March 2019 is proving to be quite a busy time; with St David’s Day, Pancakes, St Patricks Day and Mother’s Day all rolled into just one month. It is these significant days that help set the seasons.
Another important day is International Women’s day. This is a day set aside to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Their campaign #BalanceforBetter is a call-to-action for driving gender balance across the world – encouraging gender-balanced boardrooms, governments, media coverage, wealth, etc. taking the view that gender balance is essential for economies and communities to thrive.
We are also proud to celebrate the achievements of the women who work tirelessly here at our community Vineyard – whether in the office to manage operations, sales, marketing, volunteer admissions, in the ‘field’ delivering eco-therapy, supporting the viticulture activities or representing us throughout the industry. 60% of our dedicated Vineyard volunteers are also women. Their combined achievements have contributed to the success of our vineyard and we are incredibly grateful.
Special mention must go (and she won’t be pleased) to our founder, Sarah Vaughan-Roberts(above), who 10 years ago, not only had the inspiration to set up a community run vineyard - within the M25 to grow award winning wine - but against all the odds and naysayers, she actually did it. She is one of the kindest and dedicated people we know and such a huge inspiration! Here's a Telegraph article from 2009 telling her story.
So with all this in mind how will you celebrate the women in your life this month?
We think spending time together is the best gift, so here are a few ideas to consider.
Come and meet some of our women volunteers at the Farm's annual Lambing Weekend and treat your leading lady to a bottle of our 2016 Vintage Sparkling London Brut. Feel free to wander down to our Vineyard and take a look. Pruning will be complete by then and you may see the first buds on the vines. More information about Lambing Weekend here.
Spend a leisurely afternoon learning about the history of our city via its nine permanent galleries documenting London from prehistoric times to present day. https://www.museumoflondon.org.uk.
Open daily and entry is free, so you can splash out and eat alfresco at the London Wall Bar Kitchen next door
If you follow Forty Hall Vineyard for our Vegan credentials you might want to grab your leading lady and head down to Brighton for the 11th VegfestUK, 23-24 March. Enjoy 230 stalls packed full of a wide range of vegan products, vegan street food and 80 special guests including demos from Mike & Joe Hill, father and son founders of the UKs leading vegan pizza company, One Planet Pizza and Downton Abbey actor Peter Egan will be talking about his love of animals and vegan lifestyle.
Diving into a pot of molten cheese Fondue at Camden grilled cheese restaurant, The Cheese Bar, sounds tempting! Enjoy freshly made London Burrata with a glass of our very own Forty Hall Vineyard fizz. Personally we like to see who can get the longest Mozzarella Stick cheese pull! Full list of our stockists here.
For the Italian wine lovers, if you are free on the 20th March you could splash out on an evening sampling a dazzling aray of Italian wines by acclaimed winemaker Paulo Creazzi. The evening is organised by Planet of the Grapes, Bow Lane in the City. http://planetofthegrapes.co.uk/
For something closer to home you can always rely on our award winning wines as the perfect gift! When you buy our wine you are contributing to the ecotherapy work of our social enterprise.
You can buy online here, direct from Forty Hall Farm shop and at their events or from our stockists. Come and see us on our stand at the Real Wine Fair in May too!
Words by Jenny Patton.
