Welcome to Staunton Harold Hall
The Staunton Harold Estate is a traditional country estate of some 2000 acres, centred 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 some eighty three rooms, the main building easily accommodates three generations of our family. Son-in-law, Tony Cantrill, has taken over the West Wing, now converted into high quality managed offices and conference facilities, known as LION COURT.
The suite of fine ‘State Rooms’ on the east and north front lend themselves to large functions, and here we host weddings and other events up to twelve times a year.
Our family’s involvement with Staunton Harold began in 1955, when we purchased the three farms at the core of the estate. These included the large Georgian stable block, which stood abandoned and ruinous. We put it in good repair, and in 1974 began its conversion to craft workshops and studios. Now known as the FERRERS CENTRE FOR ARTS AND CRAFTS this is a true ‘making’ centre with some eighteen businesses covering a range of disciplines. Most of our land is let to local farmers, but the four hundred acres of woodland we manage ourselves with a forestry team based at our estate sawmill. From here we sell firewood through the TEN MILE TIMBER COMPANY, and sawn material, mainly oak and larch, through Staunton Hardwoods, cut to customers’ requirements.
Our family business centres around maintaining and renting out property and a recent addition to this, built from our own timber, is DEERPARK LODGE. This is a holiday cottage, sleeping six, set among trees on a hill above the Hall. The hamlet of Staunton Harold includes a garden centre, in separate ownership, and a fine 17th century church, now in the care of the National Trust. We have become something of a walking and cycling centre, with adequate car parks and restaurants and seven routes radiating from the settlement.
Staunton Notebook – September 2018
The FERRERS CENTRE -Time for a Revamp
Forty four years, – that’s how long it is since we started to convert the derelict stables at Staunton Harold into workshops and studios. There has been the odd blip along the way, but overall usage has increased steadily and for many years now all the available space has been fully used.
Last week Jacqueline and I took a day out to visit The Engine Yard at Belvoir Castle. We last saw it four or five years ago when it was an abandoned group of estate workshops and store rooms. Now the Duchess of Rutland has transformed it, reportedly spending more that two million pounds to create an out of town shopping destination. Much of it has been rebuilt, what was there before has been repointed and restored to create an amalgam of the old with the very new. Pristine brick paving, smart parking bays, lamp standards and planted areas; – suddenly the Ferrets Centre looked staid by comparison.
But ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’ is a good motto, so for now we are just looking to replace the awning in the centre of the courtyard, itself more than twenty years old. Something bigger and brighter, maybe staying up all year – ideas please, – email: john@stauntonharoldestate.co.uk
