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EuroMillions winner plants English vineyard

16 April 2024 By Sarah Neish

Lottery winner Adrian Bayford, who won the EuroMillions jackpot in 2012, has planted a vineyard on his estate in Suffolk.

EuroMillions winner Adrian Bayford, who pocketed £148million, is rumoured to have planted Meunier vines on his property’s estate in the Suffolk town of Haverhill, leading to speculation that he is about to enter the world of English sparkling production.

Any wine business he starts would be neighbours with fellow English sparkling producers Flint, Giffords Hall and Coopers Croft. But he could be sitting on the ideal terroir for English fizz. Vineyards in Suffolk are known for their flat fields and are among some of the driest in England making them ideal growing conditions for grapes.

Bayford already owns The Rose and Crown pub in Ashdon, Essex, which he bought in 2013 for £375,000. Shortly after the purchase he came under fire from local residents for evicting a family who had run the pub for five years.

In 2021, disgruntled locals tried to club together to put £300,000 towards buying back the Grade II-listed pub from Bayford.

At the time, Ashdon parish council vice chairman Philip Player said he would welcome a community bid for the pub, but the drinks business has been unable to ascertain whether or not the bid was successful.

Bayford’s potential move into wine could be made all the more interesting by the fact that South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) has given permission for an annual four-day festival to take place at his Horseheath Lodge Estate.

The Cambridge Rock Festival was held at the estate in 2017 and 2018 but was cancelled after Bayford was told he would have to apply for a permanent licence rather than the temporary licence previously used.

The new licence allows up to 1,500 people to attend the event – including staff, contractors and entertainers.

Should Bayford choose to serve his own English sparkling wine behind bars at future iterations of the festival, it could prove an effective marketing move to kickstart his wine label.

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