Staunton Harold Estate
"For position, Staunton Harold, the house and the chapel, are unsurpassed in the country - certainly as far as Englishness is concerned" Pevsner, The Buildings of England.
Staunton Harold Hall & Estate Bulletin No 71 - 7th May 2012
My italian teacher missed our session two weeks ago, out in Tuscany checking calf skins (pelle) for the fashion house she works for. Ah! I said, that figures, the italians eat a lot of veal (vitello), so they have plenty of skins. Oh no, nothing so simple; the calf skins come New Zealand to be tanned in Italy. After that they go to China to be made up into handbags and so on, then to England to be sold. New Zealand, Italy, China, England, - havenʼt these people heard of ʻlocalism?ʼ
I suppose what we have here is cheap raw material in one country, traditional skills in another, cheap labour in a third, and a wealthy market in a fourth. These factors outweigh the transport costs over the considerable distances involved. The system pays wages in
all those countries and, for good or ill, it isnʼt going to change any time soon.
By contrast, here at little old Staunton, localism is being extended. We already do more for ourselves than most through the Ferrers Centre and having our own workforce; now we have restarted our own small joinery department to complement the sawmill and the
woodlands. Itʼs a good feeling to repair a window with oak from a tree grown just up the road. Another innovation is running our diesel vehicles on biofuel, made from rapeseed oil currently much in evidence as great swathes of yellow across the countryside. Just one vehicle at present till weʼre sure it does as it says on the tin.
So, a small glow of self-righteousness, which may persist till we burn up all that fossil fuel on our way to Italy, to converse very basically with the natives.
oooooOOOOOooooo
John and Jacqueline Blunt
Welcome to Staunton Harold Hall
The Staunton Harold Estate is a traditional country estate of some 2000 acres centered on the great Georgian mansion, Staunton Harold Hall. Family run and ‘hands on’ in its management style, the estate has embraced modern uses for its diverse assets.
The hall itself became a family home again in 2003 after fifty years of institutional use. With its eighty three rooms it easily accommodates three generations of our family. The West Wing, facing towards the Ferrers Centre has been converted to high quality managed offices with conference facilities. This is Lion Court, created by son-in-law Tony Cantrill. On the East front we have a series of grand State Rooms, which are reserved for weddings and other functions.
Thirty five years ago we began converting the disused Georgian stable block into craft workshops and studios and it is now the largest such complex in England with seventeen different enterprises working in a wide range of disciplines. This is known as the Ferrers Centre for Arts and Crafts.
In another part of the estate we have the Sawmill, which serves the four hundred acres of woodland which we manage. From here we sell firewood through the Ten Mile Timber Company, and planked timber, beams and other bespoke material cut from estate oak and other woods.
As I write the construction of a three bedroomed holiday home, Deerpark Lodge, built using estate timber for its frame and sheep’s wool to keep it warm, is nearing completion. This is linked to our farm, where cattle and sheep are fattened for sale through Staunton Harold Farms.
The hamlet of Staunton Harold is also home to Staunton Harold Nurseries, and to the fine seventeenth century family church, now owned by the National Trust. It is also a great walking centre with seven routes radiating from the core, plentiful parking and two good tearooms.
Staunton Harold Estate
The Estate Office Staunton Harold Hall Ashby-de-la-Zouch Leicestershire LE65 1RT 01332 862599
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