Event | Digital Gift Cards | For Distillery Tours

Excellent tour in a great setting. History, geography and gin making all in one!

We had a wonderful tour with Hugh. He enthusiastically explained how he distilled his gins and we tasted several which were delicious! As well as the gin process, Hugh gave us an interesting history lesson on the local area and showed us his botanical garden and neighbouring vineyard. I would thoroughly recommend this tour.

An interesting experience for Gin lovers - this event covers local history, the garden / botanicals / wildlife and the vineyard before moving into the distillery. Here you get to sample botanicals before getting to sample plenty of gins. (A lift is recommended.)
Hugh was a great host, very interesting to talk to and plenty of time to learn more about him, Downton and the Gins themselves. Very enjoyable. Highly recommended.

A really enjoyable visit, very informative about the everything from the history of the the area , the botanicals used. And the tasting session was brilliant!! A truly brilliant experience, you really could see and feel Hugh's passion for his product

Superb tour. A comprehensive insight into the gin making process unique to the distillery starting with the botanical garden, history of the area and a visit to the vineyard to understand how everything used is part of a circular process. Then inside to hear about and discuss the thought processes that go into choosing the right botanicals to flavour the gins accompanied by tasting botanicals, distillates and the final products. Hugh is thoroughly engaging, knowledgeable and passionate about his subject and this shines through. Wholeheartedly recommend.

Amazing tour, with an amazing host and even better- he is sipping you every possible goody which makes you even happier.

Fascinating information, Hugh is a fountain of knowledge when it comes to distilling using locally sourced ingredients. Downton Distillery may be small but it punches well above it's weight and the quality and variety shines through.

Thankyou so much Hugh for an amazing afternoon. We learnt so much in a really relaxed atmosphere. Your enthusiasm and knowledge was really engaging. I can't recommend this enough!

Very laid back, enjoyable and informative tour with Hugh, who gave us an overview of the history and landscape and how that feeds into the inspiration behind Downton Distillery, its ethos and sustainability. Topped off of course with a tasting of a selection of quality spirits, the story behind them, and a Q&A. Well worth it and would recommend.

WOW, after having been on a few distillery tours this was by far the most outstanding.
Hugh, owner, distiller was remarkable and shared so much interesting history of the area and the land,and how his products then represented all this information.
The products Downton gin, the Great Bustard Gin and the Orchard spirits were an absolute delight to taste and understand the reasons behind their existence.
Another perfect addition was the small herb and botanical garden that Hugh uses to allow touch / taste to happen, also to see what / how the plants grow.
The final huge positive is the care to environment and recycling, plus Downtons ongoing involvement in the helping to sustain the flocks of Great Bustards in the area by working and donating with The Great Bustard Group.

Definitely will return. 🤗

I can’t recommend this tour strongly enough. Hugh is an erudite and engaging host who weaves history, geography and botany into his magical spirits. You don’t spend 20 minutes staring at a still, but learn how and why they were created and the craft involved in their production. A spellbinding couple of hours.

The Distillery Short Tour with Hugh is without doubt one of the most interesting and engaging events that I have ever had the pleasure of attending. We leant so much about the history of the area, the land, and the local botanicals that Hugh is nurturing into amazing gins. Hugh's knowledge, passion, and pure enthusiasm for the art of distilling is infectious and you cannot help but be swept along with his story. And what a fabulous journey he takes you on culminating in the tasting their flagship Explorers Gin and the more recent Great Bustard Gin. Along the way Hugh offers you the opportunity to walk around the small but perfectly formed distillery, the grounds around the distillery and their beautiful views. He explains the process behind his distilling and invites you to taste some of his recent projects and ideas. Some very interesting and curious mixes of gins and other spirits but without doubt the stars of the show is the Explores and Great Bustard gins. They look great in my drinks cabinet at home. I would highly recommend this tour to anyone.

A very informative and fun tour. Hugh told us all about the history of the area and making the gin. Great to see the juniper and some other botanicals used in the gin growing in his garden. We loved his passion and enthusiasm for the product and
his approach to the ingredients, sustainability and conservation. Excellent and personable service. We enjoyed the tasting samples of gins and some new ideas for future products. Furthering our awareness of the subtle, unique differences to each of the various exotic botanical elements. Love the gin and our friends loved it too. Thank you Hugh for the lovely experience.

Hugh is the perfect host, relating the Downton Distillery to the history and geography of the surrounding area. His enthusiasm is infectious and we left with a much better understanding of the workings of the gin and related industries and more importantly, what makes a good gin.

This was a birthday present for my husband, and I got to come along too. It far exceeded our expectations, as it felt so personal being introduced to the operation by its founder, owner and sole worker. The tour was wide-ranging in scope, covering history, horticulture, ecology, recycling, and all that before we even entered the premises. Then the tasting was so cleverly structured, showing us the elements that go into developing a new gin before we tasted the final product. The drinks were so different from each other and all delicious, and Hugh was really generous with his time. Great fun.

Having done various tours it was a joy to be given a hands on experience with Hugh at Downton Distillery. It was well paced, no topic was off topic, his passion showed through the various samples and distillates he took us through. He even walked us through how one of James May’s recipes was created, with various cocktails then made at the end, it felt like I was having fun around a friends kitchen table! More then four hours passed and I can not thank Downton enough for their time and fun.

We really enjoyed our long tour, where Huw gave us a fascinating insight into the development of a new gin, through the distillation process, and then to bottling! It was also lovely to see the botanicals in his herb garden. Participating in the bottling, including personally signing bottles, was really fun. The final cocktails and chance to chat with Huw made an excellent end to the tour!
Very highly recommended!!

We did the long tour, it was really enjoyable. Bottling was fun, and we learnt a lot about Hugh's approach to his craft

I purchased two tour gift cards for my sister’s significant birthday. Before purchase I had emailed Downton and Hugh responded with helpful information and support. My sister is over the moon with the gift and is looking to book for the summer.

My wife and I were the only ones on the tour, which meant it was like a private tour with Hugh. You couldn’t get a more passionate, keen, knowledgeable guide, he made us extremely comfortable and kept us entertained.

I booked the long tour for a group of four friends. We were so impressed with Hugh’s knowledge of gin and the whole process from start to finish. He is very passionate about his product and it is clear a lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone into it. We throughly enjoyed our tour, which was obviously helped by the weather and the delicious cocktails at the end! Thank you for a lovely day Hugh.

Fantastic experience with the very knowledgable Hugh. He was open to any questions and just good fun. Highly recommend a visit and trying some of his produce

We had a fantastic tour. Hugh was great, made us feel very welcome and we very much enjoyed the tour and getting hands on with part of the process. It was clear that this is a passion for Hugh. We have done lots of different tours but this was on a different level. We would highly recommend this tour to everyone.

A visit to Downton Distillery may be advertised to you as an activity; it isn’t – it is an experience. As soon as you arrive Hugh is busy putting you at your ease, talking about his life and love of nature. He gently explores your background identifying common areas of interest. He is a quiet master at gaining your trust. The tour started outside with a talk about Juniper. Most of us know next to nothing about Juniper, even if you drink gin. Hugh is an aficionado and guides you through a number of different varieties that he is growing on site. He waxes lyrical about his plans to expand his juniper planting and even taking over the next field to grow even more of it.
A short walk from the distillery you discover a well-kept secret, a large vineyard sited on a south facing slope taking full advantage. Hugh has plans for additional concoctions to add to his gin stable, and joining forces with the vineyard is a key part of that plan. Waste products from both businesses go to help the other thrive. It is a beautiful symbiosis.
Back in the distillery proper we now meet Hugh’s distillation collection. He has literally dozens upon dozens of bottles each containing the distilled essence of a single botanical – mushroom, beetroot, celery, walnut etc. Hugh must have wracked his brain to identify every conceivable contender for a gin botanical and then laboriously distilled it. From this he can be begin to build a recipe for a new drink, knowing exactly how it emerges from the distillation.
We were meant to be there 90 minutes, at 150 minutes we had to call a halt – we could easily have gone on for another hour or two, and Hugh looked all set to accommodate that. His boundless enthusiasm made this an enormously fulfilling and entertaining morning.

We booked the short distillery tour…..Hugh was very knowledgeable, hospitable and we had such a great time. Highly recommend.