Estate Matters

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 to source the contents that were sold at auction and bring the property back to life.James describes Pitchford as a “tourism estate”, offering tours of the Hall, grounds, orangery and the world’s oldest treehouse. But it was their decision to become early adopters of solar energy that provided the consistent income needed to support additional borrowing.Recorded in the treehouse, this episode explores the trials and tribulations of running a heritage asset like Pitchford Hall.