"Get Orf Moy Laaa-aand..."

Viz magazine's "Farmer Palmer"; now working for Vineyard Farms Ltd..?

Since Medway Council's planning committee rejected MDCV/Vineyard Farms Ltd's vainglorious plan for a massive Lord Foster-designed vanity winery on protected green belt land and a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at Upper Bush in Cuxton, the winery folk seem to have distanced themselves from the local community even more than ever.

As I noted earlier, MDCV/VF Ltd have recently resorted to labelling their territory as "The Silverhand Estate", much to the puzzlement of the people of Cuxton and Luddesdown who live around it (or even in it), and have taken to putting up  "Keep Off" signs everywhere.  

"Keep Orf Our Larrrrnd..."

They even seem to employ someone to roar around their fiefdom in an unmarked white pick-up truck, looking out for anyone who happens to wander off the public footpaths and on to the maze of farm tracks which criss-cross the area, and grumpily tell them to stick to the public footpaths - although I suspect that the 4x4s do far more damage to the tracks than a walker ever would, especially given the speed the former are driven at.

It's hardly a good community image.

"It's our land, not yours, and we can do what we like with it" seems to be the attitude, and although the area may be classified as green belt/AONB, it is still essentially agricultural land, so activity within it doesn't have to be pretty, or to cater for passers-by.

Nowhere is that more apparent at the moment than at Barrow Hill, overlooking Upper Bush.  As I noted recently, a pile of flints was fly-tipped right at the top of the hill, seemingly for no apparent reason.  

Why...?

A half-baked attempt had also been made to block off the farm track that runs along the field edge, by means of a large tree trunk put down there, and that appeared at one point to have been smeared with anti-climb paint. The track is a locally popular if unofficial route, one that offers wonderful views across Upper Bush Valley. It's now clear that MDCV/VF want this view for themselves alone, and that the local peasantry are not at all welcome.

Ugly piles of soil have now been heaped across the bottom of the path at the Dean Farm end in an attempt to create a more formidable barrier...

It all seems a bit pointless and unnecessary. The soil banks will soon green up and will not be difficult to climb over, after all. The area is certainly where they want to build their winery, but why block it off like this, unless building works are imminent?  It just seems a bit petulant, as if they are trying to upset the people who regularly walk in that area. (It doesn't bother me, by the way -  I think the damage has already been done).

If MDCV/Vineyard Farms/Silverhand Estate are going to appeal to the Secretary of State in a bid to overturn the council's rejection of the plans for the "Kentish Wine Vault", then they need to do so by the end of September this year. No-one seems to have heard a peep out of them so far on that front.  Perhaps they have decided to give up on their Lord-Foster designed Xanadu, although I would be astounded if that were the case.  

It's worth noting that under the terms of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, Schedule 2 Permitted development rights, Part 6, Agricultural and forestry, Class A – agricultural development on units of 5 hectares or more (phew!), they are completely within their rights to build a building (or buildings) - for agricultural purposes (which would include wine making, but NOT restaurants/cafes. shops, visitors and corporate hospitality areas etc. etc.) - of up to 1000 square meters in floor area, without any need for council approval. Whether or not that would be big enough to handle their proposed 4 million bottles a year output, I don't know, but they are already operating a wine-producing plant at Luddesdown.  

MDCV/VF would still need planning approval for any access roads, but a new operational area at Barrow Hill may well come as a relief to the residents of Upper Bush, which although is itself classified as a conservation area, is now (so I gather) continually blighted by the noise of the "agricultural activities" now going on at the old Bush Farm, where VF seem to store a lot of their equipment.

In the absence of any information, we will have to wait and see.

Other local wineries, such as Chapel Down or Meopham, have web-sites that are regularly updated to keep people informed as to things that are happening on their estates. 

At the moment we get no such feedback from Vineyard Farms, although we are promised that a "Silverhand Estate" web page ("The Future Is Sparkling") is "coming soon".  I am looking forward to seeing what it has to say...

"Coming Soon" - to an AONB near you...

Meanwhile, careful where you tread on the "Silverhand Estate".  

Mark "Silverhand" Dixon's* minions are watching you...

*(The above link is to a Maxim magazine review of Mark Dixon's Chateau Du Berne vineyard in Provence, the last word in exclusive luxury vinotourism. It tells you a bit about Mr. Dixon and also about the other MDCV - "Mark Dixon Chateaux Vignobles" - vineyards in his French portfolio. The mass-produced cheap fizzy plonk that will be the staple of Vineyard Farms (the UK wing of MDCV), seems to be downmarket fare compared to that offered by his French operations - even with a Lord Foster-designed luxury playground. Even The Sun rated it as pretty average stuff...)