After The Tasting, Staplehurst

Today was a trip out to the Hush Heath Estate Winery in Staplehurst. My brother was given a tour and wine tasting as a present for his birthday (same day as mine) by a work colleague so he asked me if I wanted to come along. I hesitated for about a third of a second before saying YES, YES, YES (rather too enthusiastically)!!
Now, as it involved drinking and he's the only one who can drive we asked another family member if they could give us a lift there and pick us up later. Time of pick up to get there on time - 10.30, for the tour starting at 11.30, giving plenty of time leeway wise. 10.35 came and went, 10.45 came and went. By this stage we were going to be lucky if we got there on time. 10.50 - get the phone call to say he is still on the bloody motorway!! Plan B now had to swing into action - we had to get in my brother's car and hope that the winery would let us pick up the car tomorrow. We got there with three minutes to spare. Luckily, they are open tomorrow and it was fine to pick up the car then.
The tour itself was really interesting and the young woman who took us round the vineyard and orchard (they do cider as well) had so many interesting facts to tell us. Today's first two extra shots show the beautiful countryside it is located in. There was also a lovely ancient oak woodland to walk through (lovely and cool, a nice escape from the heat of the day) and then we walked through the winery itself to see how the wine is made and all the processes involved before we got to the wine tasting in the marquee (see today's main shot).
The wines didn't disappoint - we went from an award winning sparkling rose (delicious), to a sparkling white (again, excellent), to a flavoured cider (don't normally like these, but this was really nice and subtle) to a red (also really good).
It was then time to sit and have a bottle of wine between us overlooking said countryside. While drinking this slowly we rang for the lift back from the family member who said he would pick us up in an hour or so. I don't need to say what happened next do I ! So, while waiting, I went for a wander and took the other shots. I particularly loved the US Army behemoth parked in the driveway. An incongruous sight in the gentle, buccolic countryside.
All in all, despite the stress of getting there (and back) it was a superbly enjoyable day -  I woud thoroughly recommend it for a day out. I've got a bottle of rose in the fridge to try out tomorrow. Looking forward to that!