h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I climb Ditchling Beacon and walk along the ridge of the South Downs. After a while, I stop and look northwards. I see fields, woods, churches, houses and the buildings of the Agricultural College. And vineyards. It's the vineyards that make me think about continuity and change.

This isn't, of course, a natural landscape. These slopes would originally have been covered by deciduous woodland. Humans started clearing the forest a long time ago, and replacing the trees with pasture for sheep. Later, the demand for wool diminished, the sheep almost disappeared and the towns at the foot of the Downs grew. The sinuous line of the Downs remains.

Where next for the Downs and their landscapes? The towns will go on growing, but what about the vineyards? Are they proof of climate change – that it's now warm enough in Sussex to produce wine? A few vineyards aren't a bad thing – it's quite amusing to think of Sussex as England's answer to Champagne. However, they might be an outlier – an early symptom of more radical climate change.There are places along this coast which would be vulnerable to sea level rise, and the chalk of the Downs is porous and easily eroded. No landscape is eternal.

I had a look at the BBC's 'How much of your area is built on' page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-41901294
Farmland: 68% Mid Sussex, 43% Brighton and Hove
Natural: 18% Mid Sussex, 1% Brighton and Hove
Built on: 9% Mid Sussex, 40% Brighton and Hove
Green Urban: 5% Mid Sussex, 15% Brighton and Hove

I'm currently terrified of the South Downs…

There are two vineyards on the Isle of Wight too – Adgestone and Rosemary.

<BB<

I didn't know there were vineyards in Sussex or IOW!

All most interesting.

When or where were the first grapes grown?

Who invented wine?



OK OK I'll go do my own research. .

According to this article, wine goes back to nearly 6000 BC!
http://time.com/5022813/worlds-oldest-wine-georgia-grapes/