The restaurant of this farm in breathtakingly beautiful countryside is missing its potential
Tillingham is essentially a natural biodynamic wine production business working over 70 acres of gently rolling countryside, near Rye and the Romney Marshes in East Sussex. If only their main trouble was making bottles of chardonnay and pinot blanc, or selling pretty Tillingham tea towels at £36 a pop. But no, Tillingham has (quite literally) many other plates to juggle: it has a fancy restaurant and a vast barn from which they serve pizza, too.
There’s also the option to stay over in bell tents, no less, if posh hen weekends or corporate bonding sessions are required. Or in bricks-and-mortar rooms with actual plumbing, if the tent’s compost toilet is not for you. If all this isn’t distracting enough, much of Tillingham’s workforce must be drained dealing with its frequent wine tours; wine experts plod groups of natural wine buffs around the sheds, talking lovingly of clay vessel spontaneous fermentation and how nettle tea aids vine health. All that while handing out samples of natural wine, which naysayers might find quite challenging, if not verging on abrasive.
Natural wine is, of course, wildly polarising. What everyone loves, however, is dinner, which is why Tillingham’s huge, formal restaurant overlooking breathtakingly pretty countryside should be its biggest draw. The Sunday feast, for example, has three courses for £45. The short menu, on first inspection, sounds lovely and locally sourced: braised Morebread Farm lamb, Beal’s Farm salami, house-made focaccia and baked cheesecake with poached rhubarb. The vast room was empty when we arrived, although several chefs seemed to be hard at work in the open kitchen, while serving staff hovered around the floor. So far, so good.
