our story

Having done the 9 to 5, and with both of us having had wide-ranging careers that took us all over the world, we felt the time was right to at last fulfil a long-held and cherished dream – to buy a home in the country with enough land to plant a vineyard. We wanted a simpler way of life, working together in a glorious location, following the rhythms of nature.

Our first step was for Alina to enrol on a Viticulture course at Plumpton College, East Sussex, gaining the theoretical and practical knowledge and skills to enable us to embark on our vineyard journey. Our next step, finding somewhere with a south-facing slope less than 100m above sea level, and which we could afford, proved far harder than we thought. For over two years we searched from Cornwall to Kent for a suitable plot of land. Finally, the stars aligned and we arrived in North Devon, the place we are lucky enough to now call ‘home’.

The farm covers fifty acres. It has woodland, hedgerows, a river, three ponds, and supports wildlife galore! In the Spring we sit on our deck surrounded by the melodious cacophony of birdsong and the burbling background of the river. We planted the vineyard on a gentle, sun-drenched, south-facing slope in a breathtaking environment. However, running the farm, growing the vines, treading lightly on the ground with environmental sensitivity always in mind, and tending the free range chickens – yes, chickens, but that’s a whole other story! – proved to be a very steep learning curve. The more we learn, the more there is to learn!

We take great pride in personally tending our vines, from hand pruning in the winter to canopy management in the summer, and to carefully selecting and hand-picking the grapes in the autumn. If we have done our job well those grapes will provide authentic and distinctive wines. Our early samples have justified our efforts, and now we eagerly await Venn Valley’s 2021 harvest and the first commercial batches from our wonderful labour of love.