How to spend your retirement? In Kentish vineyards
When I first qualified as a doctor I didn’t really want to go into anaesthetics because I thought all the patients would be asleep and there’d be no one to talk to! I had a wonderful attachment at my medical school (the Middlesex), where they let us do things and they taught us. What more could you want? I initially worked in ENT until a wonderful anaesthetist, Bob Thompson (perhaps worried for patients by my ineptitude removing tonsils) persuaded me to give anaesthetics a go. I started in Dover, east Kent and was sold within days. Next, I rotated though Guys and then St. Thomas’, developing an interest in regional anaesthesia and pain medicine. In the end, by huge good fortune, I completed a full circle returning to east Kent as a consultant tasked with establishing a Chronic Pain Management clinic in Ashford and Dover. Over 25+ years lots happened, not least my becoming involved with palliative care and local hospices, but also medical education. I opted for early retirement planning to continue my involvement with undergraduate medical education: however along came COVID changing the education picture entirely. Suddenly I had no medical links and no real retirement plans.
A colleague once told me what you needed in retirement was a ‘paid hobby’. I’d hoped my undergraduate education would fit the bill, but my particular areas: chronic conditions, pain, and professionalism, where not what was required in spring 2020 when COVID emerged. And when things started returning to normal, well, everyone had moved on and all my links and connections had been lost.
Finding a new paid hobby
As a brand-new houseman in the early 80s I remember clerking in a gentleman from north Kent who gave his job as “Viticulturist and winemaker”. He was a delightful chap, and when he left hospital after extensive surgery, he was kind enough to leave my SHO and I two gifts: a chocolate cake and a bottle of his wine. To my shame I hoped I’d get the cake: but my SHO pulled rank, and with less than good grace I took the bottle home. It was the 80s remember, Kentish still white wine, would it even be drinkable? And yet I can still taste that first sip... I was transported out of my dingy hospital accommodation to Kentish fields and meadows: crisp and dry, fruity with elderflower. I was converted! I vowed to make up for my bad manners and ignorance by drinking English wine wherever and whenever I could, a promise I have stuck to over many years!
I was lucky, living in Kent and being on anaesthetic rotations in Kent and Sussex, there was often a vineyard nearby. At different times Chapel Down, Breaky Bottom and Gusbourne vineyards were all within just a few minutes’ drive, and I made the most of their closeness!
Over the years I drunk a lot of English wine, and as a family we visited several vineyards and had most enjoyable tours and tastings. One day, whilst stocking up at a local vineyard there was discussion about Kentish wine, and my son suggested I really ought to do tours. To my surprise a member of staff enquired whether I would indeed be interested, and suggested I apply. I needed a lot of instruction, but a few months later I was doing shifts in the shop and taking my first tours.
A day at the vineyard
I was extremely lucky. I took public and private tours of the vineyard and winery and then conducted tastings. By comparison to medicine, they were wonderfully civilised hours! I would arrive at 10:15 and spend some time wandering through the vineyard: it’s always good to see what the vineyard team are doing, but more importantly look at the vines themselves. There’s always something interesting to see and it was lovely to work out what would be best to show guests. I would go into the winery to see what work was going on there and what would be most interesting to see. Then it was greeting our guests, and out for the tour. The material to cover was clearly laid out by the vineyard team and timings were precise (no over running consultations tolerated here!). Then there was a tasting of three or four wines very carefully chosen to demonstrate the essence of that particular winemaker. After that we left the guests to just enjoy the wonderful location but remained on hand to chat, answer questions, and encourage sales! Sadly, I have recently been informed I have been “let go” by the vineyard I worked in for two years in a reorganisation... so, what 2025 will bring remains to be seen!