Warden Abbey Vineyard Holds its Annual Planting Days

On Saturday 14^th and Tuesday 17^th May, Warden Abbey Vineyard hosted its annual planting days as it begins its busy summer full of activities.

Based between Old Warden and Cardington, our vineyard is a unique community and educational resource, which carries on the tradition of making medal-winning wines.

The two planting days brought together donors, volunteers and groups who all enjoyed themselves working together to plant and name-tag new vines in the beautiful sunny weather. After each successful day of planting, the donors and volunteers celebrated with a well-earned glass of white wine from the vineyard.

Vineyard Manager Jane Markham said:

“Our “Donate a Vine” scheme plays a very important part in regenerating the vineyard and keeping the community project going. So it’s fantastic to have so many volunteers helping us, and particularly to welcome those new donors who’ve come to plant their vines.”

Warden Abbey’s vines are now over 30 years old, and as the vines age, vine numbers and productivity decline. To help the vineyard become financially viable long-term and to continue its work as a fantastic community and educational resource, planting days like these are extremely important.

Ann was at Tuesday’s planting day after buying some Warden Abbey wine at BRCC’s farm shop, café and deli, The Barn – Cardington:

 “We bought a bottle of wine and noticed that you could donate money and plant a vine, so we bought one for ourselves and we also bought one for a friend … so two of these vines are going to be ours now.”

Thanks to the generous support of the donors, the first new vines for almost 30 years were planted at Warden Abbey in 2015, when they bought over 200 new vines, planted over two days in May by donors and volunteers. In 2018, they began to harvest from these vines for the first time. In total they have now planted 1,290 new vines (710 Bacchus and 580 Reichensteiner).

If you’d like to donate a vine for yourself, as a gift to someone special or to mark a special occasion, you can do so through the vineyard’s website. The £10 cost pays for a new vine to be bought and planted. It also puts the donor’s name on the vineyard’s Roll of Donors, and gives you the opportunity to plant your vine in the spring.

Donating vines allows the vineyard to continue their work with other local charities and schools to develop educational, social and therapeutic horticulture, employment, heritage and wildlife projects on this historic site.

Throughout the spring and summer, the vineyard is hosting a range of tours and events including flying day picnics, paella evenings and the highly-anticipated September open day. Tours give people an opportunity to explore the vineyard, learn about it’s fascinating history and indulge with a tasting of the vineyard’s award winning wine.

Find out more about this year’s vineyard tours and other events by visiting the vineyard’s website are following them on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.