In January, we said goodbye to Christian Walker and have given new General Manager, Keith Assirati-Wilkie, a warm welcome.
A reflection of 2024 in numbers
The Heritage & Rural Skills Centre delivered 33 courses with over 260 participants learning and developing skills. 3 tenants moved into the Sheep Yard units. We welcomed 80 delegates and demonstrators to the first Skills Centre conference. 250 visitors took a guided tour of Home Farm. Over 500 visitors came to an Open Day with another 300 visiting for Heritage Open Day. Over 300 people came to the production of Hamlet at the Tithe Barn. We had 87 school visits with over 3200 young people learning about nature and WW2. 416 Year 5’s from Swindon came to the Earth Summit. 12 young people are enjoying the Saturday Club programme. 8 young people from Crowdy’s Hill School, Swindon, sorted out the orchard and made the bookshop lovely for their Duke of Edinburgh Award and recently 1 General Manager left for North Yorkshire.
Coming up in 2025
Dates for your diaries, more dates will follow in the coming months.
Ashdown House opens Wednesday 2nd April and on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons until Saturday 1st November
Chastleton House opens Wednesday 5th March and on Wednesday – Sunday afternoons until Sunday 2nd November
restart on the second Sunday of the month from April 13th
A new behind the scenes guided tour, Secrets of Coleshill, begins on April 17th and will be available on Thursday and Saturday afternoons until October 11th
Thursday 26th June - A Supporter Group networking day is being arranged for groups from London & South East region. As we are hosting at Coleshill, our closest supporters from South West region - Upper Thames and Ridgeway and North Cotswold Associations - are included in the invitation.
I am continuing to spread the news about Supporter Groups. This year’s Volunteer Yearbook for West Oxfordshire includes a feature on Supporter groups. All volunteers will receive a copy at the pre-season briefings and I hope you can recruit new members.
A note on nature on the Buscot and Coleshill Estate
Last year we recruited ecology volunteers and river guardians to support two exciting nature projects running on the Estate – nature recovery and riverlands. For the nature recovery project, volunteers have been surveying butterfly transects on the Estate to provide baseline data for the future. While the work began with butterflies and will expand to other flora and fauna during the year. Volunteers without experience were supported by more experienced survey takers to build their confidence in the task. There has also been a group of that went out into woodland to collect nibbled hazelnuts. I didn’t know that the shape of the nibbled holes indicate which species is eating them. The team are hoping for signs of rare hazel dormice.
The Riverlands project is part of a national network of projects at NT places which are home to some of the UK’s most precious rivers. These projects will bring riverlands back to life, working to alleviate flooding, creating new habitats and tackling the rise of non-native invasive species, as well as working with local communities to help them rediscover and reconnect with their rivers. Volunteers have been taking water samples that are analysed for water quality and to monitor birds on the river Cole.
The Buscot & Coleshill Estate is one of 17 Nature Accelerator sites across the Trust. The sites are places which have been identified as having significant potential opportunity to accelerate delivery of our ambitions for nature and climate.
You can find out more about these climate ambitions here - Climate change and sustainability | National Trust and the Riverlands conservation here The Riverlands conservation project | National Trust
I look forward to meeting as many supporters as possible in 2025 -Sarah Hannis
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