Holy Vale

The most southerly and westerly vineyard in Britain is praying for the right weather at the tight time to avoid another catastrophic harvest. Holy Vale Winery was set up on St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly in 2009 by Star Castle Hotel owner Robert Francis.

A quarter of an hour later, I was standing in England's most southerly vineyard, glass of Holy Vale pinot noir rosé in hand. Robert Francis, vine grower, winemaker, lobster fisherman and owner of the Star Castle Hotel, was taking a small, attentive ...

And it will give the owner of the St Mary's vineyard, Robert Francis, an opportunity to honour his promise of presenting bottles of wine from his first batch. The Holy Vale Vineyard, which opened a public tasting room last year, was planted in the ...

Another new tourism attraction opens on St Mary's today. The Winery at Holy Vale has taken owner Robert Francis six years to bring to fruition. The all-weather destination is set in the vineyard that he hopes will produce St Mary's Chardonnay and Pinot ...

This is the Holy Vale track and it is a thing of beauty – a leafy, unpaved, thoroughfare that passes through deep countryside. The kind of track you imagine Thomas Hardy striding down while contemplating Jude the Obscure or William Cobbett passing ...