Farmers at a meeting of the South West NFU tenant farmers’ forum have given a cautious welcome to the National Trust’s plans to encourage wildlife and create 65,000 acres of new habitats.
The Trust has announced that it intends make sure half the farmland it owns is ‘nature friendly’ by 2025 and the chairman of the forum, Cornish farmer Chris Cardell, said he was looking forward to hearing how the Trust was planning to communicate with farmers about this process.
“We were very interested to hear about the National Trust’s plans and are were pleased to hear at the meeting...
National Trust garden teams have conducted their annual flower count for Valentine’s Day and although this year spring seems to be on the way, just as we would normally expect, but what is noticeable is how many scented plants are out in flower at this early time of year. National Trust gardeners reported 1,737 plants blooming in this year’s 12th annual Valentine’s Flower count, 34% down on last year’s figure of 2,644. Although numbers are down on 2016, they are still higher than the previous three years.. For the second year running, Saltram had the highest number of flowers recorded with...
Your essential guide to What’s On in and around Exeter this weekend (3-5 February).
THEATRE
The Brexit Club Friday, Cygnet Theatre, Exeter An original tale of intolerance, alienation and Findus crispy pancakes! It’s the 23rd June - the day of the Euro Referendum and just another lunch time in the works canteen for cousins Len Silver and Melvyn Gould and their colleagues, but beneath their love of haute cuisine and jovial banter there’s trouble brewing. Sid Vishnu’s lentil Dahl and Don Beattie’s bangers and mash are emblems of a nation divided!Substance and Shadow Theatre...
Discover unseen parts of Knightshayes this January and February, as the house team get to grips with their annual deep cleaning of the house and collection while, outside, work is in full swing installing a new biomass boiler.
This time of year is the perfect chance to find out more about the behind-the-scenes work that goes into keeping the house and estate looking as good as it does throughout the rest of the year. Unusually, the Knightshayes team will be undertaking this crucial work in the public eye.
Traditionally, National Trust properties are closed during the winter...
Killerton House near Exeter, looked after by the National Trust, has launched a major fundraising campaign to plug the holes in its leaking roof.
£100,000 is needed to help pay for work due to start in late February which will prevent the threat of water damage to the much loved house and collection, which includes a unique Trust fashion collection. The money raised will also go towards carrying out vital work to conserve the roof over the house, exterior walls, windows, chimneys and parapets, as part the Trust’s ongoing commitment to care for Killerton. Thanks to a very generous...
Christmas is coming and, to get in the mood, I headed to Killerton House’s Christmas wonderland.
Picking the Christmas tree has been a tradition in my family since I can remember. Unlike the advent calendar (which is often started late), it is the definitive mark of our Christmas beginning.
So to roll this into a festive house, lit garden and carol singers was the perfect first note to start our Christmas.
Each year, the house is beautifully decorated to a theme. Last year, it was an enchanting Narnia and this year, it was Brother’s Grimm story. It was enchanting to...
A Brothers Grimm spell has been cast over Killerton this Christmas.
For the first time, the National Trust property will be transformed into classic fairy tales with a festive twist from Saturday 19 November.
Each year, to celebrate the start of Christmas at Killerton, the staff step out of their day jobs and ‘get into character’ for the festive theme with a specially commissioned photoshoot. This year, the staff portrayed Sleeping Beauty and Little Red Riding Hood. Visitors can then see scenes from the stories on display in the exhibition (although the staff will be back...
A new children’s play area at Knightshayes Court will be officially opened on Saturday 22 October in time for half-term.
Injecting new life into four fallen oak trees, the installation includes a tree house as well as tunnels bored into the trunks of the huge trees.
For 150 years, the cluster of fast-growing turkey oaks towered over the gentle, rolling landscape at Knightshayes; until the high winds of winter 2014 resulted in all four blowing over. Three came down in just one night, casualties of a storm which caused over 100 trees to fall across the estate, the greatest...
This year a bumper crop of apples are expected to be harvested in time for the annual Killerton Cider and Apple Festival on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 October.
A team of volunteers have just one week, and a 200-year-old cider press, to make all the cider for the year ahead using apples collected traditional orchards on National Trust’s Killerton estate. Fine summer weather has meant the orchards are bursting with fruit. National Trust rangers and volunteers have been busy harvesting the many varieties of apples that make Killerton’s award-winning cider and apple juice. As the last...
As part of the Great British Beach Clean week (16-19 September), organised by the Marine Conservation Society, the National Trust has a series of beach cleans taking place in Devon and Cornwall this September for volunteers to come along and help clear up their local beach. There are nearly 2,500 items of rubbish for every kilometre on a beach and every year National Trust staff and volunteers use valuable time cleaning up the beaches it clears for and the Trust is calling for everyone to take some time, get out and help clear their local beach. Nick Lawrence, National Trust Assistant...
