Entrepreneur sets up cycling tours around English vineyards

By Arabella Mileham

Published: 22 April, 2015

An entrepreneur has set a up a travel company offering cycling tours of English vineyards.

Ride Eat Drink Sleep, which launches this week, will offer consumers and corporate guests 3-day short breaks comprising tours of vineyards across Sussex and Kent with pit stops at vineyards along the route to meet the winemakers and tour the vineyards. Wine tastings will be offered at the end of the day, along with food and wine matching and a gourmet dinner.

The vineyard who will take part in the Reds includes Bolney, Court Garden, Albourne Estate, Hush Heath, Chapel Down, Oxney Organic, Kingscote Vineyard, Carr Taylor, Sedlescombe, Rathfinny, Biddenden, Denbies, Bluebell Vineyard and Gusbourne Estate.

The three-day tours are virtually all-inclusive and will be tailored to the guests' cycling ability, varying from the easier 15 miles a day to around 60 for hard-core cyclists. Groups, who stay in cottages in the area, are no bigger than 14 and are accompanied by a support team and van and cycle guides.

The company has been founded by Claire Talbot, a wine enthusiast, cyclist and former tax advisor. "The idea of Reds is to combine cycling through some of the most beautiful parts of the English countryside with the best food and wine the region has to offer," she said. "Some of the very best English vineyards have opened their doors to Reds to provide a bespoke and exclusive experience for our guests.

"It is a combination I really enjoy and I've been exploring the vineyard and love what they are doing," she said. "It will appeal to hobbyist cyclers who want a social element and want to enjoy a break in the countryside."

Reds will offer eleven dates this summer, but Talbot hopes to build on this next year if the project proves successful.

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