Our passion and vision

"Living beside this vast volume of chalk, Wolstonbury allows our family to indulge our passions of rural life, farming and the Arts. We are humbled by the breath-taking beauty of this landmark location that we call home."

With centuries of farming family heritage to draw upon, we hand-planted our vineyard in 2015. Sheltered by Wolstonbury Hill and benefitting from long sun projection through the summer months, the fertile, chalk soils of our 90 acre farm on the South Downs are ideal for our vineyard of Bacchus and Reichensteiner grapes to flourish and ripen. 

A significant landmark in the lives of so many in this part of Sussex, Wolstonbury Hill stands inviting and tall, visible for miles around, enticing people to walk, cycle or ride up it every day. Reach the top, and you are rewarded with spectacular views and the freshest sea air.

Of course, the hill is so much more than a resplendent National Trust attraction. Digging a little deeper into the landscape, we are reminded that communities played out their lives over the last millennium within this fortified settlement of steep slopes and woods. Our ambition in establishing a vineyard is to grow, to nurture and to create within our community.

We also share an equal passion for art and design, both working within creative fields - Ivan as a designer, having spent the last 12 years working in film, providing art direction and visual development, and Charlotte as a weaver and textile designer working from her studio on the farm.

Ivan and Charlotte Weightman