As we wrap up another wonderfully busy year, we wanted to share a special moment of celebration with all of you. Our Christmas video was made with good cheer, plenty of laughs, and deep appreciation for everyone that makes Alscot the special and unique place it is.
We wish you all a bright and joyful Christmas and a happy and successful new year.
Thanks for being part of our journey!
We’re now in our second year of regenerative farming, and it’s been fantastic to see real progress taking shape.
As part of our commitment to sustainable land management, we’re grazing our SFI land with organic sheep – working in partnership with Daylesford Organic and other local farmers. Daylesford has provided 700 organic Lleyn sheep to graze between October and December across 650 acres of overseeded Alscot land, laid with herbal leys.
This approach not only supports soil health and biodiversity, but also contributes to the wider goal of sustainable and organic food production, which we believe is essential for healthy living.
We won Best Green Business in the Stratford Herald Business & Tourism Awards!! 🏆
Winning Best Green Business means the world to us because it recognises our vision for the future and the heart of everything we do — our commitment to sustainability, innovation, and creating a positive impact on our community and the planet. It’s a reflection of the hard work, vision, passion, and purpose that drive our team every day. This award reaffirms that doing business responsibly and protecting the environment can go hand in hand with success.
As part of our sustainable land management practices, we conduct baseline surveys and carefully monitor improvements in soil health, plant life, and wildlife diversity. Surveys across grasslands, woodlands, water bodies, and arable land are now well underway, helping us build a valuable dataset for the future.
A recent bird survey, carried out on the 5th and 6th of March, yielded encouraging results. A diverse selection of waterfowl was recorded, including teal, gadwall, mallard, snipe, moorhen, and little grebe. In the woodlands, red kites were observed nesting, while fieldfare and redwing thrushes—winter visitors to the UK—were noted both in the woods and on some grasslands. These birds were busily feeding, storing energy for their migration back to mainland Europe.
June 2018
The 10 year project that has seen the 18th century Ha-Ha completely rebuilt is finally finished! Admittedly, it shouldn’t have taken 10 years but there is the small matter of an Estate to run that comprises another 200 properties to look after.
A Ha-Ha is an ingenious piece of engineering that gives the viewer of the garden the illusion of an unbroken, continuous rolling lawn, whilst providing boundaries for grazing livestock.
To our visitors delight, whether a botanist, horticulturist or those that simply have a genuine interest in beautiful gardens, the newly established Ziggy garden and recently planted parkland, both featured this year in our popular annual event; Alscot's Alternative to Chelsea.
Held over two days on 12th & 13th June, it was damp but the grounds and gardens looked stunning and were very well received by the 180 visitors.
In February 2019 feature writer and editor Gill Sutherland met with Emma, at Alscot Park, to discuss the Parkland Restoration Project and to see the progress of the planting for herself. The interview formed a feature that appears in the March 2019 edition of the Stratford Herald Focus Magazine.
Front cover features Emma with two of her three children, James and Isla Holman-West.
Following an Environment Agency Survey and a Heritage Statement that was passed by SDC works took place in December to repair the weir and create an eel pass. Some 70 sheets of tracking was laid in order to protect the parkland from heavy plant machinery. Luckily water levels remained low the works went ahead as scheduled. An eel pass provides assistance to migrating eels travelling up stream where they would normally encounter obstructions such as the weir.
Photo; circa 1800
Saturday 12th January and “Wedgey” made his way to Alscot to conduct a live interview with Emma Holman-West and Forester, David Arnold. The interview, regarding the Parkland Restoration Project and the re-introduction of the Elm tree to the Estate, featured on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire . If you missed the interview and would like to listen, please follow the link https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06vy4pw
It has been a project long-time in planning and planting has now begun.
We are currently working on a ten year landscape plan, for the outer parkland, which follows a survey carried out by Professor Tom Williamson, University of East Anglia, on the history of the landscape. The survey identifies areas, such as the “Lynches”, and explains that in the middle decades of the eighteenth century this particular area of scrub and woodland was occupied by a detached ‘rococo’ pleasure ground, containing a circuit path and a number of ornamental buildings and structures. It is Emma's ambition to recreate and reinstate some of these historic features and in addition enhance planting across the 100 hectare park.
The Estate’s annual Bonfire and Fireworks Spectacular, held at The Bell on Friday 2nd November, proved a huge success with the crowds and for Stratford Cricket Club. The Bell provided a BBQ and bar whilst DJ Bobby Hunt entertained the adults and children alike. Glowing swords, headbands and windmills could be seen in abundance in the dark, the club ran a tombola and the fireworks were a huge hit.
July 2018
What a glorious evening, on Thursday 19th July, as Alscot hosted the annual cricket event and the Alscot XI took on the RCMA Select XI. The Estate opted to 'bat' first and went about it exceptionally well. The top order were in fluent mood and were soon piling on the runs. After a well-deserved drinks break (with the odd beer doing wonders for the RCMA sporting abilities), RCMA struck back well with a cluster of wickets and kept Alscot to 159 in their 20 overs.
On Sunday 13th May 2018 The England Team lifted the winning trophy after competing in the DAKS Home International Mounted Games Championships. Teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland competed for the title over four days, in the presence of the Queen, at Royal Windsor.
