Stackpole Walled Garden Vineyard: A New Welsh Wine Project Rooted in 250 Years of Pembrokeshire Horticulture
Set on the National Trust Stackpole Estate in south Pembrokeshire, Stackpole Walled Garden Vineyard is one of the most unusual new vineyard projects in Wales. Although the 3.3 acre walled garden has been producing fruit and vegetables for the kitchen table for around 250 years, it was only in 2023 that a new one-acre vineyard of Solaris, Bacchus and Pinot Gris was planted on the site, with the first vintage of Stackpole's own label still white wine expected within five years. The project has been made possible by a generous donation from the Hywel Davies Residuary Trust.
The garden is owned by the National Trust and managed by the trustees of Pembrokeshire Mencap Ltd (registered charity no. 1128982), a social enterprise that uses the gardens as a working classroom for around 30 adults with learning disabilities. Admission to the gardens is always free, the tea room and shop are open daily, and any visitor can wander freely among the productive beds, the straw-bale visitor centre and the wild-flower meadow, with the new vineyard sitting naturally alongside the kitchen garden it will one day supply.
The new Stackpole vineyard
Stackpole's vineyard is a brand-new planting rather than a recovery of an old one, although the wider site has a deep history of fruit production under glass. The walled garden's southern wall once carried around 8,000 square feet of glasshouses, primarily used as vineries; the remains of the tying system, pineapple beds and ventilation can still be seen. The 2023 planting takes a more temperate, cool-climate Welsh approach, focusing on three aromatic white varieties suited to the Pembrokeshire maritime climate:
- Solaris - an early-ripening German PIWI variety, prized in the UK for its ability to reach full ripeness in marginal seasons.
- Bacchus - the UK's most-planted aromatic white grape, capable of producing intensely Sauvignon- and Riesling-style wines.
- Pinot Gris - a versatile, lightly coloured variety that produces fresh, textural wines from cool-climate sites.
Because the vines were only planted in 2023, no Stackpole wine is currently available to buy. The first commercial bottling is targeted for within five years of planting, meaning the earliest expected release is from the 2027 or 2028 vintage. Until then, the vineyard is being established and trained by the same team of supported horticultural workers who manage the rest of the garden, making this one of very few Welsh vineyards integrated into a working social-enterprise garden.
A garden with 250 years of provenance
The walled garden was created around 1770 by Sir John Campbell, who resided at Stackpole Court. The first documented evidence appears on the Stackpole Estate plan of 1782, which clearly shows a D-shaped garden with the same perimeter wall that survives today, though it was originally a single undivided space. By 1791 the head gardener had a staff of 14 men and 4 women producing plants and food for the house.
A dividing hot wall was added by 1818, effectively splitting the garden in two. A classic arch linked the two sections along with two Regency-style pavilions, each containing a partly underground lower room with brick-vaulted ceilings, cobbled floors and fireplaces feeding flues in the dividing wall - these were originally used for forcing melons and pineapples. Stone-built gardens to the east completed the layout that visitors see today.
The site's industrial archaeology is also worth a look: the underground coal-fired boiler house, built after 1815, is now a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest as a roost for Greater Horseshoe bats; the 8,000 sq ft of glasshouses on the south wall had disappeared by the time the site was leased to the charity in 1983; and one of the two roof-water reservoirs from the Victorian glasshouses can still be found in the garden.
Pembrokeshire Mencap and the social-enterprise model
After the demolition of Stackpole Court in 1963, the walled garden was briefly used as a market garden and then abandoned. In 1983, the Haverfordwest and Area Society for Mentally Handicapped Children and Adults leased 3.3 acres from the National Trust with a simple mission: to provide meaningful work experience for local adults with learning disabilities.
In 2002, with the arch between the two halves of the garden reopened, the Society renegotiated a 40-year lease that returned the site to its original size of almost six acres. Six years later, in 2008, the Society was incorporated and renamed Pembrokeshire Mencap Ltd. It is now the operating charity at Stackpole Walled Gardens and supports approximately 30 participants each year.
The site's stated charitable aims are:
- To provide work experience and horticultural training to adults and young people with learning disabilities.
- To develop participants' social skills in a friendly and caring environment.
- To encourage the development of self-worth and a sense of achievement through participation in a recognised qualification.
- To encourage inclusivity within the wider community.
- To provide good-quality fresh fruit and vegetables to local residents and visitors.
The horticultural training is structured around the City & Guilds Skills for Working Life course, run in partnership with Pembrokeshire College. Each participant can develop their own vegetable plot, choosing what to grow, tending their crops and harvesting the produce to take home, while also working alongside the team on the main productive beds.
The Visitor Centre
In 2009 the Society decided to build a new centre to expand its work and to complement the National Trust's wider plans for the Stackpole Estate. The resulting building, completed by May 2012, is a single-storey structure with a plastic-coated steel roof and lime-rendered straw-bale walls, deliberately echoing the shape of the gardener's bothies that once leaned against these very walls. The roof and drainage were completed by Cotton Building and Civil Engineering, with straw bales supplied by Abbott & Co (Wessex) Ltd and erected largely by volunteers including a team from the Prince's Trust.
The visitor centre today houses Cawdors Tea Rooms, the Garden Shop, the kitchen garden offices and a small interpretation space. Outside, the often-photographed wild-flower meadow and the large lawn provide a flexible event venue that the gardens now hire out.
Cawdors Tea Rooms
Cawdors - named after Lord Cawdor, who once owned the wider Stackpole Estate before it passed to the National Trust - is the on-site tea room, serving homemade food with as much garden and Pembrokeshire produce as possible. As holders of the Pembrokeshire Produce Mark, the kitchen commits to local sourcing where it can.
Key Pembrokeshire and Welsh suppliers include:
- Pant Mawr Farm, Rosebush - cheeses.
- Pant Ysgawn Farm, Abergavenny - goat's cheese.
- Upton Farm, Pembrokeshire - ice cream and frozen Welsh products, supplied via Upton Farm Frozen Foods, Pembroke Dock.
- Celtic Foodservice, Pembroke Dock - Welsh products wherever possible.
- Clynfyw Care Farm - pressed and pasteurised garden apple juice.
All cakes, except gluten-free and vegan options, are baked in-house. Café orders close before the garden does: last main menu orders are at 2.45 pm and last hot drinks and cake orders at 4.30 pm. The full menu is published on the Cawdors menu page; representative prices (subject to seasonal change) include:
Hot drinks
- Cappuccino - £3.20
- Americano - £3.00
- Latte - £3.20
- Espresso - £3.00 / Double Espresso - £4.00
- Hot Chocolate - £3.50 (add marshmallows and cream +£1.00)
- Herbal Tea or Welsh Brew Tea - £2.50
Cold drinks
- Welsh Princes Gate mineral water - £2.00
- Garden apple juice (Clynfyw) - £2.50
- Hartease Farm lightly sparkling Welsh fruit drinks - £2.80
- Folkingtons cans (Elderflower / Ginger Beer) - £2.40
Sweet tooth & daily menu (11 am - 3 pm)
- Homemade cakes - from £3.00 (selection of cakes £3.50).
- Chunky Stackpole sandwich (ham & mustard, tomato cheese & pickle/onion, or tuna mayo) in malted granary or white bread with salad garnish and crisps - £6.50.
- Homemade soup of the day with home-baked wholemeal bread - £6.50.
- Homemade quiche with four freshly made salads - £10.50.
- Local cheese Ploughman's - £11.00 (Perl Wen, Perl Las, Drewi Sant).
- Homemous with salads and fluffy flatbread - £9.50.
- Homemade mackerel pâté with salads and flatbread - £9.50.
- Hot buttered toast - £3.00.
- Child's chunky sandwich - £3.50; child's cheesy beans on toast - £3.50.
The Garden Shop and pick-your-own
The Garden Shop is open daily throughout the year and is the commercial engine that funds the charity's work. Stock includes:
- Daily harvested fruit and vegetables in season.
- A large range of plants and shrubs, including a good selection of perennials from £3.50.
- Handmade cards.
- Handmade nesting boxes and bird tables.
- Homemade chutneys and preserves made from garden produce.
Pick-your-own fruit
Stackpole is the only garden in Pembrokeshire offering pick-your-own soft fruit in season. PYO availability, all priced per pound, typically includes:
- PYO Strawberries - £2.00 / lb
- PYO Raspberries - £2.00 / lb
- PYO Gooseberries - £3.00 / lb
- PYO Currants - £2.00 / lb
Seasonal produce and price guide
The shop's published produce list (all prices per unit as marked) is updated throughout the year and gives a useful picture of what grows on the site alongside the vineyard:
- Artichoke - £0.50 each; Aubergine - £0.50+ each; Beetroot x 6 - £1.00 / lb.
- Broad beans - £1.50 / lb; French beans - £1.50 / lb; Runner beans - £2.00 / lb; Peas - £1.50 / lb.
- Cucumber - £0.70 each; Large Cucumber - £0.70 each; Russian Cucumber - £0.30 to £0.50 each.
- Courgettes - £1.50 / lb; Patty Pan Squash - £0.25 / lb; Various Squash - £1.00 each.
- Tomatoes - £2.00 / lb; Peppers - £0.40 each; Hungarian Black Chillies - £0.20 each.
- Peppers, potatoes (£0.50 / lb), mixed leaves (£0.70 each), spinach, chard and rocket - all from the kitchen garden.
- Rhubarb - £1.50 / lb (early) or £2.00 / lb (forced); cooking apples - £0.30 / lb; eating apples - £1.00 / lb; pears - £1.00 / lb.
- Asparagus - £3.00 each (peak season only).
- 6 local eggs - £1.50; Welsh honey - £8.00; local sustainable charcoal - £7.50; kindling bag - £5.00.
- Cut herbs: rosemary, mint, thyme, sage, parsley - £0.50 a bag; fennel - £0.50 a bag.
- Decorative bunches: sweet peas - £1.00 each; bunch radish - £0.90 each.
All prices are subject to seasonal change without notice. The shop also sells preserves and chutneys made from surplus garden produce, which are popular as gifts.
Volunteering and community support
The charity relies heavily on volunteer help and currently lists three categories of opportunity: retail assistants for the Garden Shop, gardener / student supporters to help alongside the participants on the beds, and trustees to help run the charity itself. No experience is necessary and training is provided where appropriate, and all volunteers are supported through enhanced DBS/CRB clearance arranged by the charity at no cost. A volunteer information pack can be downloaded as a PDF, and applications can be made via the online application form.
If you can't volunteer but still want to help, the Help Us Out page lists several options: cash donations at the gate (with a Gift Aid form available), nominating the gardens as your office charity of the year, organising a fundraising event, or leaving a legacy. Online donations can be made via the charity's JustGiving page.
Opening times and events
The gardens, Garden Shop and Cawdors Tea Room are open daily from 10 am to 5 pm through the main season (in 2026 the published open period runs from 30 March to 1 November). Admission is always free. The site does run occasional special-event closures; the published diary shows one private-hire closure on Saturday 5 September 2026. The events calendar and full events list carry any additional closures.
Past community events have included the Summer Feast - a hog-roast evening with music from the Cleddau Flute Choir and the Stackpole Singers (early-bird tickets £12.50 / £15 on the night, child under 12 £6.50 / £8 on the night) - and Half Term Halloween Fun. The events calendar is updated regularly with new dates, especially around school holidays.
Getting there and EV charging
The gardens lie just off the B4319 between Pembroke and Stackpole / Bosherston, on the wider National Trust Stackpole Estate. Driving directions can be loaded directly into Google Maps. Electric vehicles are catered for: there are two EV charging bays near the gardens, and visitors planning a longer tour of Pembrokeshire can search for additional charging points around the county using an EV charge-point finder.
The site's full address is Stackpole Walled Gardens, Stackpole Estate, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire SA71 5DJ; telephone 01646 661 442; email info@stackpole-walledgardens.co.uk. An interactive on-site map is available at the map page.
Why Stackpole matters for Welsh wine
Most of the headlines in Welsh wine are currently made by vineyards whose sole purpose is to grow grapes. Stackpole is the reverse: a working horticultural charity that has just added wine to a long list of food crops. The same hands that pick strawberries for the Garden Shop and train tomatoes in the kitchen garden will eventually pick Solaris, Bacchus and Pinot Gris from the new vineyard, and the resulting wine will be sold in the same shop that already stocks the garden's fruit, vegetables, eggs, honey, preserves and plants. When the first Stackpole Walled Garden Vineyard wine is released, it will be one of the most distinctive provenance stories in British wine - a still white from a 250-year-old walled garden, raised by a Pembrokeshire Mencap charity, on a National Trust estate on the Pembrokeshire coast.