On a hill in north London, about 100 metres above sea level, is the capital’s only commercial scale vineyard, Forty Hall. It is found within an estate of the same name, a rolling, 170-acre mass of land in Enfield that dates back to Tudor times. Climb north up Forty Hill and the town’s urban environs are soon forgotten; through a patch of peppery woodland is a Jacobean manor house, built in 1620, which sits grandly among lakes, walled gardens and meandering parkland walkways. The most fortunate visitors might catch a glimpse of the resident family of beavers. All will see what’s left of the Cedar of Lebanon, a 17th-century tree that, a fungal fruit infection to blame, now roundly appears to be on its last legs.
Forty Hall Vineyard was founded as a social enterprise in 2009, when Sarah Vaughn Roberts was granted permission by Enfield Council, owners of the estate, to plant vines on an acre of land. She did so as part of a project set up by Capel Manor College, the environmental school which leases the land from the authority. In 15 years, a single acre has become 10: two fields are now home to 130 rows of slowly growing grapes, each running south from hedge to city. It could be that London hasn’t seen anything similar since the Romans tried their luck.
