rows and vines at ridgeview wine estate

completed:  2022

scope: public dining area gardens and surrounds

role: full service

client: ridgeview wine estate

photography: alister thorpe

 

 

 

This garden is at the award-winning Ridgeview Wine Estate in Ditchling, East Sussex, where they have built a new tasting and dining space called the Rows & Vine in a spectacular setting overlooking the vineyard’s Chardonnay vines with a view of the South Downs beyond.

 

Located in the South Downs National Park, biodiversity and sustainability were key to the design as well as anchoring the building and gardens in the glorious setting.

 

We worked closely with Ridgeview and the South Downs National Park to design a garden which has biodiversity at its core. The planting scheme is drawn from the locally native wildflowers, grasses and ferns while the terraces and walling rely on vernacular materials including flint, clay bricks and limestone gravels.

 

The garden itself surrounds a series of terraces, with structural planting comprising native species and cultivated varieties of native species including clipped yew, beech and multi-stem hawthorn trees all of which are found in the local landscape. Grasses and perennials provide seasonal interest so that the garden changes throughout the year.

 

The planting provides a significant nett gain in biodiversity and provision of pollen throughout the year. We hope it will become an important richly diverse habitat for invertebrates and vertebrates.