Thirty years in the making…

Over thirty years ago, my father voluntarily added Cothelstone Gatehouse to the heritage at risk register, believing it would help him in applying for grants to restore it. Frustratingly, obtaining a grant for private heritage with no public access was simply not possible, so whilst Cothelstone Manor remained a family home, the Grade 1 listed Gatehouse continued to deteriorate.

When Cothelstone Manor unexpectedly came back to us in 2019, one of the drivers in us choosing to transform it into a holiday home was that financially it would enable us to undertake the critical structural repairs to the Gatehouse (in reality, the Gatehouse budget was swiftly redirected to cover the overspend on the Manor!). The other advantage was that Cothelstone Manor would be considered ‘open to the public’, which would unlock our ability to seek grant funding.

After thirty years of rejected grant applications, extortionate professional fees and countless planning applications, the stars aligned for us in 2023. The Farming in Protected Landscape (FiPL) grant scheme announced a national pot of money for restoring heritage building in Protected Landscapes, and Cothelstone Gatehouse ticked every box. Not only this, but the usual grant intervention rate is 40%, which although helpful, still leaves 60% of a very large number to find, but FiPL is an 80% intervention rate. With FiPL funding secured, we started work on Cothelstone Gatehouse at the beginning of July 2024, with the hope of completing the project by the end of the year.

I will forever be grateful for having such beautiful heritage at Cothelstone, but as with most things, there are always two sides. This building has plagued my father with guilt and frustration his entire tenure. On the one hand, he is not only legally bound to not allow nationally designated heritage to fall down, but also morally and emotionally bound, yet the cost of undertaking such a project has always vastly surpassed the available cash of a working farm.

Cothelstone Gatehouse serves as a good reminder that our heritage needs to be used and enjoyed in order to secure it for future generations. After our five year enforced hiatus as a condition of the grant, our ambition is to convert the Gatehouse into accommodation to be let alongside Cothelstone Manor. Last occupied in 1646, it is about time it was enjoyed once again.