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Aspects of Land Spring / Summer 2019 30
The estate also runs a
sawmill supplied with timber
from the estate’s 1,100 acre
woodland. “When I was young,
sawing up the wood was a
wet-weather job, but now the
operation has grown and is open
to the public five days a week
supplying everything from logs
and firewood to bespoke green
oak for building projects.”
There is also a slaughterhouse
at Lydney Park that prepares
venison, wild boar and game
products from animals hunted
or culled on the estate.
“The shooting here is very
popular as we have a unique,
steep landscape through
parkland with ancient plane
trees,” says Rupert. The estate
used to open the main house
to shooting parties for 40
days a year, but has instead
upgraded a house on the
estate into an eight-bedroom
shooting lodge. “It can be
rented as a whole, or divided
into two separate houses,” says
Rupert. “Having a comfortable
shooting lodge has been a
great addition. Parties can be
looked after throughout their
stay and have the privacy of
their own place.”
To add diversity to the estate’s
income while still maintaining
Art is a subject close to Rupert’s
heart, and in partnership with Matt’s
Gallery in London, he has created
Blackrock – an artist’s residency
programme at Lydney Park.
Supported by Arts Council
England and the Jerwood
Charitable Foundation, four
artists spent three months on
the estate in 2015 and 2016.
“At the end of each residency
we held very well received
exhibitions,” says Rupert.
“Visitors were ferried by
covered wagon to art in various
constructions: potato barns,
industrial warehouses, even
public swimming baths.
“We also built a new white
cube exhibition gallery in
Aylburton that has already shown
work by internationally renowned
artists Susan Hiller and
Willy Doherty.”
Rupert is keen to develop
Blackrock into something
really significant and to build
Lydney’s reputation as a centre
of excellence for visual art.
7 Shooting parties can stay
in the eight-bedroom lodge.
8 Susan Hiller’s Channels, 2013 at
Blackrock 2015. 9 Inside the new
gallery in Aylburton. 10 Us/Them
installation by Patrick Goddard
lit for Blackrock weekend 2016. 11
Performance art by Sally O’Reilly
at Bathurst pool and lido, 2016
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HOW TO
DIVERSIFY
the privacy of a family home
can be a fine balance.
The grounds are an obvious
draw with the deer park, the
woodland garden and the
remains of a Roman temple and
Rupert is working with garden
designer Charles Chesshire
to restore the grounds to
their previous glory: mending
leaking dams, creating new
views and re-positioning
winding paths.
Currently, they open the
garden for about 30 days each
spring, during which time
they serve teas in the house.
“We’d like to move from being
a secret garden that is well
known locally to becoming
far better known further
afield and we’re developing
a social media presence to
work on this. But with more
visitors, we’d have to develop
an alternative solution for the
teas, so we’re looking at plans
for an ornamental marquee,”
says Rupert.
A marquee would also help
with the estate’s wedding
provision, which needs to
balance guests enjoying the
splendour of a large country
home, with the family
maintaining its privacy.
“We have a wonderful
natural amphitheatre in
the grounds and if we can
combine that with the
marquee it would make a
stunning wedding venue.”
Rupert is not short of plans
for how a marquee could open
up all sorts of opportunities
such as yoga retreats and art
courses. But for now he has
his business hat on: “First
we’ll see how this spring goes
and review the numbers once
the rhododendrons are no
longer in bloom.”
n
BLACKROCK:
CREATING A CENTRE OF
EXCELLENCE FOR ART
4,000acres
34
full time staff
300
years in Bathurst family
1
ruins of a Roman temple
AT A
GLANCE
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