Land Management
I can’t believe it is nearing the end of November already as I look across the estate. We are blessed with stunning Autumn colours on the trees and our young tree plantations are giving a glimpse of what lies ahead for generations to witness at this time of year.
The summer (that is a time of the year when it’s meant to be dry and sunny) has quickly come and gone but in that time somehow we have managed to produce over 500 bales of haylage and 280 bales of hay. This was no easy task given the weather!! Also, we have been working hard to keep on top of the maintenance across the estate as the grass has not stopped growing and it really is a credit to the team to keep on top of things on a weekly basis.
As we move into the autumn months we move on to hedge trimming and welcome Colin Penney with his tractor and hedge cutter. We have 19.47km of hedgerows across the estate and Colin, over the past 4 years, has transformed our hedges back into beautifully shaped tall, thick, traditional Dorset hedgerows which are a sanctuary for wildlife and increase our area of hedgerow carbon capture.
Not all hedgerows can be cut this way as nearly 3000m of hedgerows must be cut by hand and this again falls on the team here which is all part of keeping the estate looking good for everyone. This has become very apparent recently as we have welcomed guests from “Hobbs Rehabilitation” during the estate tours and they have been left in awe as to what has been achieved here and to the exacting standards it has all been maintained to.
On this note, I was telling my dad the other day of the plans for “The Grange”. He could not have been happier that the place where he was born, raised and worked all his life was going to offer so much help to people that need it the most.
Recently we took delivery of a second-hand digger and this machine will allow us to undertake and have full control of the maintenance jobs across the estate. It has gone straight into use maintaining the horse walk track between the yards and maintaining the horse arenas to the standard they need to be kept at. Unknown to me Russell, our Finance Director, has a love of diggers and is keen to get away from the office and come and help, for which he is most welcome!!
It’s been great to see Vicki and her team settle into Chapel Marsh Farm with the horse’s young and old from “Pitts Farm”. I know already that they will be a great addition here on the estate.
Just as we gain one great team, we are going to have to say goodbye to another. It’s been such an honour to work alongside Chris and Bek Burton right from the start. I could not have wished for a more friendly and professional couple along with their children Harry and Jack and their team of grooms to work with on a daily basis. What they have achieved in their time at Chedington is nothing short of amazing and this is down to the never-ending hard work I witness every day on the yard at Lower Chapel Marsh Farm.
We all wish you every success and happiness in the next chapter of your lives back home in Australia.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and let’s raise a glass to another fantastic year at Chedington!
– James Vickery, Land Manager
Estate Management
Where has the year gone….
It seems like only yesterday that we were all writing our Spring newsletters. It has been a busy few months with the team pushing on with the completion of the farmhouse at Chapel Marsh Farm which we will have finished by the time this newsletter goes out.
I have to say that this has been a massive project from start to finish and a big thank you must go to Garry and Dean and their team as the house is now looking rather splendid! Kevin Morris, who is our Heritage planning officer, said it is clear to him that all those involved have paid respect to the fabric of the building and used materials and methods that have ensured the building retains its significance (particularly exposing those areas and features we didn’t know existed) whilst making the farmhouse suitable for occupation in the 21st Century.
Andy Cockrem’s men, Tom and Wayne, have also done a fantastic job with the outside of the property, with the laying of the patio, paths and lawn areas around the farmhouse.
In between the farmhouse works the team have also been busy with the alteration works needed to accommodate the arrival of Hobbs Rehabilitation who are coming to the estate in the New Year and will be based at The Grange. We had a very tight schedule for the first phase of works which included turning two bathrooms into accessible wet rooms and meant the men worked well into the night towards the end to get it finished within a two week window.
The second phase has already started in Baqueira, with the pool changing area also being made into a wet room and lifting hoists fitted. The third phase is due at the beginning of December with the remaining bathrooms and bedrooms being adapted for clients coming for Hobbs rehabilitation.
We have also been carrying out some extensive repair works at Salon on The Square and this turned out to be a bigger project then first thought. Once we had the scaffolding up and were able to take a closer look, it was found that not only did we have to replace all the wooden windows and cast-iron guttering at the rear of the property, but there were also a lot more areas of the render that needed to be replaced.
Harry has started to clear out the other side of the Isolation barn so that the team can start work on turning it into a clean and dry storage area. And we have made a start on converting one of the barns at North Buckham Farm so that Geoffrey can have his long-awaited Padel court which should be installed by the end of January.
The next project will be to bring the Chalk Barn at Chapel Marsh Farm back to its former glory.
– Colin Maddock, Estate Manager
Chedington Equestrian
Lower Chapel Marsh Farm, Beaminster
‘Operation Olympics’ – achieved! It feels like a lifetime ago but just a few months back Chedington Equestrian achieved a big goal of an Olympic medal produced from the home yard. We had three riders represent their country at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Husband and wife team, Tim and Jonelle Price, for New Zealand and Chris Burton for Australia.
Chris and Shadow Man brought home an individual Silver Medal. This could not have been achieved without the support of Kate and Geoffrey and it was very special to have them there cheering everyone on.
Team Price also produced some great results with Tim coming runner up at Burghley Horse trials 5* and also in America at Maryland 5*.
As the sun is setting on our time at Chedington, Chris and I can both say that these past 6 years have been some of the happiest and most rewarding times of our lives. It has been such a privilege being involved in the transformation of Lower Chapel Marsh Farm into Chedington Equestrian and to work alongside all the wonderful people here. We will miss these amazing facilities and we will miss beautiful Dorset but most of all we will miss everyone here.
Thank you all for everything you have done for us and our family over the years and do come and see us in Australia.
– Bek Burton
With help from everyone here we moved the Chedington young stock and retired and resting horses from Pitts Farm to Lower Chapel Marsh Farm in early August. Horses, staff and myself very happy to be here!
The horses all bloomed on the late summer grass, lovely to see them playing.
We’ve settled in quickly to new routines and I am very much looking forward to the young horses beginning their working careers with Ben Wickens and in my new role as Yard Manager.
It’s sad to see Chris and Bek go and we wish them all the best in their future ventures back home.
– Vicki Lewis
Events at The Grange
We welcome Hobbs Neurological Rehabilitation to The Grange in the New Year.
Hobbs Rehabilitation, the largest independent provider of neurological rehabilitation in the UK, celebrates its 20th birthday in 2025 and at Chedington, and we are excited to introduce our new centre, set to open in February. Our joint mission is to provide an exceptional environment that blends perfectly with the renowned clinical excellence of Hobbs to empower our clients not just to achieve their full potential, but to thrive after a life-changing injury or event.
Accommodation for carers, family and friends will enable whole families to stay together, or for clients to bring their own carers. With provision for children as well as adults, this is a crucial and unique offering – we know that those around the client can benefit hugely from the shared education and experience of working with skilled clinicians and to facilitate new skillsets and activities together. Evidence shows that if the client’s support network is engaged and a strong part of the interdisciplinary team, success rates are higher and long-term costs are reduced. It also means that family outings to the beach, dog walks across the estate, family cooking sessions and more are all possible, enriching the rehabilitation experience and unifying an often fractured family dynamic. With a range of adaptive sports and accessible vehicles available at Chedington, there is the space, equipment and expertise to harness the client’s true abilities, safely and alongside their loved ones or home-based support network.
In September we ran a series of stakeholder events which saw us host lawyers, case managers, clients and charities to help us shape our offering in this unique and glorious setting. The events were a huge success with everyone thoroughly enjoying the guided tour of the estate and the trials on the accessible adaptive vehicles (with Geoffrey rolling the quickest one not once but twice… no surprises there then)! A camp fire discussion and brainstorming session threw up some fantastic insights on how the rehabilitation packages and additional activities could be structured, and the room tours gave those with lived experience of spinal and brain injury the chance to define exactly what we should provide and more importantly, why. As the events evolved, a tangible groundswell of excitement built and after they had left, many emails flew in with further reflections and it was clear that what we are building here will be a world-class and unique facility.
Our client groups will include amputees, those with complete and incomplete spinal cord injury, polytrauma and complex neurological conditions including traumatic and acquired brain injury and so the demand for flexible, multi-functional spaces and facilities is currently well underway.
Colin and his team have transformed Baqueira which now provides fully accessible accommodation and hydrotherapy pool with changing facilities built to Changing Places standards with many more modifications in progress in Vielha and in the Eleico strength and conditioning gym and Barn.
A raft of neurotechnology is on order, some of which will be the only devices available in the UK and a specialist therapy team is almost fully recruited to work alongside existing senior clinicians at Hobbs, in order to deliver the clinical excellence for which Hobbs is renowned. We look forward to delivering a truly meaningful venture which we know will transform the lives of many and will reframe rehabilitation not just in the UK, but world-wide… exciting times!
– Helen Hobbs and Kirsti Pretty
Hospitality
The Old Brewery Cafe & Kitchen, Gillingham
Well the summer is well and truly over, the wonderful colours of autumn have arrived, and what a busy summer it was here at The Old Brewery Café.
The café was busier than ever, with several successful events ranging from live band nights, bike meets, quiz nights, birthday parties and various other events, it’s certainly kept us busy.
We had the pleasure of hosting a 70th birthday party for Geoffrey and the Estate team, which went really well. He was very impressed with his cake, especially the topper, a big thank you Natasha for helping with that.
In September I received a call from the producers of The Motorbike Show, presented by Henry Cole, asking if Henry could come by for lunch and film for his latest series. Of course, never one to turn down a chance to meet a celebrity, I said yes!
Henry turned up with his crew and was a very enthusiastic, down to earth, ordinary bloke, who thoroughly enjoyed his ham, egg & chips and a cappuccino, before interviewing me for his show. The Motorbike Show, which features the cafe, was aired on Wednesday 27th November on ITV 4.
And as if that wasn’t enough excitement for the month, I also (finally) married my lovely partner in crime Terri.
Honeymoon over, it’s time to get ready for the busiest four weeks ahead as we go into Christmas, with 1400 people booked in for the Christmas menu alone. With two disco party nights fully booked , I think we might be setting some new records! But with the café all decked out, Christmas music playing, and a jolly good team it will be fun, I’m sure.
A big thank you to everyone who has helped out this year in one way or another, it’s very much appreciated. May you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
– Steve Angell
The Old Brewery Café Ltd
Eira Ski Lodge, Baqueira-Beret
Dust off the wine bottles, the winter season is upon us! We’ve had a warm autumn this time round, giving us plenty of opportunities to make the most of the Val D’Aran hiking and cycling. We are a little short on snow, but have some forecast for this week. Fingers crossed, as we prepare for our first guests on the 29th November, our earliest open yet!
We look forward to seeing you at the Eira this winter. www.baqueira.es/webcams
– Henry Nayler-Ternent
Hotel Manager
Salon on the Square
The past six months have been a whirlwind here at Salon on the Square, packed with exciting events and milestones.
We kicked off summer with our vibrant ‘Summer Ready’ event, which was abuzz with live demonstrations featuring hair, makeup, and beauty tips. This fantastic start to the season brought record numbers of Guests through our doors, where they enjoyed fabulous hair transformations, pampering sessions in our beauty rooms, and the chance to shop till they dropped from our amazing range of hair and beauty products.
I’m incredibly proud that we continued our commitment to nurturing young talent by welcoming Amelia, Emmie and Lily to the team as our new Apprentices. They have settled in beautifully, showcasing confidence and skill that’s been genuinely appreciated by our Guests.
We’ve also expanded our product range with exciting new additions. GLOWWA Hair Food and Maria Nila have joined our portfolio, perfectly complementing our existing offerings from Aveda, Clarins, and GHD. The response has been fantastic, and we’re thrilled to bring even more variety to Beaminster.
October marked a huge milestone for us: three years since we took over Salon on the Square! I can hardly believe it myself. A heartfelt thank you to my amazing team—your support, talent, and dedication make this journey possible. I couldn’t do it without you.
Now, as we stand on the brink of December, our busiest month of the year, I wish us all the very best. Together, we’ll navigate the festive season with grace, strength, and teamwork – we’ve got this!
Here’s to making December sparkle!
– Janemarie
A note from Geoffrey & Kate
In the words of George Bernard Shaw or possibly Mark Twain I am afraid that this section is rather long as I didn’t have time to write a short one. There has been so much going on over the past few months that deserves a full account.
When Kate and I first purchased The Grange with its vast indoor arena, baronial farmhouse and houses initially converted from upland farm to a private members health spa we could not have imagined the changes, trials and tribulations we would go through to arrive now at the absolute best outcome. During the purchase we used, in true corporate style, a code name “Project Olympic”. Little did we know, but somehow anticipated, that seven years later three riders from the yard would compete in the Paris Olympics.
Tim and Jonelle Price represented New Zealand with Tim gaining 6th place. Chris Burton having retired from Eventing three years ago helped the Australian show jumping team qualify on our horse Chedington Hazy Toulana and was subsequently selected as team reserve and took Hazy to the Versailles Olympic site. Following an approach from the Australian Chef d’Equipe Chris was encouraged to come out of eventing retirement to bolster the Australian team. A frantic process commenced to find a suitable horse, in under 10 days, and get Chris himself requalified for eventing and Chris and the horse as a combination qualified for Paris. Less than an hour after the payment hit the bank Shadow Man was loaded and transported from Ben Hobday’s yard in Yorkshire to Italy where two days later Chris caught up with him for the first time since a brief try out. Dressage, being the first of the three events is the ultimate meld of horse and rider achieved over months and sometimes years of bonding and training together. It was a tribute to his superb horsemanship that two days after getting on Shadow Man Chris was lying 2nd after the 4* dressage! Further 3* and 4* rounds across Europe in both eventing and show jumping which saw Chris on and off planes and riding our Clever Louis to a win at 4* in Poland paid off. Chris was selected for the Australian Team, Kate and I became official members of the team, as sponsors, and we all, including Bek and the boys, despite my vowing not to go to France, went off to Versailles. Project Olympic has been satisfied with the a Silver Medal in eventing. Interestingly the Japanese Team, with William Fox-Pitt on hand, gained a Team Bronze one of whom was riding Jefferson which we sold to them last year.
It is difficult to convey how much we have enjoyed and how much our equestrian facilities have benefitted from having Chris and Bek with us these past six years. We will miss them and the boys but wish them every happiness and success on their return to Australia. In the words of Arnie “You’ll be back” if only for short periods of competition.
Vicki will be taking over from Bek as yard manager and we are pleased to welcome her and her team from Pitts Farm where for the past few years we have kept our young stock bred at the Glanville’s Stud. Ben Wickens will have the exciting task of breaking and backing the youngsters. Cosby Green one of our US riders has completed an impressive year having competed at Badminton, Burghley and Maryland 5* events. We are delighted that Cosby has elected to remain at Chedington in preparation for further top level competition and hopefully Los Angeles in 2028 and will help us promote the yard in the States .
Whilst Clever Louis was back-up for Shadow Man, Jacksonville who did the same role for Hazy, was sent to Ellie in Ireland where Jason Foley took up the reins, literally, and was part of the Irish Team that won the Nations Cup competition at The Sunshine Tour in Spain in November.
Meanwhile back down on the farm! Some of you may be aware that we put North Buckham Farm on the market earlier in the year as we had discontinued our in-house sheep and cattle operations. Preparation for a sale included selling Chedington Compost to Scott Johnson who as Fern Garden Tree Services had planted our 74,000 trees. Scott and Alice had also built up a compost business and promptly hauled over fifty tons of manure from NBF to their yard. Shortly after, however, I had an epiphany and decide not to sell the farm, offered Scott part of our yard and the farm cottage and back came all the manure! So Chedington Compost resides once more on the Estate and Scott, Alice, Ruben and new baby sister have just moved into the Cottage. With Alice’s help we will continue to offer the Farmhouse, now vacated by the Prices, and the Shepherds’ huts for holiday lets. As you have seen in Colin’s piece the restoration of Chapel Marsh Farmhouse is now complete with the Prices duly installed. Our thanks go to all of the Estate team and our trusted long standing contractors for bringing the house back to its initial character. It is so pleasing to have families living on the Estate.
One consequence of keeping NBF is the retention of extensive barn space where we can overwinter the young stock and as mentioned above I will have my padel tennis court in the tall barn. Speaking of tennis when we came to Chedington Kate said that she would not move into to a house that does not have an Aga, a swimming pool and a tennis court. Chedington Court had none of these. I am relieved that with the installation of the tennis court at the Grange we have now, after 8 years, achieved this criteria for moving.
We have reported before on the operation of our shavings machine in Chedington Woods converting logs into horse bedding and the development of working prototypes of a retort to make biochar from the soiled shavings. We have now completely successfully the licensing of this technology to an exciting waste recycling company Tumblebug with our retort to be marketed broadly as The Chedington Retort.
With the exception of 3 weddings booked for 2025 The Estate is ceasing weddings and events to focus on something very close to our hearts and medical interest. Kate and I have been involved as shareholders, Director and now me as Chairman of Hobbs Rehabilitation for a decade. It is with great satisfaction and eager anticipation that we are now in the final stages of converting the guest houses, gym and other facilities to accommodate patients with spinal cord injuries, traumatic head injury, stroke, trauma, amputations and concussion. With our houses initially converted for spa guesst now upgraded as fully accessible, the indoor pools now redesignated hydro therapy pools, our world class gym and state of the art technology plus 550 acres in which to explore Hobbs Chedington is set to become one of the country’s leading neuro rehabilitation centres when the facility goes live at the end of January. We look forward also to welcoming Hobbs staff some of whom will further add to our on-site residents.
On a personal note I was honoured to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Cannabinoid Research Society in Salamanca in June. In my day job running the Guy Foundation we have been extraordinarily busy. Our Space Health Report has attracted significant attention from space agencies, public and private, and we will be working with NASA to bring them up to speed on Quantum Biology. You can read about this in my new book “Quantum Biology- A glimpse into the future of Medicine”. (Available on Amazon) These are both covered in these two podcasts – Quantum Biology & the Future of Medicine and Health Hazards of Space Travel: Quantum biology perspective.
I should like to thank all those who helped make my 70th birthday so special especially Kate and Natasha who masterminded most of the superb logistics and entertainment and Gordy and Emma, the catering team, who had to do it all again the next week when we hosted at the Grange a dinner for 200 guests to mark 30 years of the Weldmar Hospice. You can watch the drone show here:
Kate and I would like to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy and restful New Year after an extremely exciting and busy year.
– Kate and Geoffrey Guy
A wonderful evening was held to celebrate Geoffrey’s 70th Birthday, culminating in a spectacular drone show which lit up the sky with symbolic images set to some of Geoffrey’s favourite music.
Gallery
The Grange hosted Weldmar Hospicecare’s Silver Anniversary Dinner in October. A fantastic £100,000 was raised for the charity.
NB A really simple way to raise money for Weldmar Hospicecare is to save and collect up your used stamps, old coins and foreign coins which Weldmar then recycle to raise funds.
