About Cobham House and Kentish wine
Cobham House is a small vineyard near Luddesdown in Kent, specialising primarily, but not exclusively, in the chardonnay grape.
The vines have been planted on agricultural land – designated as solely for the use of farming activities such as growing crops and rearing livestock – and nestles between a larger nearby vineyard and a fruit farm.
In that regard, it is perfectly in keeping with its rural surroundings. Indeed, vines have been grown in the county since they first arrived in Roman times and the Domesday Book of 1086 records three vineyards in the county over a thousand years later.
With Kent’s traditional hop growing in decline and the national shift in taste from beer to wine, the county now boasts more than 50 vineyards and, true to its Garden of England heritage, is a centre for wine production in Britain.
Being a small vineyard – a fraction of the size of the great vineyards of France or Australia – Cobham House will specialise in the production of limited release, high quality wine aimed largely at the high-end hospitality market.
It will bottle, produce and sell its wine directly using its own grapes, to which the entire harvest will be dedicated. It will not sell its limited production to other wine producers nor will it bring in grapes to augment its own production. This is a stand-alone enterprise.
There will, of course, be some internet sales to the public but this forms a peripheral part of the marketing plan.
Similarly, the vineyard will not be dependent on public visits or events though there will be a small number annually. The current intention is six.
Yes. The plans encompass a building to house the tractor, sprayer and other agricultural machinery in order to look after the vineyard, as well as the machinery for pressing and fermenting the grapes. You can view the submission via the council website and the Vineyard Consultants Overview by clicking the buttons below:
The building is for agricultural use on agricultural land and, in that regard, is in keeping both with the farming enterprise and, by careful design, the local landscape.
You can see drawings of the intended barn on this website. It is traditional in structure and sited so that it folds naturally into the slope on which it stands.
It will be built at some distance from the road and, by virtue both of the falling lie of the land and its construction, will not be visually dominant.
Furthermore, Cobham House has invested heavily in screening trees to further limit its impact on the surroundings and is some distance from nearby housing.
In response to concerns raised locally, a repositioning of the building was put forward so that it occupied a more central point in the vineyard at considerable distance from nearby residences. However, this was vetoed by the council on the basis of visual impact.
The currently proposed site represents the minimum possible visibility.
Certainly no more or less than any other surrounding farming enterprises. However, activity will focus on a six week period of late summer and early autumn when grapes are harvested, processed and stored.
Cobham House has undertaken traffic counts and anticipates no notable increase in road use prompted by the production of the wine itself. Agricultural vehicles are a fact of life in the area as a reflection of its character but the most intense production activity is confined to the few short weeks of the harvest.
In regard to the public, and again emphasising that they are not the main thrust of the Cobham House project, visitors will be encouraged to arrive by train and walk to the vineyard via the public footpath.
Of course. There is no intention whatsoever to impede, restrict or narrow the footpath. In fact, to the contrary, since the fields went under vine, the path has been widened and its maintenance enhanced. This will continue.
Pallab Sengupta and his wife Kim are the owners. Kim’s family come from the Gravesend area and have lived in the locale for over five generations.
The vineyard is intended as a family business and a long-term investment in the area. Its aims and ambitions are based on contributing to farming’s future in this part of Kent and as a legacy.
Without agricultural purpose and the incentive to maintain the land, the potential alternative is housing development.
A family commitment to the long-term business of growing vines is the surest way to ensure the landscape and character of a rural farming area.
The q and a on this page should answer most points. As previously pointed out, the planning application itself is available via the Gravesend council website and, again, drawings of the barn have been provided.
Cobham House will update this page as matters develop and will provide notification of progress.
Since the planning proposal was submitted, a considerable amount of misinformation and speculation has been circulating. This site is designed to fill the information vacuum and provide maximum transparency on the reality of what is proposed and the motives behind it.
Media
If you are a member of the media and would like to make further enquiry about the Cobham House vineyard, you can do so via this contact e-mail media@cobhamhouseplan.co.uk. Please state your name and organisation and provide a phone number as well as an e-mail address to ensure a response.
Note that this is for media use only and is not a general enquiry point.