Life is a funny thing sometimes. You find your path but, for whatever reason, you deviate from it and explore other avenues, only to come full circle and back to your chosen way in life. Nowhere is that more true than with John Hemmant from Chet Valley Vineyard in Bergh Apton. Norfolk’s original winemaker John and his wife, Bridget, are behind the iconic Skylark range that is enjoyed by so many, but few realise that John had a vineyard here back in the 1990s. I speak to this dedicated couple to find out more about Chet Valley, John’s deep-rooted passion for wine, and why no matter where life took him, Norfolk always remained a strong pull for him. “There is no doubt that the soul of me is in the land of Norfolk,” declares John as we chat about all things Chet on a July day. “I always knew that, wherever life took me, I would come back here. I inherited some land just as I graduated from university, but I ventured into the world of work rather than returning to where my heart belongs. But I am back here now, and I am here to stay.” It was in the 1990s, when John was in his 20s, that he first became interested in wines and vines. Brought up on the Hemmant family farm in Sisland on the Chet Valley, just down the road from Bergh Apton, John completed the WSET (Wine and Spirit Education Trust) qualifications under Frank Leatherdale, East Anglia’s leading wine tutor for many years. John planted a small vineyard on the farm in 1993 and made some sparkling wines, winning a Silver medal in the East Anglia Wine Awards with his first vintage, a feat of which he remains very proud. When John later left Norfolk, the vines were kept going for a while by some friends before the vineyard gradually fell away. “I was Norfolk’s original winemaker – and after a break of 15 years or so, I came back and I am making award-winning wines again!” grins John. “My original vineyard was just a little further down the valley from where Chet Valley Vineyard is based now. I learned a lot with the first vineyard – and definitely, it has been easier the second time around!” However, having studied chemistry at Keele University, John left Norfolk to start a career that would take him all over the UK as he felt he should give something back having had his education paid for through a university grant. It was then that John’s great-uncle Fred passed away, leaving White House Farm in Bergh Apton to him and his brother, Paul. “Uncle Fred was a great horseman, a Whipper-in of the Dunston Harriers, and very active in the horse world. He also had a steam engine, and really was an amazing character. I was 22 when he died, but it would be another decade before our inheritance actually passed to us, so during that time I was away working.” First, John worked at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich Science Park as a scientific officer and interestingly, he worked with pea protein there. “It was something very relevant at the time of EU grain mountains as an alternative crop,” recalls John. “My knowledge of pea chemistry is now very useful in wine production as an understanding of protein chemistry in wine, helps refine and stabilise the finished product.” From there, John went to British Sugar, where he worked as an industrial chemist. “Then the Thatcher years came along, and I sold my soul to the City and went to work in London!” he continues. “I then retrained and offered investment advice, and I went to the Isle of Man and worked there for seven years as a financial regulator.” However, the land John owned in Norfolk was always in the back of his mind and, once the brothers finally received their inheritance, John started coming back to the county more and more frequently. “The farmhouse was very forlorn, so I would return to Norfolk at weekends to renovate the buildings,” he explains. “Even when I lived away, I have always felt anchored to Norfolk – I knew exactly where I felt I belonged, and where was ‘home’ – I have a strong sense of place. But many of the people I worked with couldn’t conceive of having a tie to a place.” With John’s parents getting older, he decided that it was time to make the move back to Norfolk once and for all, and he set about converting the old stables to an art centre, Anteros, which he managed for two or three years. John was then approached to run the old King of Hearts Arts Centre in Norwich, which he did for a short time. The Centre is now the Anteros Arts Foundation and is run by Felicity, John’s daughter from his first marriage. It was once John had fully settled in Norfolk that he met Bridget, née Mulholland MD FRCOphth, a Consultant Ophthalmologist at the James Paget and Norfolk and Norwich University (N&N) Hospitals as well as honorary senior lecturer at the UEA. Originally from the Isle of Wight and having trained at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and spent a year in Perth, Australia, Bridget came to Norfolk to work at the N&N. She has since fallen in love with Norfolk and loves the county as much as someone born here, especially the county’s famed big skies. She recalls that when she first moved to Norfolk, she joined the Norfolk Wine Club, something that had grown from John’s original vineyard ‘cooperative’, but she did not meet him at that ime. However, fate played its hand. “Everyone in the village said that I must meet Bridget as we would be very well suited to each other,” smiles John. “Even my brother said that she would make a good sister-in-law, and that was before we had met! We finally met at the local … Continue reading The Norfolk Foodie – Chet Valley Vineyard