After spending the last three years setting up the vineyard, founders Ann-Marie Tynan and Kristina Studzinski turned their attention to developing a winery to produce high quality rosé on-site.

Suzanne Craig, partner at accountants Knill James based in Lewes, has worked with the couple from the start of their adventure, and put them in touch with a specialist commercial broker who approached several banks on their behalf. Barclays proved the best fit, and having visited the vineyard and reviewed the winery business plans, approved £200,000 of funding.

Ms Studzinski said the new winery will help put Off The Line on the map, enabling the vineyard to produce its own wine. “Our first bottles, produced by a winery in Surrey, will be hitting the market in spring 2017 and by October, we’ll be pressing our own grapes! We’ve got big ambitions to make the best red and rosé wines in England.”

Off The Line has used local firms with relevant expertise every step of the way, from buying the land to accountancy and business development advice, brokering the loan, surveying the land and designing the winery.

Ms Craig said: “Starting up a vineyard is not an easy task – there aren’t many business models which require start-up finance to last three or four years before any return is produced.”