Eleanor Muriel Berwick (born 4 November 1943), previously Knowles, is a retired English wine-grower. Born in 1943 at Mengo, in

British East Africa East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was a British protectorate in the African Great Lakes, occupying roughly the same area as present-day Kenya, from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Cont ...

, Eleanor Knowles was the daughter of Robert Knowles

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, Commissioner of Trade and Customs, by his marriage to Phyllis Muriel Jarrett. In 1947, the family moved to

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo wa ...

. She returned to Britain to be educated at

St Winifred's School St Winifred's School was a school for girls in Llanfairfechan, Conwy County Borough, Wales. History St. Winifred's was founded on 3 May 1887 and named after the 7th-century Welsh saint, Winefride. Its driving force and primary sponsor was ...

Llanfairfechan ; ) is a town and community in the Conwy County Borough, Wales. It is known as a seaside resort and had a population at the 2001 Census of 3,755, reducing to 3,637 at the 2011 Census. The history of the area dates back to at least Roman time ...

, Kendal Girls High School, Westmorland, and

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

.''Newnham College Register, 1871—1971: 1951–1970'' (Newnham College, 1990), p. 160 On leaving Cambridge in 1964, she married Ian Berwick MBE; they have two sons. In 1974, after retiring from the rubber industry, Eleanor and Ian Berwick planted Bruisyard, a ten-acre vineyard at the village of the same name near

Saxmundham Saxmundham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is set in the valley of the River Fromus about north-east of Ipswich and west of the coast at Sizewell. The town is bypassed ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, unusually deciding to plant only

Müller-Thurgau Müller-Thurgau () is a white grape variety (sp. ''Vitis vinifera'') which was created by Hermann Müller from the Swiss Canton of Thurgau in 1882 at the Geisenheim Grape Breeding Institute in Germany. It is a crossing of Riesling with Made ...

vines. By 1984 they were among the most successful of English wine growers, and at a time of renewed interest in wine-growing helped to spread the news that establishing commercial vineyards in Britain was now possible. In 1997 Ian Berwick was chairman of the United Kingdom Vineyards Association. In 2005, Eleanor Berwick was a member of the Bruisyard Parish Plan Committee. The Bruisyard vineyard continued to produce wine following the retirement of the couple, becoming also a herb centre.Bruisyard Winery, Vineyard and Herb Centre
britinfo.net, accessed 15 August 2021

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berwick, Eleanor 1943 births Living people Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge British expatriates in the East Africa Protectorate English viticulturists People educated at St Winifred's School