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 of Special Scientific Interest, the couple are transitioning their arable land to regenerative farming.The Estate's Instagram account has become a way of opening Quy Hall up to the people around it. "It's a tool for opening up, a tool for being transparent, and a tool for connecting with the communities around us," Ellen says, describing its value as relational capital rather than sales.She also shares why she stopped keeping herself out of the frame, having realised that people connect with a person and a story far more than with an account "that looks like it could have come from any estate".The episode is a candid, practical listen for any estate wondering whether social media is worth its time, and Ellen's advice to those still hesitating is simple.

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 the development, were delivered. A consultation, via a charrette held at the very start of the process, ensured the local community was fully engaged.This episode also highlights the importance of taking the community with you when you embark on a major development project so that on completion you can hand it back to local people and businesses and watch it flourish and grow.

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.