Surrey Hills · Silent Pool
Albury Organic Vineyard and Silent Pool sit side by side. So, conveniently, do we.
Albury Organic Vineyard is Surrey's organic vineyard, on the slope right beside Silent Pool, with the old Sherbourne Pond between them. The walk past the vineyard down to the pool is one of the prettiest short stretches in the hills.
Mandira's Kitchen is the 400-year-old converted cowshed on the track right there, serving handmade Indian food, masala chai, cake and Afternoon Tea seven days a week. Wine on the slope, chai in the barn, the pool in between. A good afternoon.
What you actually eat here
Lunch, seven days a week
Lunch is Indian street food, the kind Mandira grew up eating, not a curry-house menu. Samosa chaat with tamarind drizzle, papri chaat, biryani, kathi rolls, keema pav, the forbidden chilli cheese toast, all handmade with our own chutneys. Chai ice cream and lychee martini sorbet if you have room. Gluten-free options. Eat in the barn or out on the patio over the pool. Booking a table is wise, especially at weekends.
The weekend thali
At weekends we make a limited number of thalis: a round platter of small dishes that changes every week, and comes with a Bollywood playlist, a film recommendation and a quiz, because a thali should be an afternoon, not a plate. They must be pre-booked and are picked up Friday or Saturday.
Freezer meals to take home
The same food, cooked by hand in small batches in the barn and frozen the same day. Take a stack home from the cafe after lunch, or have them delivered anywhere in the UK in insulated boxes, free over £100.
A barn above one of England's strangest pools
Silent Pool is a spring-fed former chalk quarry on the Albury Estate, so still and so clear it looks lit from below. Tennyson came here to think. Agatha Christie's car was found just up the hill at Newlands Corner in 1926. Our barn sits on the track just above all of it, where pilgrims once walked the old North Downs way and the smell of ground cardamom now drifts across the hills by mid-morning. Four hundred years a cowshed. These days, something rather better fed.
Good questions, briefly answered
Is there a cafe near Albury Organic Vineyard?
Yes. Mandira's Kitchen sits right beside the vineyard at Silent Pool, a 400-year-old barn serving Indian lunch, chai, cake and Afternoon Tea seven days a week.
Can I visit the vineyard and the cafe together?
Yes. Albury Organic Vineyard, Silent Pool and Mandira's Kitchen are all within a short walk of each other off the A25 at Albury.
Is it part of the Hidden Treasures trail?
Mandira's Kitchen, Albury Organic Vineyard and Silent Pool Distillery run a joint self-guided Hidden Treasures trail around this corner of the Surrey Hills.
Where is it?
Silent Pool, Shere Road, Albury, Guildford, Surrey GU5 9BW, with free parking when you register at the cafe.
Book a table by the vineyard
Open seven days a week, on the track above Silent Pool.
Book a table by the vineyard →