Denmark Hill station may not be the first place that springs to mind when you think of English wine country. But the Camberwell Society’s tiny railway vineyard has now attracted national attention, with The Telegraph telling the story of “Chateau de Denmark Hill” and the two Society members behind it.
Chairman Nick Mair and Tony Coleman planted 22 Bacchus vines in 2024 on an 80ft stretch of south-facing railway embankment that had once been overgrown and blighted by fly-tipping.
It was part of a much bigger transformation of Denmark Hill station. The Society took responsibility for its grounds from Network Rail in 2020 and has since planted lavender, created a pétanque court and generally given the station what Nick jokingly calls a “Provence-isation”.
The vineyard took that idea a step further.
As Nick told The Telegraph:
“There are 20,000 travellers a day who use it, so I thought if we’re really trying to promote Camberwell, let’s do something about the station. I’m a bit of an urban gardener and we both like drinking wine, so we thought it would be fun.”
Last year’s first harvest produced just two bottles of white wine. This year Tony and Nick had hoped for as many as 30, although the exceptionally dry summer means the eventual vintage is likely to be closer to a dozen.
The grapes will be pressed using an extraordinary homemade wine press inherited from Nick’s grandfather, fashioned decades ago in Nice from the wooden frame of Nick’s father’s single bed.
The wine cannot be sold, as the vineyard is a community project, so bottles will instead go to volunteers and supporters.
And the next experiment? Lemons and oranges. Nick and Tony believe Denmark Hill’s warm microclimate might even support what they hope could become Britain’s most northerly fruiting lemon tree.
From fly-tipping to viticulture in a few short years: not a bad transformation for a forgotten railway embankment.
Listen to BBC Radio London feature
