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He left school without qualifications and worked on the farm briefly until his father sold it. Roy then moved to London and continued his studies at the 'University of Life' - labouring, scaffolding, and working in a factory - but his life was about to change for ever. An advert in the Evening Standard caught his eye: 'Representatives needed on the continent - no experience necessary', selling real estate to American G.I.s near Paris. Roy was interviewed by an American with a big cigar and sensed he'd hit the big time! He and a friend were taken on but at the last minute the friend dropped out and the destination changed to Nuremburg in Germany. Roy was undeterred: "My Dad thought I was nuts. 6 months later I came back driving a VW Beetle; 18 months later - a brand new BMW!". By 1972 he was ready for a change. His savings had been badly depleted by the collapse of a Bahamian bank, but were sufficient to support him through A-levels, then a degree in Psychology and Philosophy in Cardiff. After graduation he returned to a caravan in Sussex, on land left to him by his grandfather. His life was one of self-sufficiency and organic gardening (Roy's first wines were parsnip, beetroot, blackberry and even pea-pod!), but he also needed to earn some money. He trained as a TEFL teacher and worked locally.   The estate In 1979, after planting his first acre of vines, Roy left for Germany, finding work in a language school in Karlsruhe. He met Irma (his future wife) and they moved back to the UK in 1984. He'd had been coming back to Sedlescombe during holidays to tend the vineyard before the first harvest in 1982. That year they harvested 400kg of grapes; a year later, close to 4 tonnes. Today the vineyard has expanded to 23 acres, which includes the vineyard at Bodiam Castle converted to organics in 1994 and the vineyard at Spilstead converted in 2006. Further plantings of two acres of black grape vines of the variety 'REGENT' were carried out in spring 2000, with additional acreage planted between 2001 and 2003. Now the Cooks produce approximately 15,000 bottles of organic English wine a year. Although there are a total of around 400 vineyards in Britain, Sedlescombe is one of only four which have adopted organic methods   Organic philosophy Although he'd had no formal training in viticulture or wine-making he enjoyed access to the many detailed books on practical grape-growing and wine-making published in German. It helped that the Sussex climate was broadly similar to German growing conditions. Roy's Sedlescombe Vineyard went into production of dry, refreshing organic white wines and delicious organic fruit juices. On the 1st June 2004, 20 years to the day that the Cooks returned from Germany, Roy bottled the UK's first oak matured organic red wine - a Regent, from their new Millennium vineyard planted in 2000, in a field bought from a neighbour when he gave up his dairy farm.   Regent Red Dry White Apple Juice, Pear Juice         Prosecco Frizzante 'Sora Loc', Perlage IGT (Italy) £7.60 Trio Trocken, Stefan Sander 2011 £8.10 Château de Boisfranc AC (Beaujolais) 2009 £8.60 Inzolia, Era IGT 2010/11 £7.10 Sangiovese, Era IGT 2010 £7.10

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