Estate Matters

Ellen Francis of the Quy Hall Estate in Cambridgeshire explains why she has put social media at the heart of how the Estate connects with its local community, in the latest episode of the Estate Matters podcast, recorded at Groundswell. Ellen and her husband Henry left careers in law and City finance to take on the diversified Estate between Cambridge and Newmarket, which they have now run for thirteen years. Alongside residential and commercial lets, tenanted and in-hand farmland and a Site ...

Gascoyne Estates' CEO Jorge Mendonça and architect Gavin Murray reveal how they and their teams turned a tired town square into a beautiful and vibrant space. Salisbury Square at the centre of Old Hatfield in Hertfordshire was, by common agreement, “unloved and unsuccessful.” It recently reopened (June 2026) after a major improvement scheme to widespread praise from people in the community and further afield. New homes, offices and shops, along with a beautiful public space at the heart of th...

James Nason and his wife, Rowena Colthurst, own Pitchford Hall and Estate in Shropshire. At least, they do now. In 1992, Rowena’s mother was forced to sell the Grade I listed Elizabethan manor house. Although the family retained the surrounding land, James and Rowena made it their mission to buy back the Hall and reunite her family home with the wider estate. In 2016, the couple raised the funds to purchase the Hall, which had fallen into dereliction. Since then, they have been working hard t...

Ben Bolgar is the Executive Director for Projects at The King’s Foundation. He first discussed architecture with the Prince of Wales, now King Charles III, at Kensington Palace in 1988 and there was a meeting of minds that has underpinned Ben’s work during his nearly 25 years at the Foundation. In that time Ben has led over 50 collaborative planning and design frameworks all over the world, championing the Enquiry by Design (EbD) process. Describing architecture as “the mother of the arts”, B...

Turning underutilised land into thriving leisure and hospitality destinations is what entrepreneur Joel Cadbury does best. In the latest episode of Estate Matters, the founder and chief executive of Longshot tells podcast host Anna Byles how he has spent 30 years spotting opportunities where others see challenges. Joel describes how, as chair of The Royal Parks Foundation, he transformed empty buildings into lettable properties generating millions of pounds a year and championed the creation ...