Our wine expert David Carne paid a visit to a family-run ‘hidden gem’ just a 20-mile drive from the centre of Brum
Buzzards Valley, is a 60-acre site located just a 20-mile drive from central Birmingham and welcomes around 1,000 visitors a week. Owners, brother and sister Leon and Yvonne Jones, have taken on their father Ivan’s vision and continued to develop the site for wine, leisure and retail purposes.
Initially established as a farm, and transformed into a vineyard in 2001, Buzzards Valley is now a thriving collection of six fishing lakes, a free nature trail, a woodland retreat, a bistro and a thriving community of on-site businesses.
RISING FROM THE ASHES
But the thriving business Buzzards Valley is today, was by no means guaranteed, and indeed could be said to have risen out of the ashes of a devastating bout of foot and mouth disease which ended the possibility of cattle farming for the family. Pivoting initially to growing vegetables, and then extremely popular dried flowers, Ivan had a grand vision to create six fishing lakes and plant 4,000 trees for leisure purposes.
Then in 2001, came the inspiration to plant vines for winemaking. Ivan got to see the vineyard established before his death in 2007, when son Leon took on the mantle of the winemaking. Since then, the site has diversified and is now a collection of individual boutique businesses and leisure activities.
TASTE OF NATURE
A couple of years ago, Buzzards Valley appointed Jayne Dale as artisan shop manager, a move which turned out to be another significant part of Buzzard Valley’s development journey. Seeing the amount of available land, Jayne bid for funds to create a nature trail and woodland retreat. The trail can be accessed free of charge between March and December.
A new range of wine tastings have been launched including a rustic wine tasting, sweet potato spirit tasting, a wine and chocolate tasting and a ‘all about the reds’ tasting, as well. Tastings can be combined with food from the neighbouring Kiki’s bistro for another dimension. The chocolate and wine tasting includes handmade Belgian chocolates, which are very popular with visitors.
THRIVING COMMUNITY
The site hosts a collection of businesses selling everything from furniture and specialist flooring to garden buildings and even beauty treatments. The artisan shop has a stunning collection of products. Jayne said: “We pride ourselves on buying as locally as we can in the artisan shop. We stock local relishes, jams, chutney, cheeses, honey, selling fine foods and drink and gifts mainly from the UK. We specialize in bespoke hampers, making them throughout the year but Christmas is our busiest time.” Boutique markets take place monthly, March to December, to showcase artisan products.
THE FUTURE
Sadly, due to family illness, the vineyard was dormant in 2025. The family are keen to see it brought back to life and are currently looking to find someone who wants to take on the winemaking part of the business. This promises to be a great opportunity for a budding wine maker. In the meantime, the thriving nature activities, fishing and diverse shopping experiences are going strong. What better reason, to get out and explore this hidden gem!