Harewood Park, Herefordshire

Harewood Park, situated in a quiet valley between Hereford and Ross on Wye, is a 900 acre estate which the Duchy bought as part of the Prudential purchase in 2000. Many of the buildings including traditional farm buildings, a chapel and stables have stood empty or derelict for nearly 30 years.

However, when the Duchy of Cornwall acquired the estate in May 2000 they made plans to breathe new life into what had become an abandoned group of farmsteads within Herefordshire. The Duchy has been the driving force behind plans to revitalise the cottages and buildings on the estate and this positive rural regeneration project has already created jobs and homes in the area.

The Masterplan

In 2003 plans were prepared for the estate’s rural regeneration project which would take an estimated eight years to complete at a cost of approximately £8-9 million. The scheme was designed by consultant architect Craig Hamilton and dealt with the sympathetic and sustainable restoration of three groups of buildings at Home Farm, Grange Farm and Harewood Park itself. The scheme, which received considerable support from the local Planning Authority and the surrounding inhabitants of the area, was designed to provide an inspirational place for people to live and work but also to save the structures from the plight of decay and collapse.

Sustainable regeneration

Sustainability has underpinned the restoration work. An old sandstone quarry has been re-opened within the estate as a source of stone for essential conservation repairs and for new building works. Oak has been sourced from the Duchy’s Herefordshire woodlands, seasoned and sawn locally to be used for all the timber joinery and fencing within the project. Natural slates have been sourced for the roofs from Wales. Even the new hedges and trees are grown from local varieties and have been planted along historic boundaries as part of the larger parkland restoration plan.

A significant number of parkland trees are being re-established together with the planting of small woodland belts all as part of a comprehensive parkland regeneration scheme implemented with the assistance of a DEFRA Countryside Stewardship Scheme.

Environmentally sustainable schemes are employed to retain rain water run-off from the building complexes and the sewage from the project will be treated by a number of reed-bed filtration systems. The larger building complex at Grange Farm will be heated by way of a biomass wood burning district heating system.

When complete the project will consist of a replacement principal dwelling as a focal point of the estate, the restoration of a Grade II listed stable block and former chapel together with the sympathetic rebuilding of eight additional dwellings linked with more than 10,000 square feet of high quality offices offering a combination of residential and workplace facilities for up to 100 people.