Housed in a complex of 17th and 19th century rustic farm buildings on a 38-acre estate, the Lurgashall Winery is a family-run business specialising in fruit wines and meads. However, inside, it's anything but rustic, being self-contained with fermentation, maturation and bottling vats, and modern, high quality equipment in a sterile bottling room and fully equipped laboratory – all elements of the process that will be learned about when taking a tour around the facility.

Lurgashall has come a long way since it began production in 1985 and produced a thousand bottles. Annual production is up to half-a-million bottles and the visitor experience is thriving.

With 10 meads, nine fruit liqueurs and nine fruit wines, including the delicate Rose Petal Wine and more decisive Silver Birch Wine, there's no monoculture here. Visitors will find out about the way that time-honoured recipes are followed as closely as possible, in the continued quest for authentic flavours.

Sold in 2010, the new owners took over and established Blackdown Distillery in 2011, they initially tried to keep a limited supply of the original mead recipes available for visitors to their on-site shop. However, they officially shifted their primary equipment over to distilling craft spirits (such as gin and vodka). By 2016, all beverage production at the physical farm site in West Sussex had ceased completely.