There’s a particular kind of evening you only get at a vineyard: everyone else has gone home, the tasting room has turned into a bar, and you’re drinking the wine that was made in the building next door with no thought whatsoever about how you’re getting back.
That’s the argument for staying over rather than doing a day trip. Sussex now has ten or so estates you can stay at, from converted hop barns to shepherd’s huts to a purpose-built vineyard hotel. We stayed at Tillingham for my birthday, my first UK vineyard stay.
If you want the estates themselves rather than the stays, we’ve covered all twelve in our guide to the vineyards near Brighton.
Best Vineyard Stays in Sussex
1. Tillingham, Peasmarsh
We booked Tillingham for my birthday in August. It was a wonderful stay, with stunning views over their vines. They have 11 rooms in a converted hop barn, plus seasonal bell tents from April to September. We booked a bell tent but wished we’d booked an inside room, as the price is similar and it rained during our stay leaving the bell tent feeling a little damp.
Everything else was excellent. We carried a whole bottle of white into the snug, sat on a dark orange velvet sofa with olives and table snacks and nattered into the night, and that’s the bit I remember most. Breakfast was homemade bread, freshly baked croissants, granola, fruit and eggs at a round wooden table with the vines out of the window.
Prices are around £215 for week nights, going up to £400 on Saturday nights. Book the rooms, not the tents, unless the forecast is very good. Dog-friendly rooms available on request. No children under 12 in the rooms or restaurant.
Getting There: Dew Lane, Peasmarsh TN31 6XD. Nearest station Rye, about 11 minutes by taxi.
Google Maps: Dew Lane, Peasmarsh TN31 6XD
2. Rathfinny Wine Estate, Alfriston
The most polished stay on this list. Flint Barns has ten en-suite rooms from around £275, and there’s a self-catering Rathfinny Cottage if you want the estate to yourselves.
What makes Rathfinny worth staying at rather than visiting is the walking. There are self-guided trails all over the estate, the maps are free from the Cellar Door and you don’t need to book — we’ve done a lot of them and they’re beautiful. There’s also a back way in off the Downs, which is a lovely way to arrive.
Alfriston is where the South Downs Way splits for Eastbourne and Seaford, so you can walk properly from here. We did Seven Sisters to Alfriston and it’s one of the best walks in the county.
For food: Flint Barns for a treat, The Hut for everything else. Note The Hut is March–October only.
Getting There: Alfriston BN26 5TU. No walkable station — Berwick or Seaford about 10 minutes by taxi, Lewes 20. Book the return cab in advance. Dogs on leads welcome on the trails.
Google Maps: Alfriston BN26 5TU
3. Leonardslee Wine Estate, Mannings Heath
The newest proper hotel of the group. The Vineyard Hotel opened in spring 2024 with nine en-suite rooms overlooking the vines, breakfast included, and two suites with roll-top baths and a terrace over the golf course. Club Oenologique named it in their round-up of the best English vineyard stays.
There’s also Fullers’ Cottage — four bedrooms, sleeps eight, self-catering, dog-friendly, a short walk from the wine estate. Good for a group.
The wine estate and hotel are at Mannings Heath, whilst Leonardslee’s Grade I listed gardens and the Michelin-starred Restaurant Interlude are at Lower Beeding, about three miles away. Separate places.
Getting There: Hammerpond Road, Mannings Heath, Horsham RH13 6PG. Nearest station Horsham, then a taxi. Drop-in wine flight £15pp daily from 11am.
Google Maps: Hammerpond Road, Mannings Heath RH13 6PG
4. Coes Farm, Rotherfield
We haven’t stayed here ourselves, but friends went for their mini-moon and came back saying it was so lovely. It’s a 500-year-old family farm with a seven-acre organic vineyard and orchard, and they make natural wine — wild ferments, no added yeast, no filtration, no added sulphur. Their first wines are being released in 2026, so this is a brand new one to get in early on.
The thing that makes it a couples’ place is that every one of the four properties sleeps two: The Granary (a cottage), Pigeon Hole and The Sett (both shepherd’s huts) and The Orangery (a studio). Guests get the run of an indoor heated pool, hot tub, games room and tennis court, which is not a sentence you get to write about most vineyards.
Getting There: Dewlands Hill, Rotherfield, East Sussex TN6 3RU. Vineyard tours and tastings £25pp on selected dates, May to end of September. Dog policy isn’t published, so ask before you book.
Google Maps: Dewlands Hill, Rotherfield TN6 3RU
5. Oastbrook Estate, Bodiam
A small family vineyard with the widest range of places to sleep on this list: The Round Door Vineyard Cottage, the Avalon Waterside Lodge, and luxury bell tents in season.
The setting is the selling point. Bodiam Castle is right there — moat, National Trust, the full picture-book thing — and the Kent & East Sussex heritage railway terminates at Bodiam, so you can arrive by steam train. Tours are led personally by owner America Brewer, which is rare and makes the whole visit feel different.
Oastbrook asks for no dogs. Advance booking is required — it’s a working estate and weekend slots fill fast.
Getting There: Junction Road, Bodiam, Robertsbridge TN32 5XA. Robertsbridge station about 15 minutes by taxi.
Google Maps: Junction Road, Bodiam TN32 5XA
6. Oxney Organic Estate, Beckley
Accommodation in a Jacobean house, shepherd’s huts and converted barns on what Sussex Modern describes as the UK’s largest single-estate organic vineyard. Oxney’s own current wording is “the leading single-estate producer of English organic wine”, which is the safer claim.
Visits are by appointment, with tours twice daily on Saturdays May–October and an optional picnic lunch. If the organic and low-intervention side of English wine is what interests you, this and Tillingham are the two to book.
Getting There: Hobbs Lane, Beckley, Rye TN31 6TU. Rye station about 15 minutes by taxi.
Google Maps: Hobbs Lane, Beckley, Rye TN31 6TU
7. Charles Palmer Vineyards, Winchelsea
Rooms in a 16th-century manor house with sea views, a mile from the coast above the old Cinque Port of Winchelsea. Properly family-run — four family members and two staff — and they still run 70 breeding ewes alongside the vines, which tells you something about the place.
The walking here is excellent. Winchelsea sits on both the 1066 Country Walk and the Saxon Shore Way, with Rye Harbour Nature Reserve and Camber Sands close by. Wine flights £15pp, picnic hampers £14pp, and regular live music evenings.
Getting There: Wickham Manor, Winchelsea. Rye station about 10 minutes by taxi.
Google Maps: Wickham Manor, Winchelsea
8. Mousehall Country Estate, Wadhurst
An 18th-century oast house sleeping six, on an estate that dates back to the 11th century. The unusual thing here is that Mousehall is a winery and a distillery — you can do the Tidebrook Wine Experience and a gin tour in the same visit, which no other Sussex estate offers.
Good for a group who want one base and two very different tastings.
Getting There: Wadhurst, East Sussex. Wadhurst or Crowborough stations nearby.
Google Maps: Mousehall, Wadhurst
9. Mountfield Winery, Robertsbridge
A cabin sleeping two on a ten-acre family estate — the smallest and most private option here. Their Blanc de Blancs scored 96 points at the 2026 Decanter Panel Tasting, the highest UK score for a non-vintage sparkling wine, which for an estate this size is remarkable. Tasting room in restored stables, winery picnics, and bluebell walks on site in spring.
Getting There: Mountfield, Robertsbridge. Robertsbridge station about 8 minutes by taxi.
Google Maps: Mountfield, Robertsbridge
10. Sedlescombe Organic Vineyard, Cripp’s Corner
“The Nest” is a three-bedroom cottage on England’s oldest organic wine estate, established in 1979 and run on biodynamic principles.
What makes Sedlescombe worth a night is that the self-guided tour is free, includes a woodland nature trail, and walk-ins are welcome — no booking, no fee. That’s unheard of elsewhere. Charcuterie boards and homemade cake in the tasting room, open Thursday–Sunday year-round.
Getting There: Hawkhurst Road, Cripp’s Corner, Robertsbridge TN32 5SA. Despite what several guides claim, this is not walkable from Battle — both Battle and Robertsbridge stations are around five miles away, so plan on a taxi.
Google Maps: Hawkhurst Road, Robertsbridge TN32 5SA
Bell Tent or Room? What We Learned
Several Sussex vineyards offer glamping alongside proper rooms — Tillingham and Oastbrook both do bell tents, and they’re always cheaper and always prettier in the photos.
Having done it: book the room unless the forecast is very good. English weather in August is not a safe bet, and the difference between a bell tent on a warm dry night and a bell tent on a wet chilly one is enormous. Add in an outdoor compost loo or a four-minute walk to the indoor bathrooms and it stops being romantic quite quickly.
The bell tents are lovely. They’re just a gamble, and a room is not.
Where To Stay Near Sussex Vineyards If They’re Full
Vineyard accommodation is limited — most of these estates have under a dozen rooms, and summer weekends go early. If you can’t get in:
Rye is the obvious base for the eastern cluster. It puts Tillingham, Oxney and Charles Palmer all within about fifteen minutes, and it’s a lovely town in its own right. The Fig is a good adults-only option, and there are plenty of hotels in the old town. Staying in Rye and visiting the vineyards is a perfectly good plan B — arguably a better one if you want dinner options.
Lewes or Alfriston for the western cluster and Rathfinny. Horsham for Leonardslee and Wiston.
Where To Stay Around the Sussex Vineyards
Most of these estates only have a handful of rooms and they go early, so it is worth seeing what else is bookable nearby before you settle on dates:
Keep Exploring Sussex
- The full list? All twelve vineyards near Brighton, including which you can reach by train.
- Eating at the vineyard too? The Sussex vineyards with restaurants worth booking.
- Want a walk with it? The Seven Sisters walk is half an hour from the Alfriston vineyards.
- Planning a weekend here? Read our weekend in Brighton guide, written by locals.
Sussex Vineyard Stays FAQ
Ten Sussex vineyards offer somewhere to stay: Tillingham, Rathfinny, Leonardslee, Coes Farm, Oastbrook, Oxney Organic, Charles Palmer, Mousehall, Mountfield and Sedlescombe. Between them they cover everything from a bell tent in a field to a smart room with a restaurant attached.
A night at a Sussex vineyard typically costs between £120 and £250, depending on the season and how smart the room is. Rathfinny’s Flint Barns starts at around £275 at the top end, and bell tents and glamping come in well below the range. Breakfast is usually included, and it’s often very good.
Some are, but policies vary a lot, so check before you book rather than after. Tillingham has dog-friendly rooms on request and Leonardslee’s Fullers’ Cottage welcomes dogs. Oastbrook asks that you don’t bring them at all.
Not walkably, in most cases, but several are close enough for a short taxi. Rye station serves Tillingham, Oxney and Charles Palmer with a 10 to 15 minute cab ride, and Rathfinny is a short taxi from Berwick, Seaford or Lewes. Book your return taxi in advance, because these are rural spots and cabs don’t just turn up.
Late September into early October is the most interesting time to stay, because that’s harvest and you get to see an estate actually working rather than just hosting. Summer is the safest bet for weather, which matters a lot if you’re glamping. Several estates close to visitors from November to March.
For one night, yes, it’s worth it, because the evening is the thing you’re really paying for — the light going over the vines, and a bottle you’ve just watched being made. For anything longer, or if you want restaurants, shops and options on your doorstep, base yourself in Rye or Lewes instead and visit the vineyards from there.