Tillingham, Peamarsh, East Sussex: ‘Not much cooking was going on’ – restaurant review

The restaurant of this farm in breathtakingly beautiful countryside is missing its potential

Tillingham is essentially a natural biodynamic wine production business working over 70 acres of gently rolling countryside, near Rye and the Romney Marshes in East Sussex. If only their main trouble was making bottles of chardonnay and pinot blanc, or selling pretty Tillingham tea towels at £36 a pop. But no, Tillingham has (quite literally) many other plates to juggle: it has a fancy restaurant and a vast barn from which they serve pizza, too.

There’s also the option to stay over in bell tents, no less, if posh hen weekends or corporate bonding sessions are required. Or in bricks-and-mortar rooms with actual plumbing, if the tent’s compost toilet is not for you. If all this isn’t distracting enough, much of Tillingham’s workforce must be drained dealing with its frequent wine tours; wine experts plod groups of natural wine buffs around the sheds, talking lovingly of clay vessel spontaneous fermentation and how nettle tea aids vine health. All that while handing out samples of natural wine, which naysayers might find quite challenging, if not verging on abrasive.