When we bought the Wolterton estate it had not been lived in for thirty years. To pay for its maintenance we needed to make it sustainable by income from holiday lets.
Over the last six years we have imaginatively restored six buildings on the estate which are now let to appreciative guests and we are grateful to have their support to keep Wolterton going.
The thirty years of neglect was good for the natural environment as no pesticides or herbicides were used which has encouraged every form of wild life. The lake, as tested by Cambridge University, has water of the purest quality. Wolterton has funding from Natural England through the Countryside Stewardship scheme in order keep it completely natural. The park is full of wildlife including rare frogs, otters, hares, deer and red kites and other birdlife. We have a heronry with up to a dozen nests.
Wolterton has eighty acres of woodland with many trees over two hundred and some three hundred years old. We continue to plant trees as can be seen by over a hundred tree guards throughout the park. Weed trees which had grown up and threatened the mature oaks and beeches have been removed to encourage growth and the sunlight that comes in has led to a flowering of snowdrops, bluebells and daffodils.
Laurel, holly and rhododrendrons had also overwhelmed the area under trees and these are in the process of being removed to restore the park landscape originally designed by Charles Bridgeman in the 18th century. Guests have the exclusive right to use the 500 acres for walking or wild swimming.
We have dredged the horsepond which had become over run by weed trees and the moat pond which is home to swans, ducks and frogs. The brutal barbed wire fencing which randomly split up the park has been replaced by estate fencing in just four large fields.
We have our own chickens in one of the walled gardens which provide eggs. Bees in their hives along the outer walls provide honey. Guests also benefit from vegetables and flowers from the walled gardens. Wolterton lamb is renowned as the most delicious because of the high quality grass.
The estate is moving towards providing electricity from solar panels and heat exchangers by 2024. We encourage our guests not to open their windows while the thermostat is set on a high temperature.