When a Champagne house decides to make wine outside France for the first time, it can go anywhere. Taittinger chose a chalk hillside at Chilham — twelve minutes' drive from our farm. Domaine Evremond is now open for tastings, tours and terrace walk-ins, and it's become the place our guests ask about most. By some distance.
The catch? The practical details are scattered all over the place, and a couple of them will genuinely trip you up. The postcode takes you to the wrong entrance. There's no taxi rank at Chilham station. And plenty of people book a tour when they'd have had a lovelier afternoon just walking in and sitting on the terrace.
So here's everything we'd tell a friend heading over: what each experience costs, what you actually get for it, how to visit without booking anything at all, and how to do the whole day car-free from London.
Quick facts first:
- Location: Chalk Hill, New Cut Road, Chilham, Canterbury CT4 8DT — search "Domaine Evremond" on your maps, not the postcode (what3words ///harmony.purest.amicably)
- From Challock: 6.3 miles, about 12 minutes via the A252
- Opening: Wednesday to Sunday; April–September 11:00–18:30, October–March 10:30–17:30
- Cost: Bookable experiences £25–£140 per person; terrace walk-ins pay for what they drink
- Dogs: Welcome on the terrace on a lead, but not on tours or inside the cellar door
- Car-free: One hour by train from St Pancras to Chilham, then a 30-minute footpath walk
Domaine Evremond: Taittinger's Kent Estate, Ten Years in the Making
Domaine Evremond is Champagne Taittinger's English sparkling wine estate — the first time any Champagne house has invested in England to make a top-quality sparkling wine from scratch. The cellar door opened to the public in spring 2025, which makes it the newest major wine attraction in the Kent Downs. And it's a twenty-minute footpath walk from Chilham's village square.
The story's a good one. The project launched at Westminster Abbey in 2015, born out of the friendship between Pierre-Emmanuel Taittinger and Patrick McGrath, founder of Taittinger's long-time UK partner Hatch Mansfield. They spent eighteen months hunting for the right site and landed on Stone Stile Farm, just outside Chilham — old apple and pear orchards on free-draining chalk, with south-facing slopes. If that sounds like Champagne, that's rather the point.
Even the name reaches back. Charles de Saint-Évremond was the 17th-century Frenchman who made champagne fashionable at the court of Charles II — a poet and epicurean so beloved by the English that he ended up buried in Poets' Corner. Lovely family footnote, too: Pierre-Emmanuel's father Jean, as mayor of Reims, twinned the city with Canterbury.
Vines went in during 2017. The first full harvest came in 2019, the first blend was bottled in 2021 and left to mature for three years. The winery itself — two-thirds of it underground, designed by French architect Giovanni Pace, with a chalk cellar that can hold 1.5 million bottles — was officially opened by HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh on 26 September 2024.
We watched it rise out of the hillside on our drives over to Chilham. Even now, rounding the corner and seeing those vines feels slightly unreal. In a good way.
The Tours and Tastings: What Each Experience Costs and Includes
Domaine Evremond offers three bookable visitor experiences, from £25 to £140 per person (2026 prices), plus a seasonal sharing-board option in autumn. All must be booked in advance through the estate's website. But read the next section before you assume booking is your only option — because it isn't.
Here's what each one gets you:
| Experience | Price | Duration | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Cuvée Tasting | £25 pp | ~45 mins | Two glasses — Edition I and the newer Edition II — tasted in the winery |
| Classic Cuvée Tasting & Domaine Tour | £60 pp | 90–120 mins | Guided vineyard tour, one glass amongst the vines, one in the winery |
| Flavours of Kent | £140 pp | 2.5 hours | Three-course seasonal menu, each course paired with Classic Cuvée |
| Cheese & Charcuterie Sharing Boards | £100 per board + bottle | 90 mins | Autumn only (5 Sept–21 Nov); board for 2–4 people with a bottle |
Right, the booking small print — worth knowing before you commit. Online bookings take up to six people; for anything bigger, email [email protected]. They ask you to arrive five to ten minutes before your slot. There are no refunds, though with 72 hours' notice you can usually move your booking to another day, at the estate's discretion. Children can't join the tours or tastings. And tours go ahead rain or shine — if it's properly wet, the first glass happens in the cellar door instead of the vineyard. Dress for a Kent hillside, not a champagne bar.
Which one's worth it? Our honest take, having talked this through with a lot of guests: book the £60 tour for a first visit. The £25 tasting is pleasant enough, but the tour is where the estate makes sense. Standing amongst the vines with a glass of Edition I, looking back across the downs, you understand why Taittinger picked this exact hillside. The Flavours of Kent menu is one for a proper occasion. And if money's tight or plans are loose? Don't book anything. Keep reading.
Walk-Ins Welcome: The Terrace, Cellar Door and Shop
You do not need a booking to visit Domaine Evremond. Walk-ins are welcomed on a first-come, first-served basis — on the panoramic terrace overlooking the vines, or inside the cellar door when the weather turns. Genuinely the estate's best-kept secret, this.
Walk-in visitors can taste the Classic Cuvée by the glass, buy bottles to drink on site or take home, and graze on light bites (olives, cheese crackers, crisps). The terrace is the prize on a decent day, but two catches apply: it's weather-dependent, and they don't take bookings for outdoor tables. Forecast looking good and you want a terrace spot at the weekend? Get there near opening time. Weekday afternoons are far easier.
The shop deserves a mention of its own. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10:30–17:30, and you don't need to have done a tour to browse it. A bottle of Classic Cuvée is £55, a case of six drops to £297 with their 10% discount, and a bottle with a gift box is £60. They sell branded Lehmann flutes (£30 for six) and bottle stoppers (£10) too, which make decent presents.
Then the practical bits, all worth knowing. The estate opens Wednesday to Sunday — April to September 11:00–18:30, October to March 10:30–17:30, and it closes over Christmas from 25 December to 2 January. Well-behaved dogs are welcome on the terrace (on a lead, and clear up after them) but can't go on tours or inside the cellar door. Children are the same arrangement — welcome on the terrace with a soft drink. The cellar door is wheelchair accessible, with accessible parking ten metres from the entrance, though the vineyard tour itself isn't suitable for wheelchair users. Packed a picnic? You're welcome to eat it in the wildflower meadows or amongst the vines. Just not on the terrace.
Frankly, the walk-in option is what we'd recommend to half the people who ask us. A Friday afternoon on that terrace with a glass of Edition I, sun on the vines — one of the loveliest ways to spend an afternoon in this part of Kent. No plan required.
Getting There: Parking, Trains and the Footpath Through the Vines
Domaine Evremond sits at Chalk Hill, New Cut Road, Chilham, CT4 8DT — but do not put the postcode into your satnav. The estate itself asks visitors to search "Domaine Evremond" on their maps instead, because the postcode leads people astray. (It's a bit of a faff, and even the locals grumble about it.) For pinpoint accuracy, the what3words for the estate entrance is ///harmony.purest.amicably. Parking on site is free — you just can't leave a car overnight — and accessible parking sits ten metres from the cellar door entrance.
From Landews Meadow, it's 6.3 miles, about twelve minutes via the A252. One of the closest proper days out we have. From London by car, allow an hour and 45 minutes.
Going car-free works a treat, too. Trains from London St Pancras reach Chilham in about an hour (via Ashford), and there are direct services from London Bridge and Charing Cross as well. From Chilham station, a countryside footpath brings you to the estate in around 30 minutes — the path actually runs through the vineyards, and the estate sits close to the Pilgrims' Way, so walkers and cyclists arrive well (there's bike parking on site). From Chilham village square, the walk's about 20 minutes.
One warning we give every guest, though: there is no taxi rank at Chilham station. Rather not walk? Pre-book a taxi — it's only a five-minute drive, and the estate's team can suggest local firms if you ring them on 01227 696055. Ashford station, twenty minutes away by car, does have a rank, so that's your fallback. There's a bus option as well: the 1X runs from Canterbury and Ashford to Felborough Close in Chilham (about 25 minutes), though there's no Sunday service.
Honestly, the train-plus-footpath version of this trip is underrated. Arriving through the vines on foot, you get the slow reveal of the winery in the hillside that car passengers miss.
Events, Seasons and When to Visit
The cellar door runs a steady calendar of free events through the warmer months. Every Saturday through spring and summer there's live music on the terrace from 15:00 to 17:00 — local musicians, no ticket, just turn up. On the last Saturday of each month they add oysters to the formula: the Whitstable Oyster Company sells local oysters on the terrace alongside the music. About as Kentish an afternoon as exists, that.
Autumn brings the sharing-board season (5 September to 21 November this year) — a bottle of Classic Cuvée with a cheese and charcuterie board built for two to four people, while the vines turn colour. And September into October is harvest: take the footpath through the estate and you'll see the pickers at work. The most atmospheric time to walk in, bar none.
When's quietest? Weekday openings, comfortably. Summer weekends are busiest, especially when the forecast's good and the music's on. Winter visits swap the terrace for the cellar door, which looks onto the press and tank rooms on one side and the vines on the other — a perfectly cosy wet-weather plan.
A Local's Honest Tips
After months of sending guests over the hill and hearing how they got on, here's the short version. Book the £60 tour for a first visit — the glass amongst the vines is the moment people talk about afterwards. If the forecast's fine and your plans are flexible, skip the booking and walk in, but get there near opening on summer weekends if you want a terrace table. Sorted.
Wear proper shoes for the vineyard tour — it's a working hillside, not a showroom, and chalk gets slippery after rain. Don't rely on finding a taxi at Chilham station (we've said it twice because it matters). And if you're making a day of it, pair the estate with Chilham village itself: the square, the castle and a very good local cidery are all twenty minutes' walk away. We've written a full guide to exactly that day out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you have to book Domaine Evremond in advance?
Only for the guided experiences — the tastings, tours and Flavours of Kent all need booking ahead through the estate's website. But you can visit without booking anything: walk-ins are welcome on the terrace and in the cellar door Wednesday to Sunday, first come, first served.
How much does a tasting at Domaine Evremond cost?
The Classic Cuvée Tasting is £25 per person, the tasting and vineyard tour is £60, and the Flavours of Kent three-course pairing menu is £140 (2026 prices). Walking in? You just pay for what you drink. Bottles to take home are £55.
Can you take dogs to Domaine Evremond?
Sort of. Dogs aren't allowed on the estate tours or inside the cellar door, but well-behaved dogs are welcome on the terrace for walk-ins, kept on a lead. After a full dog-friendly day nearby, our guide to dog-friendly pubs and cafés around Challock has you covered for a pint.
How do you get to Domaine Evremond from London without a car?
Train from St Pancras to Chilham — about an hour via Ashford — or a direct service from London Bridge or Charing Cross. From Chilham station it's a 30-minute countryside footpath walk to the estate. Book your return taxi in advance if you don't fancy the walk back, because there's no taxi rank at Chilham.
Is Domaine Evremond wheelchair accessible?
The cellar door is, and there's accessible parking ten metres from the entrance. The vineyard tours aren't suitable for wheelchair users, though — it's a working estate with uneven ground. Got specific accessibility questions? Email the team before you visit and they'll help.
Where should I stay near Domaine Evremond?
Chilham village has a handful of options. We're biased but honest: Landews Meadow is twelve minutes from the estate gates, with self-catering farm stays and private hot tubs — which goes down very well after a day's wine tasting. We've written a full rundown in our guide to where to stay near Domaine Evremond.
Make a Weekend of It
There's something quietly remarkable about having England's first Champagne-house estate just over the hill. A decade of planning, a royal opening, vines where orchards used to be. And yet visiting turns out to be refreshingly simple: book a tour if you want the full story, or just turn up and sit on the terrace with a glass.
If you're coming to this part of Kent for the wine, stay where the wine country is. Landews Meadow sits in the Kent Downs between Challock and Chilham — twelve minutes from the Domaine Evremond gates, with farm stays and your own private hot tub to come back to after a day in the vines. Explore the Kent Downs from Landews Meadow — we'd love to point you at our favourite table on the terrace.
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