This is one of the corners of Denbies Vineyard in the autumn.

Denbies Wine Estate near Dorking, Surrey is the largest vineyard in England with 265 acres under vines, representing over 10% of the plantings in the whole of the United Kingdom! Anyone on the commute from Dorking to London travels through the estate twice daily, and for Dorkinians like myself it's a splendid welcome back home, especially viewing the changing foliage over the year.

The estate is named for an early owner called John Denby. Originally Denbies was a farmhouse. In the mid 18th century it was rebuilt as a gentleman's residence by Jonathan Tyers, proprietor of Vauxhall Gardens near London. Tyer's own garden at Denbies was a startling contrast with the frivolities of Vauxhall, being adorned with memento mori ("reminders of death"). The property passed through several other hands, and in the 1850s it was rebuilt on a larger scale by the preeminent Victorian master builder, Thomas Cubitt. He was visited at Denbies by Prince Albert, who planted a commemorative tree which survived until the Great Storm of 1990. The house remained in the Cubitt family until the Second World War, when it was requisitioned by the military. In the 1950s Cubitt's great grandson decided to demolish the house as he lacked the funds to restore and maintain it. He converted the laundry and gardener’s house into a smaller Regency-style house.

In 1984 the Estate was purchased by a local businessman named Adrian White. From 1986 to 1989 he had the south facing slopes planted with vines. These cover 265 acres (1.07 km2) of the 627-acre (2.54 km2) estate, the remainder of which is woodland and pasture. Denbies is situated on the North Downs which are a range of chalk hills, and the topsoil consists of fertile loam interspersed with flints.