Kent Wine Tours / Vineyards / Oast Wood
Vineyard guide · Tenterden
Visiting Oast Wood
Oast Wood is a young vineyard on a sheep farm outside Tenterden, planted in 2021 beside ancient bluebell woods and making small batches of still wine. The tasting room in the old farmyard opens only from Easter to harvest. Walk in from Tenterden across the fields and drop in on a Saturday afternoon.
Oast Wood at a glance
| Founded | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Known for | Small-batch still wines from a regenerative sheep farm, led by Luna’s Bacchus, with a Divico red and skin-contact Pinot Gris |
| Grapes | Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Bacchus and Divico |
| Open | Drop-in tasting room at weekends from Easter to harvest, 12pm to 4pm, and on Fridays in summer. Closed in winter |
| Booking | No booking to drop in. Tours and tastings are booked online, and platters should be ordered ahead |
| Food | Cheese and charcuterie or vegetarian platters, £20 a head, generally booked in advance, plus a few small plates on the day |
| Dogs | Well-behaved dogs welcome, kept under control around the sheep and other guests |
| Children | Welcome with adults. Hosted tastings are for over-18s |
| Stay | Angel Cottage, a one-bedroom holiday cottage at Potts Farm |
| By train | Tenterden Town on the Kent & East Sussex steam railway, by footpath. Mainline: Headcorn (about 20 minutes by taxi, book ahead) or Ashford International (about half an hour) |
Checked on the vineyard’s own website in November 2026.
About Oast Wood
Stephen and Kate Sidebottom have lived and farmed at Potts Farm for about twenty years, mostly as a sheep farm with flocks of Herdwicks and Texels. They planted the vineyard in 2021, between the bluebell woods and the oast house that is their family home, with a single red oak left standing in the middle of the vines.
The vineyard sits at the northern end of the Rother Valley, on sandstone, ironstone, clay and loam. Farming is regenerative. Sheep graze the vines in winter, heavy horses help with vineyard work, and no synthetic herbicides or pesticides are used. Some of the wildflower meadows around the vines have been left undisturbed for more than ten years, and the woodland acts as a cold-air trap against frost.
The planting is Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Bacchus and Divico, a disease-resistant Swiss red first planted commercially in England in 2019. The wines are small batches from single harvests, several of them wild fermented.
The wines
Luna’s Bacchus is the one to start with, all estate fruit and wild fermented. The Orange, Pinot Gris and Bacchus left on their skins, is the most interesting bottle on the list. Hedgewitch is a light, floral Pinot Noir, and the Divico is a medium-bodied red from a disease-resistant Swiss grape. There is also a Col Fondo, a Pinot Noir sparkling wine bottled with its lees. Older vintages of Bacchus, rosé and Chardonnay are still listed in the shop. Where to buy them.
Tours and tastings at Oast Wood
This is a working farm rather than a visitor centre, and it feels like one. The tasting room is a restored cart shed in the back farmyard, with a loggia opening onto a walled yard of vines on poles and a weatherproof tasting room in the old calf house. Seasons matter here more than at most vineyards. The cellar door closes after harvest and reopens around Easter, and even in season the hours are short, so look at the booking page before you set off. Ground is uneven and can be muddy, though there are no stairs, and the farmyard takes about ten cars. Non-drivers get local apple and pear juice and a low-alcohol cider from Nightingale. The farm’s sheepdog is often around and is shut away when visitors bring dogs. We would walk in from Tenterden along footpath AB19 and make an afternoon of it.
| Experience | Price | Length | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drop-in at the Tasting Room Wine by the glass, a self-paced three-wine flight, or a five-wine hosted tasting flight, with bottles and cases to take home. | Pay as you go | – | Weekends from Easter to harvest, 12pm to 4pm, and Fridays in summer |
| Vineyard Tour, Tasting and Lunch A walk through the vines followed by a tasting. Lunch platters can be added when you book. Some tours start at 11am, so check the booking page. | Shown when booking | About 90 minutes: around 30 minutes in the vineyard and 45 to 60 minutes tasting | Selected Fridays and weekends in spring and summer, plus Easter Sunday and Easter Monday |
| Extended tours and the Bluebell Wood Tour Longer 11am tours and a tour that takes in the bluebell wood. | Shown when booking | Longer than the standard tour | Selected dates |
Book these on the Oast Wood website.
Buy Oast Wood wines
None of our wine partners has these wines in stock this week. The vineyard sells them in its own shop, or see our pick of English wines to buy online.
Getting there
On foot, footpath AB19 runs south east from Tenterden Town station on the Kent & East Sussex Railway, along a raised track, across a stream and over Chennell Park to Chennell Park Road. Turn right and then left into Potts Farm. By car, take the Cranbrook Road out of Tenterden, cross the level crossing and turn right into Chennell Park Road, following signs for Silcocks farm shop. Potts Farm is about half a mile along on the left. By train from London, take the high-speed line to Ashford International, where there are taxis, or a train to Headcorn. Taxis from Headcorn have to be booked, and return taxis need booking in advance from both. Uber does not operate here.
Make a day of it
Silcocks farm shop and café is just up the road, and you can link the two on a walk from Tenterden or St Michaels. Tenterden is close enough to walk to, and the Kent & East Sussex Railway runs steam trains from Tenterden Town station.
See every vineyard you can visit in our Kent directory. Our other Kent vineyard guides: Chapel Down, Gusbourne, Balfour, Westwell, Warehorne, Silverhand, Domaine Evremond, Chartham, Yotes Court, Biddenden Vineyards, Simpsons’, Woodchurch, Mereworth, The Mount, Brabourne, Terlingham.
Questions people ask
Is Oast Wood open in winter?
No. The tasting room opens from Easter to harvest, mainly on weekend afternoons, with some Fridays in summer.
Can I bring my dog?
Yes, if it is well behaved and kept under control around the sheep and other guests.
Can I get a taxi from the station?
Taxis wait at Ashford International, but from Headcorn you need to book one in advance, and return taxis should be booked ahead. Uber does not work here.