Award-winning environment and sustainability policy

At the centre of our policy on the environment and sustainability was the completion of the recommendations of a report commissioned by The Carbon Trust in 2009.

A key recommendation of this report was the replacement of the mansion house’s five oil fired boilers with a single 150Kw wood chip boiler to cater for all the heating and hot water needs of the estate year-round.

Fuel for the woodchip burner is sourced from the estate itself using the coppice from ancient semi-natural woodland. This is taken on a thirty year rotation to comply with a woodland management plan compiled by the Essex Woodland Partnership.

In addition to the restoration of the parkland itself, complying with the requirements of the Environmental Stewardship Scheme has resulted in substantial benefits to the environment, including a natural habitat for Barn owls, Door mice, Turtle doves, Nightingales and the extremely rare Hawfinch. Cowslips and Bee Orchids have also made a welcome return to the estate, which is a good indication of the health of the soil. The estate boasts many tens of acres of naturally rewilded areas, that have become semi-mature oak woodlands, planted by Jays and Squirrels. Biodiversity yet again, now occupies a major part of the estate's agricultural strategy, as does becoming a key player in local nature recovery efforts in the Blackwater Estuary, and a cheerleader for the development of farm clusters to encourage biodiversity in the area. 

The estate has been the recipient of two Maldon District Council Conservation and Design awards for Sustainability to date. The first in Dec 2010 winner for the installation of the biomass boiler and highly commended in 2011 with the Construction of the Cookery School.