We have a high population of deer locally which must be excluded - deer love to eat young vines and can completely devastate a vineyard. Consequently the whole vineyard was surrounded by deer fencing...
Poulton Hill occupies quite an exposed position so 800 Italian alder were planted to form windreaks around the blocks. To assist with drainage a ditch was dug along the southern edge of the vineyard area which was also mole-ploughed to help draining into the ditch.
After a site evaluation by Simon Day of Vine & Wine, Max Thomas gave the go-ahead to plant a 7-acre vineyard on a gentle south-south-east facing slope at Poulton Hill Farm near Cirencester in Gloucestershire.