It wasn’t all bad

A field in Cornwall has become the first single vineyard in the UK to be awarded Protected Designation of Origin status. To secure the designation – which took five years – Bob Lindo of Camel Valley wines had to show that the ancient slate subsoil and steep south-facing slopes of the Darnibole vineyard produce consistently good wines with a character unique to the area. “It’s a moment of history,” said Lindo, who began growing grapes on his former livestock farm 30 years ago.

An Indian climber has become the first woman to scale Mount Everest twice in five days. Anshu Jamsenpa, from the state of Arunachal Pradesh, climbed Everest by its Southeast Ridge route on 16 May and repeated the feat on 21 May – beating the previous record for the fastest double ascent by a woman by two days. The 37-year-old mother of two had previously climbed the mountain twice in ten days, in 2011. She now intends to reach the summit of Kangto, a 23,160ft mountain in Arunachal Pradesh that has never been climbed, as well as other “virgin peaks” in the Himalaya.

The world’s first wind farm powered by giant kites is to be built in the UK. Twenty of the kites, flying in loops more than 300 metres above the ground, will work in pairs to generate electricity by rotating a generator on the ground. Kite Power Systems plans to build the farm, which it says would produce enough electricity to power 5,500 homes, by 2020, at a location due to be confirmed later this year. Less obtrusive than wind turbines, the kites, each measuring up to 70 square metres, will also be cheaper to erect and easier to maintain.