‘My father said, now for the long, thirsty wait’
Henry Warde’s family has lived at Squerryes Court in Kent since 1731 but, as Katy Salter discovers, the first bottle of the estate’s award-winning wine was made just five years ago
Licet Esse Beatis: It is permitted to be joyful. This is the Warde family motto, which is engraved above the entrance of Squerryes Court. “It is a constant reminder to do things that bring joy,” says Henry Warde, who grew up in the 17th-century manor near Westerham, Kent, and is the eighth generation of Wardes to inhabit the house.
Joy hasn’t always flowed freely at Squerryes. After the Second World War, Warde’s grandmother Ann “dug her heels in” to keep the house going, when others were selling up. “It took a particular steel to take the house on,” says Warde. “The story is that Winston Churchill [the Wardes’ neighbour at nearby Chartwell] didn’t particularly like my grandmother because she was so ferocious.”
Ann and her husband, John, opened the 12-bedroom house – built in 1681 – to visitors in the Fifties, sold much of the library and knocked down two Victorian wings. Henry’s father, John, managed the estate’s farms. “The family history was always one of parties and entertaining, but the money started to run out and it became hugely hard work for my grandparents and my parents. What we’re doing – our generation – is working hard, but having lots of fun doing it.” Central to Warde’s mission to restore joy are their award-winning English wines made with grapes grown on the 2,500-acre estate.
Henry, his wife, Claire, and their four children, Isabella, 12, Clemmie, 10, Rosie, seven, and William, six, moved into Squerryes Court in 2013 when Warde’s father retired. “My father recently reminded me that he was the first generation to move out of the house, rather than be carried out. It was a pragmatic decision, but the right one – the house needs a young family to come alive,” says Warde, the second of three children. “My older brother, Charlie, spoke to me when I was 18 and said, ‘I’m not sure if I can do this [take on the house].’ He’s an artist, and was focused on London, whereas I was the one who went with Dad to the farm; the one who loved country life. It made sense. The decision became official when I was 23.”
“We knew we’d be taking on the house, and it was my idea of a nightmare, to be honest,” says Claire. The couple met at Oxford and lived in London and Cambridge, where Henry trained as an accountant with Deloitte before taking over Squerryes Court. “I asked Henry if he’d give it up if I couldn’t cope, and he assured me he would. I hated hearing mention of this place while we were in London. The day we moved in, all that anxiety fell away. I knew we’d make our own mark and my inlaws were so kind. They took their hands off the tiller.”
The Wardes renovated the rear of the house, creating a private entrance hall from the former servants’ entrance, and a large farmhouse kitchen by knocking together a smaller kitchen and dining room. “We hunkered down in the library for 18 months, because this part was a building site,” says Claire. “We used the commercial kitchen for meals, wheeling a trolley back to the library.”
Henry and Claire closed the house to regular visitors, and now open only on special occasions. “The big difference between my childhood and the children’s is that, for me, on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays the house was always open to visitors,” says Henry. “It
was fine – part of our lives – but something I’m glad my children don’t have.”
The first inkling for Warde that this house was not a regular home came when he was seven. “I remember using the excuse that I hadn’t done my homework because I lost my books and couldn’t find them in our big house,” he recalls. “I was scolded by my teacher and it was a moment when I realised people looked at my family differently.”
The house has been in the family since 1731. It was built in 1681 for Sir Nicholas Crispe, 1st Baronet and bought by John Warde 50 years later. His great uncle, Sir Patience Warde, was Lord Mayor of London in 1680, and his portrait hangs over the fireplace in Squerryes’ entrance hall. Sir Patience traded wool to the French for red wine, which he then sold to working Londoners, bringing a bit of Licet Esse Beatis to the capital. Other notable portraits in the house include works by Stubbs, Rubens and a Warde family group by John Wootton, the hall visible in the background. The drawing room houses the Dutch collection, including works by Van Dyck and Van der Helst.
The collection of Imari porcelain vases from the 1690s has found a more unconventional home: on top of the cabinets in the Wardes’ kitchen, where they share space with Mary Berry cookbooks and the children’s art projects. “The vases were down in the cellar, so we’ve resurrected them,” explains Claire. This blending of grand estate and modern family life is echoed in the gardens, where the children play on the same fallen tree their father loved (“it fell down in the Fifties, and was so difficult to cut up that it’s still there”).
Their play space is also home to impressive formal gardens, with the original design inspired by Hampton Court. Each generation since has left its mark. When the Warde family bought the house in the 1730s, they landscaped the grounds in the style of Capability Brown; later, the Victorians were not keen gardeners but added a rockery. The great storm of 1987 was the catalyst to redesign the garden, after 150 trees were blown down. Henry’s mother, Anthea, restored the garden to the original 1680s designs, adding parterres and a pleached-lime walk in the shape of a wine glass.
Warde is determined that his generation’s mark will be the sparkling wine. A French champagne house visited Squerryes in 2004, hoping to purchase some land: the chalk soil of the North Downs, and the slightly cooler temperature, made the land a savvy bet against climate change. They failed to reach a deal. Instead, Warde and his father, John, planted 36 acres of vines in 2006. They now have 2,500 acres. “As the first vine went in, my father said, ‘Now starts the long, thirsty wait.’ We had our first harvest in 2010 and first bottle in 2014. I felt relief when we opened that bottle. Because we’re putting our name on it, for us it must be world-class. The wine is a joy, something we’re hugely proud of.”
The sparkling brut and rosé wines have already racked up accolades, including a platinum medal at the 2019 World Wine Awards. A new restaurant at the winery pairs the wines with British seafood, a favourite of the Wardes. “The sparkling wine and the restaurant [will] secure the future of the estate for generations to come. In 30 years, I firmly believe that globally, England will be as renowned as Champagne for sparkling wine.”
The 2019 harvest was tough, recalls Warde. “It didn’t stop raining. We managed to harvest in time, and the quality is great in the tanks, but it was a struggle.” After that and opening the restaurant, the Wardes are looking forward to Christmas at the house. A 16ft Kent tree dominates the hall, where Squerryes’ members are encouraged to collect their Christmas case of sparkling wine and enjoy a glass. Once the guests have gone, the presents are piled under the tree and the giant Jenga comes out. Joyful, indeed.
‘In 30 years, I believe that England will be as renowned for sparkling wine as Champagne’