Gusbourne.
Prices are often the same either way, so compare the booking site with booking direct.
What’s on
Coming up at the vineyard, from its own website. All vineyard events.
Food and wine
Sushi kitchen takeover dinner
Guest chefs from Sticks’n’Sushi cook a five-course sushi menu, with a Balfour wine matched to each course.
Friday 13 November 2026 · 7pm to 10pm · £95 a head · Book ahead
Christmas
Festive shopping night
An evening of shopping with local stallholders, live music, mulled cider and mince pies, with early access to the winery’s Black Friday offers.
Thursday 26 November 2026 · 6pm to 9pm · Free ticket · Book ahead
Christmas
Shared Christmas party nights
A three-course dinner followed by live entertainment and dancing. Open to individuals and small groups as well as company parties.
Thursday 10, Friday 11 and Friday 18 December · 7pm to 11pm · £65 a head · Book ahead
Workshop
Chocolate making workshop
A hands-on chocolate making session with Atelier, with a glass of fizz and a chocolate tasting included.
Sunday 13 December 2026 · 11am to 1pm or 2pm to 4pm · £60 a head · Book ahead
Christmas
Christmas Day lunch
A five-course Christmas lunch in the Winemakers’ Kitchen with wine pairings, with the option of a vineyard walk beforehand.
Friday 25 December 2026 · £165 a head (children half price) · Book ahead
Christmas
Boxing Day tour, tasting and festive platter
A tour of the winery, a tutored tasting of six wines and a festive platter.
Saturday 26 December 2026 · 10am to 12pm or 1pm to 3pm · £80 a head · Book ahead
Buy Balfour wines
3 bottles in stock with our wine partners this week. Prices are for a single 75cl bottle.
Sparkling
Balfour Classic Cuvée
An approachable traditional-method blend with at least a year on lees, tasting of lemon and crisp apple.
£29.50at The Great Wine Co.BuySparkling rosé
Balfour Brut Rosé 2017
A single-vineyard pink fizz from Oast House Meadow, blending Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Meunier.
£38.99at WinebuyersBuyRed
Balfour The Red Miller 2018
A rare still red made entirely from Pinot Meunier, with soft tannins, blackberry and raspberry.
£80at The Great Wine Co.Buy
Getting there
Marden is the nearest station, with trains from London Bridge about every half hour. At weekends a free shuttle bus runs between Marden and the winery, and you don’t need to book it. On other days there is no taxi rank at Marden, so pre-book a taxi both ways. Staplehurst station is also nearby, but the shuttle does not go there. By car there is plenty of free parking, with two accessible bays and electric car charging, and Balfour says it is about 45 minutes from London.
Make a day of it
Balfour’s own Winemaker’s Pub is 10 minutes away in Goudhurst, a hilltop village with views over the Weald. Sissinghurst Castle Garden and Cranbrook are a short drive south. Chapel Down at Tenterden is about half an hour away, so the two go well together if someone is driving. Marden, Staplehurst and Headcorn are the nearest villages on the railway.
See every vineyard you can visit in our Kent directory. Our other Kent vineyard guides: Chapel Down, Gusbourne, Westwell, Warehorne, Silverhand, Domaine Evremond, Chartham, Yotes Court.
Questions people ask
Do you need to book at Balfour Winery?
Not for the self-guided estate walk, which is free from 10am to 5pm. Tours, tastings, the self-tutored tasting flight and dinner must be booked, and booking is recommended for lunch.
Is there a shuttle from Marden station?
Yes, a free shuttle runs back and forth from Marden station at weekends, with no booking needed. On weekdays, pre-book a taxi both ways.
Can you stay at Balfour Winery?
There are no rooms on the estate. Balfour’s Winemaker’s Pub in Goudhurst, 10 minutes away, has four bedrooms and runs a free shuttle to the winery, and Balfour sells overnight packages that combine both.