Holkham Estate newsletter 2008 - Raptor Persecution Scotland

My family have been in the Hall nowfor just over a year. It still takes somegetting used to, particularly for Pollyand the children, but it very muchfeels like home. There is so much todo, so many people to see and oncethat is all done we still have to ensurethe children have a happy andgrounded family life.

It was therefore very sad this springwhen my wife’s wonderful fatherDavid Whately died aged 84. He was agreat man who had fought in theSecond World War and won theMilitary Cross in Italy a month afterhis twentieth birthday. Thanks to menlike him we live in a free country.

All of us enjoyed Locals’ Day on 17 May as we bumped into or servedfriends from Wells, Wighton, theBurnhams and beyond, all of whomenjoyed free entry into the Hall.

Many of us were saddened to seethree of our managers leave in thespring. Michael Turner, Simon Lester,and Peter Godwin have been centralfigures at Holkham for seven years andbecame great friends. However, wecan’t expect people to stay for ever,change is with us all the time andreminds us that we are notindispensable.

Their departure gives others anopportunity. I am very pleased withthe calibre of their replacements:Mark Bowyer (HFC), Nick Parker(Game) and Timothy Marshall(Gardens). Already they areimpressing with fresh ideas. We aredelighted to welcome them toHolkham and wish them success withtheir careers here.

I am not proud of the fact thatBuilding Maintenance, in its pursuitof efficiency, had to make 13 menredundant at the beginning of theyear. It was a painful process for allconcerned but I am genuinely pleasedthat all of those men have foundalternative employment.

Everything we do at Holkham mustbe for the benefit of the Hall and itsamazing collection. It is the centre-piece of the estate and has an enviablereputation. We must always rememberthat and base our decisions around it.Therefore it is a shame that this yearwe are unable to capitalise on thesuccess of our outdoor concerts in2007. We experienced difficultyattracting the right bands and werenot prepared to compromise onquality. It is so important to set astandard and maintain it. We decidedit would be better not to risk damageto Holkham’s reputation with asubstandard evening. We hope forsomething big next summer.

In my capacity as President of theCaravan Club, I was delighted towelcome 3,000 caravans to Holkhamfor the Club’s National Rally. Over8,000 very well behaved guests,including my family, had an excellentweekend of good clean funcaravanning in the park. All of themwent away with an abiding impressionof the estate, which serves to furtherenhance its reputation.

NEWSLETTER

Viscount Coke

Summer & Autumn 2008 • Issue 16

Inside this issueThe Hall ..................................................... 2Room Stewards’ Coffee Morning .........3Victoria’s Men .......................................... 3All That Glistens... ................................... 4From The Archives .................................. 5Marketing Department .......................... 6Locals’ Day................................................ 6Holkham Theatre..................................... 7The Ticket Office..................................... 7Holkham Retail ........................................ 8Holkham Foods ....................................... 8Holkham Village Post Office.................. 9Caravan Club National Rally ...............10 Pinewoods Holiday Park ..................... 12Bringing The Outside In....................... 12Holkham Farming Company............... 13Forestry Department........................... 13Game Department ............................... 13Building Maintenance ........................... 14Holkham Linseed Paints ...................... 15Windowcraft Department.................. 15Wastewater Treatment Plant.............. 16Finance Department ........................... 17Holkham National Nature Reserve ..17The Victoria ............................................ 18The Globe............................................... 18Obituaries............................................... 18Estate News ........................................... 19Holkham People.................................... 20

The Caravan Club National Rally See page 10

Erratum: in the last newsletter I stated that the “South Devon cattle wereCoke of Norfolk’s preferred breed”. Keith McDougall, erstwhile farm partnerof Lord Leicester’s at Chalk Hill Farm, Warham has pointed out that in factCoke of Norfolk introduced the “North” or “Ruby Red Devon” to Norfolk.

www.holkham.co.uk

2 • Holkham Newsletter • Summer/Autumn 2008

And so we start all over again! Inoticed that in the winter newsletterI was complaining about the rain inEaster 2007 – Oh my, why didn’t Ijust keep quiet?

Easter in March and naturally wewere blessed with howling winds andsnow throughout the Bank Holiday.This is getting to be a habit.

Thanks must go, not only to thestewards who braved the dreadfulweather, but also to the many intrepidvisitors who came to see us and keepus company.

The changes to the house openingroutine that I mentioned last timehave been tested over the Easterbreak and on into mid April, wheneverything stopped so that we couldbecome; yes, you’ve guessed it, a filmlocation again.

So what were the changes? Weextended the open season so thatvisitors were offered the opportunityto take an audio tour at 1 or 3 o’clock each day. Normally wewould shut after the Bank Holiday. Tomanage this process Rory Gould andLaura Smith were recruited to manthe front desk. Tours were sold fromthe Ticket Office by ChristineHawkes and after a slow start provedquite popular.

In addition to Laura and Rory, it isgood to welcome Jean Bourne, TonyPeach and Martin Webb as roomstewards.

You’ll want to know what the filmwas. The working title was TheBarbarian Princess filmed in Honoluluand here at Holkham. Once again thehouse was transformed by severaltonnes of props. Light switches werecovered up, bulbs removed andreplaced with candles. Miles of cablessnaked all over the house andgrounds, scaffold towers, huge lightsand more trucks than you could shakea stick at were moved in. Happily, anumber of the crew turned out to beold friends from The Duchess and Mytalks with Dean Spanley so it wasn’tnecessary to provide quite as muchhouse training as is normally the case.

The circus descended on us on 16 April and finally finished shootingon 30 April. Most of the shoot wasdone in the western end of the housewhich allowed some of our normal

routines to continue. However, thepicture we took of the VenetianBedroom gives you some idea of theamount of time and energy expendedto transform each location.

For this scene all of our furnitureand fittings were removed – what yousee in the picture above are some ofthe props used to dress the set. Out ofthe photo, on the east wall were twovery large wardrobes!

Interestingly the North DiningRoom was kitted out to represent aroom in the White House.

The picture of the Marble Hallshows that our “show” must go ondespite the filming. Here the Hall hasbeen dressed by the crew and ourteam have put out the chairs for aPrivate Guided Tour. The tour tookplace during the film crew’s lunchbreak and required some pretty tighttiming from all of us. The group reallyseemed to enjoy this unusual aspect ofHolkham.

I’m pretty sure that this crew usedmore of the house and grounds thanThe Duchess crew and they seemed to

The Hall

The Venetian Bedroom all dressed up

The North Dining Room masquerading as a room in the White House

Holkham Newsletter • Summer/Autumn 2008 • 3

be all over us like a rash! It is veryquiet without them.

The disruption in the house wasconsiderable and it was thanks to thewhole team here that we were able toopen for the May Bank Holiday witheverything in good order.

As I write the sun is blazing downand has been for a couple of days now– long may it continue. We reallywould like to see some long term

sunshine. Phil Bishop (Cap’n Ahab to his

friends) was more anxious than most.He worked long and hard to bring ourelectric launch back to a presentablestate after its winter sleep undertarpaulin. We launched the vessel on14 May. If you have never tried it, youhave missed a treat.

Mike Daley • Hall Administrator

Taking advantage of a film crew lunch break to set up for a private guided tour

As a result of his recent pay rise the Administrator was – almost – able to afford the wheels ofhis dreams. Next year he hopes to buy the horse!

Room Stewards’Coffee MorningHolkham Hall room stewards havebeen meeting for coffee on thethird Thursday of each month during the winter.

Wells WI Hall is the venue wherewe enjoy a log fire made by JanetEaton ahead of our 10.30 start sothat the Hall is warm and welcom-ing for everyone. The attendance isbetween 16 and 18 people eachmeeting.

At Christmas we gave ourselves afestive lunch. Janet Bishop made abeef casserole by popular requestand we all contributed a starter ora pudding, rounded off by coffeeand mints, enjoyed by 22 of us.

We agreed that a winter get together had been a very good idea and we plan to do the samenext year.

Janet Eaton • Room Steward

Victoria’s MenLast October Blakeway Productionsfilmed at Holkham using some ofthe state rooms and park. The programme, a docu-drama entitledQueen Victoria’s Men, looked at therelationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert andviewers learnt about the four othermen who played important roles inher life. The programme wasbroadcast on Channel 4 on Monday2 June at 9pm.

Verity Hewlett as a young Queen Victoriain the Channel 4 docu-dramaThe DeLorean Owners’ Club visited Holkham in June on their EuroTec Weekend


I became interested in gilding andrestoration two years ago. My girlfriend Karen Pecenkus is a gilderand conservator; through her I became interested in this specialisedskill. Two years ago I took a waterand oil gilding course at West DeanCollege in Sussex and at the sametime I picked up invaluable tips fromher. She has taught me a great deal.

Since successfully completing mycourses I have worked on a freelancebasis in a beautiful Pugin church, St Thomas’ of Canterbury in Fulham,

London. I was part of a team of restorers polishing the beams to sealthe wood and putting “size” on,which is a sticky substance which allows the gold leaf to stick to thesurface being gilded.

After this I worked for the samecompany on an apartment in Mayfairwhere Winston Churchill had oncelived. We were applying aluminiumleaf to the cornices, columns, pilasters, skirting boards and dadorails. The aluminium leaf created amodern look to simulate silver.

I have undertaken many other interesting jobs including preparingand water gilding eight newly carvedwooden dolphins in the style ofWilliam Kent which were then attached to console tables.

However my biggest challenge waswhen my brother Tom asked if I’d beinterested in re-gilding some of thestate rooms at Holkham – I acceptedwith speed! The last three monthshave been fascinating, very therapeu-tic and I have found the family mottoPrudens Qui Patiens (Wise is he who ispatient) particularly pertinent.

I started off in the Green StateBedroom and then moved onto thedressing rooms. The amount of gilding at Holkham is extensive and

includes dado rails, skirting boards,egg and dart mouldings on the window shutters, door cases and architraves. The work in these historic rooms is very detailed andintricate. Eight of the flower mould-ings themselves needed restorationbefore the gold leaf could be applied.

Since I have been working on theserooms I have made an interesting discovery – traces of the original candle wax which had dripped ontothe mouldings from the 18th or 19thcentury.

It has been a great pleasure havingthe opportunity to work at Holkhamin such beautiful surroundings. Ifound it very satisfying to be so personally involved and I think I amthe first family member to actuallyphysically work on the structure ofthe house. It is wonderful to seethese rooms back to their formerglory as they had not been re-gildedsince the 18th century.

Rupert Coke • Gilder

All That Glistens...

Rupert Coke skewing off the excess gold leaf from a skirting board

Applying “size” to the skirting board so thatthe gold leaf will stick

The huge job of re-gilding some of the State rooms in the Hall became a familyaffair when Lord Coke asked his brother, Rupert, to undertake the work. Here,Rupert explains how he got involved and how the work is progressing

Using a soft brush, the gold leaf is applied tothe ready-sized pattern on the skirtingboard


Recently, I was contacted by a manwho had found, among his deceasedmother’s papers, a ground plan of theAncient House, in Holkham village, in 1885. He had no idea why she hadit, but he lived near Lowestoft and Iremembered that the builder whomodernised the Ancient House andbuilt many of the present houses in the village in the 1880s had come

from there. We compared names and found that

the builder, James Rounce, was hisgreat grandfather! He had not knownthat his ancestor was a builder, but henow knows what contribution he madeto the appearance of the village, and Iam delighted to say that in return hegave the plan to the Archives.

Fortunately he was not deterred byanother coincidence: on calling at theEstate Office, he recognised LauraneHerrieven, the Marketing Manager, asa childhood friend who once lockedhim in a chicken house!

My alphabetical outings round theestate this issue all relate to propertiesthat Sir Edward Coke bought in the1590s (some years before his firstpurchase at Holkham), which thenremained part of the estate for over 340years, until sold in the 1940s.

DuntonAn estate at Dunton cum Doughton,adjoining South Creake, was bought in1595. The records that came with itdate back to 1312 and are still in thearchives. The item illustrated to theright is a list of the inhabitants in 1643,

during the Civil War, and the amountsthey had to pay in order to raise a rateof £52 ‘for the finding and providingeof armies for the defence of thecountry’. It is signed by GeorgePhillips, the churchwarden.

Such lists have survived becauseJohn Coke of Holkham (the first Coketo live here) was a member of thecounty committee appointed to

supervise these levies for theParliamentarians.

ElmhamThe park and manor of North Elmhamwere bought in 1598, but a large partwas lost in the 17th century, to pay offpart of the enormous debts run up byone of Sir Edward’s grandsons.

The family managed, however, toretain the deer park. When ThomasCoke, the future builder of HolkhamHall, succeeded to the estates in 1707,his guardians ordered a report on themanagement of Elmham Park andconsidered ‘disparking’ it and making apark at Holkham.

Illustrated here is the map drawn bythe estate steward, Humphrey Smith,at that time. These proposals weredropped, however, and Elmhamcontinued to provide venison for thefamily until the deer were moved toHolkham in 1845. The old park wasfinally sold in 1944.

FulmodestoneFulmodestone had a particularly closelink with Holkham, because on SirEdward’s death in 1634, he left it to hisfourth son, John, who was by then wellestablished at Holkham.

We know from a few survivingaccounts that it provided him with anadditional rental income, timber fromits woods, winter grazing land for partof the Holkham sheep flock, wool, andhops for the brew house.

The 2nd Earl in the 19th centurybought another 400 acres atFulmodestone because of its proximityto the old estate, but all theFulmodestone land was sold between1945 and 1952.

Christine Hiskey • Archivist

From The Archives

Elmham Park in 1708

Ground plan of The Ancient House, 1885

Dunton rate list, 1643


Our previous newsletter editor Paulais now happily ensconced in bonnieScotland and we wish her and newhusband Simon well. Thank youPaula for your superb editorial skillsand dedication in making theHolkham Newsletter a much favouredand read publication.

On Sunday 24 February, three daysbefore they moved, Simon and Paulatied the knot at Chelsea Old TownHall. Paula looked a picture in a vividred vintage 1950s dress she purchasedfrom a website in California, USA.Congratulations Mr and Mrs Lester!

We made sure Paula didn’t leavewithout saying a proper farewell andarranged a hen-night for her at TheGlobe. This was Ian Brereton’s firstweek in his new post, so it must haveseemed like a baptism of fire, whenfourteen females descended, for whatturned out to be “a very interestingevening!”

Once again Holkham took part inthe eBay auction called TopLots. Lastyear I reported we were supporting theinaugural auction to help raise fundsfor UK galleries and heritage

attractions – a rather unusual, butsuccessful, way of raising funds for theongoing heritage work carried out at

the Hall. This year the package we of-fered was a lifetime pass to HolkhamHall for two people and we went livefor bidders on 1 June until 10 Juneinclusive. The successful bidder was alocal lady who presented her son anddaughter-in-law with the exclusivepackage.

Easter Bank Holiday weekendmarked the start of the 2008 Visitors’Season for the Hall and BygonesMuseum. The fact that Easter fell soearly, combined with the dreadfulweather, meant that our visitor figureswere down 50% on last year. Despitethis poor start, group bookings arelooking promising and we willhopefully boost visitor numbers as theseason progresses.● STOP PRESS We have just learnedthat Holkham Beach has been votedthe East Anglian regional winner inthe Warburtons Best Picnic Spot 2008competition, We will now go forwardto the national final to find the country’s favourite picnic spot.

Laurane Herrieven • Marketing Manager

Marketing Department

Simon and Paula tie the knot at Chelsea OldTown Hall

Locals’ DayFollowing the overwhelming successof the Heritage Open Day in September 2006, when almost 2,000visitors visited the attractions freeof charge, Lord Coke decided tolaunch a similar initiative.

Aptly named ‘Locals’ Day’, the Halland Museum opened up free ofcharge on Saturday 17 May invitingresidents from postcodes NR21,NR22, NR23, NR24 NR25, PE31,PE35 and PE36 to visit. All that wasrequired to gain free entry was autility bill, as proof of residency.

Thankfully the weather remaineddry for the opening, despite heavydownpours elsewhere within a 20mile radius. The doors opened atnoon and over a period of 4½hours we welcomed a grand total of766 people.

The state rooms in the Hall andBygones Museum had a steady flowof visitors, with many commentingthat they had never visited the

house or museum before, despite itbeing on their doorstep. They alsosaid how much they had appreciated

and had enjoyed the event. While entry to the attractions

was free, we invited visitors tomake a donation to the East AnglianChildren’s Hospices (EACH), whichhas a hospice at Quidenham in Norfolk. Lady Coke is a Patron ofthe charity, which provides expertcare for children suffering from arange of acute conditions, which arelikely to lead to death before thechildren reach adulthood.

A full range of care is provided atthe three hospices run by the charity in East Anglia and an outreach team also provides care ina family’s home. Our thanks to thecharity’s two volunteers, Margaretand Rodney Hull, who set up a display promoting the charity’s valuable work and proudly collecteda total of £614 in donations.

Laurane Herrieven • Marketing Manager

Some of the 766 local visitors in the Marble Hall


Peter PanTuesday 29th July at 6.00pmWatch as Peter Pan brings the dastardly villain, Captain Hook to justice and let your imagination runriot with the Lost Boys.Adults £10; Concessions £7; Family £30

Mad & MerryMonarchsFriday 1st August at 7.00pmJoin us as we are led through 1,000years of British monarchy and see battles, decapitations, dastardly plotting and passionate infidelities

unfold before you.Adults £10; Concession £7; Family £30

Alice’s Adventures inWonderlandSaturday 16th August at 5.00pmComplete with the Cheshire Cat, theQueen of Hearts and a tea party withthe most bewildering bunch of guests!Adults £11; Children & Students £7;Family £32

Charley’s AuntFriday 22nd August at 7.00pmA frantic series of mistaken identities,

ill-fitting disguises and unexpectedromances await you in this world-renowned comedy.Adults £10; Concessions £7; Family £30

Sleeping BeautyWednesday 27th August at 6.00pmA princess is cursed at birth by awicked fairy and sleeps for a hundredyears until a handsome prince awakesher with a single kiss. Come in yourfavourite fairytale fancy dress and joinin the parade.Adults £9; Children £6; Family £28

Holkham Theatre Forthcoming AttractionsWell it’s that time of year again, whenwe’re starting to venture out into thewilderness we call our garden andwonder at the marvels of nature andthe holes dug by family pets!!

We may have started to tentativelythink of summer and booking holidaysso with this in mind please put the fol-

lowing dates in your diary and join usin the Pottery Yard this theatre season.

Come along early to take advantageof some retail therapy in the PotteryShop and partake of a Holkham icecream before the show starts.

Obviously we’re hoping for sun-shine, as all shows will go ahead in all

but the foulest of weather. So bringyour picnics and chairs, Pimms or pop,friends and family and enjoy theevening’s entertainment brought toyou by five very experienced andhighly innovative theatre companies.

Hope to share your company.Kerry Cave • Events Co-ordinator

The Ticket OfficeI have spent a very quiet winter in the Bygones Museum,updating the signage for Brian Ayton to ensure a uniformlook to all the display information.

The time passed very quickly (due to the winter beingso short, I’m told), but I managed to get it all finished,and fit in a few days holiday as well, in time to be back inthe ticket office for Easter opening.

As last year, we are selling tickets for the theatreproductions as well as the admission tickets for the Houseand Museum. In peak season this year, the office will beopen 7 days a week, acting as an information point and

hopefully selling theatre tickets on the days that the Halland Museum are closed.

Back with me is Kerry Cave, working on Sundays andco-ordinating the theatre productions. We are joined byLouise Lance who works from Wednesday to Saturday inpeak season.

We hope that the weather is better than last year andthat we all have a busy summer.

Christine Hawkes • Ticket Office


Holkham Foods

Holkham RetailIn January, the year started off well inthe shops with customers takingadvantage of our sale at Ancient Houseto obtain gifts at very competitiveprices. Some customers told us thatthey were already buying presents forChristmas 2008 (provided they couldremember where they had stored themafter that length of time!).

As usual Spring Fair, the largest TradeFair in UK, heralds the start of Februaryand lines which we sourced there weredelivered earlier than they normallywould be, to get them on the shelves fora very early Easter.

We were kept busy in both shopsduring the early May Bank Holiday,while the sun shone, and at ThePottery Shop with Locals’ Day on 17 May. It was nice to see so many localpeople in the shop and everyone wespoke to was enjoying it and seemed tobe relaxed and in good spirits.

The late May Bank Holiday was asuccessful weekend for us, despite the

cooler weather, both in The PotteryShop and at Ancient House Gift Shopand Gallery. The shop in the parkbenefited of course from the CaravanClub Rally and had many customers.

Martin Billing, the GalleryAdministrator, organised a verysuccessful Wildlife Exhibition of work

by the talented artist David Cookwhich ran throughout June.

Finally, you will have read in the lastNewsletter that Holkham Potteryclosed down last year, and work is nowunder way to clear the factory. Even forthose of us who have been here only afew years, it is nevertheless rather sad towitness the clearance.

The very oldest large kiln has alreadybeen removed along with all thecupboards throughout the factory. Themen carrying out the removal certainlyhad no easy task!

Pottery manufactured here atHolkham over the years is verycollectable, and we still have stockswhich were manufactured prior to theclosure. So do come along to the shopsand see some of the pieces that DouglasCodman and Jane Bray made for us,and perhaps take away a little reminderof Holkham Pottery.

Sylvia Daley • Retail Manager

The Stables Café is up and running for the new season. Wehave welcomed back returning staff and a couple of newfaces have joined the team this year.

The Stables started with a washout of an Easter butthings got better with the first May Bank Holiday and better still by the second May Bank Holiday. We had theopen day for local people in May as well and we had a busyday serving lots of tea, coffee and cake.

Of course the big event so far this year was the CaravanClub National Rally which was heldover the late May Bank Holiday. Theyseemed to be here for a long time setting things up, and then the caravansarrived in all their glory.

The Saturday was quite quiet andthere was an air of doom about theCafé, but on Sunday and Monday wehad people everywhere and Mondayturned into the second busiest daywe’ve had since I have worked here – aconstant stream of people queuing outof the door. At one point we didn’tknow where our queue ended and theTicket Office one started!

Ice cream production is going great

guns – Aaron Ward is one of the new faces to join us thisyear as my new ice cream maker. He has taken to the joblike a duck to water and we are delighted he is part of theteam.

We have been trying new flavours this year. I have beentesting one or two sorbets and we have just made Cardamom ice cream for The Globe as a special request fortheir Indian Nights – it has been a great success.

The trailer is now down at the beach for five days a weekselling all the things that people forgetwhen they put a picnic together. Theyalso sell Holkham ice cream therethrough the summer.

Do come and see us at The Stablesor the trailer. The Stables is open fromEaster to the end of October, sevendays a week in June, July and August,and the trailer is open five to sevendays a week depending on the time ofyear and the weather conditions. As anadded incentive staff discounts areavailable at both outlets.

Wendy Mason • Holkham FoodsSatisfied customers eating at The Stables

The oldest Holkham Pottery kiln in theprocess of being dismantled

● STOP PRESS We have taken the decision to rent out the Ancient House to Mark Elliot Furniture. Over its historythe building has had many uses – from bakery to private house to being an annex for the Victoria Hotel in the 1960sand for the last thirty-five years a shop selling Holkham pottery, gifts and paintings. It was a decision not taken lightly,but reflects our strategy to concentrate on core estate businesses. I am confident that Mark Elliot Furniture, a company with a strong East Anglian brand, will add to the strength of Holkham village as a ‘destination’. Viscount Coke


Very soon Holkham Village PostOffice will close. Situated at the rearof Ancient House, with its lovely viewof the walled garden, it is a real suntrap during its morning opening hours.History will also be made as the Earlof Leicester will cease to be aPostmaster; an appointment held bythe Earls of Leicester since the 1730s.There have been three Post Offices;two in cottages in New Holkham andHolkham Village and one in the Hall.With the death of the 5th Earl in1976, the hereditary appointmentceased. The then Lord Cokesuccessfully applied and was able toprovide suitable premises in the Ancient House, so the traditioncontinued.

Althea Butters, Angela Smith andMary Tuck all did stints behind thecounter in the office’s first five years ofopening. It was over 25 years ago on aSaturday morning, (yes, it opened 5½days a week originally), with MaryTuck away on holiday and SybilStimpson her holiday relief going intohospital, that I was asked to “hold thefort”. For a time Mary and I shared theopening hours but since it became aCommunity Office with restrictedhours of business on 19 July 1989, andwith Mary’s retirement, I have ‘flownsolo’.

Sadly, Post Office business hasdeclined with all the changes thathave taken place, particularly in thelast four years or so. Very enjoyablepension morning gatherings were thenorm when I originally stood behindthe counter. Messrs. Barnes, Dunn,Loose and Hewitt etc. would verbally

put the hall and estate in order andthe ladies, on their days off, would tellme all about the ‘downstairs’workings. All had spent their workingdays at Holkham and were full ofstories.

As each new batch retired, theirpension books would appear and theirweekly visit was added to the list. Aseveryone was so regular, it made itquite an easy task to assess the cashrequirements for the week. With thechange to banking, it is an impossibletask to estimate exact requirements, asso many options are open to customersand the occupancy of the estatehouses has changed greatly.

Villagers and visitors alike loved tospeculate on the purchase of £2 and£5 Premium Savings Bonds, getting

the Holkham datestamp on them.Children learned tomanage theirfinances, proudlyusing their SavingsBank books.

Minimumpurchases of £100Premium SavingsBonds issuedcentrally, and £20minimum deposits,saw thesetransactions almostdisappear. Later theloss of TV licencesavings stamps, the

licences themselves, Anglian WaterAuthority savings stamps and theirbill paying facility, along with otherthings, were all to bring about thefinal outcome. Offering foreigncurrency didn’t replace usefuleveryday items on the shopping list.

Early February 2000 saw me back ata desk learning the mysteries of thePost Office computerised system,passing the examination and gainingthe required certificate to have theequipment installed here onValentine’s Day. Already in my 60s, Iwasn’t exactly over the moon aboutoperating this. To this day, although Ican appreciate its advantages, I wouldstill prefer my pen, pencil and paperand when the electricity blips I feeljustified in being a bit regretful attheir passing.

Countless visitors remark on thepleasant surroundings, telling me howlucky I am. We then chat about thenorth wall being the original seadefence, the ancient light and whichcottages date from the 1700s. I thenrecall, but don’t voice, how menacingthat same lovely wall used to seemwhen we locked up completely aloneat 5.30pm on dark winter days. Theshop only opened in the summer then.How much I appreciated the late JohnMassingham appearing to see if all waswell if my car was late leaving.

It will be sad to lock the door on thePost Office’s final day but all thecriteria needed to argue for itscontinuation were not applicable.Along with its closure and LordLeicester’s retirement as SubPostmaster, comes my retirement as‘Officer in Charge’.

I have thoroughly enjoyed thequarter-century of my involvementwith Holkham and its people, notforgetting those regulars from nearbyvillages and the visitors. I expect tomiss it greatly. After serving myself forover 40 years it will seem unfamiliarto experience the other side of thescreen. I shall miss being able torespond to all the customers whocomplain about the cost of postage,that when I started, stamps and icecreams were priced alike – that’schanged too!

Bridget (Biddy) Bunkle • Holkham Post Office

Holkham Village Post Office 1733 – 2008

The very attractive Holkham Post Office


The Caravan Club National RallyOn the Bank Holiday weekend of 23 to 27 May, over 3,000 caravans,motor caravans and RVs wendedtheir way along the roads of Norfolkto arrive at Holkham, the venue for

the 2008 Caravan Club NationalRally. The Club last held its NationalRally here in 1996, and twelve yearslater the Club was delighted to makea return trip for what was its 81stNational get-together.

The Club returned to Holkham because, despite not being a centrallocation, it is such a beautiful one. Itwas also nice to be here in only LordCoke’s second year as the Club’s President. He and his family campedout every night in their 1965Airstream and thoroughly enjoyedtheir first rally.

All the infrastructure requiredbefore the caravanners arrived wasably handled by Caravan Club officers and volunteers, who movedonto the site about a month beforethe Rally and strung many hundredsof yards of water pipes and electricalcables around so that it was a simplematter for everyone to hook up asthey arrived at their pitches.

The needs of 8,000 people werecatered for by a selection of food

vending stands, selling burgers, fishand chips and the like. There wasalso a small supermarket run byLondis, which supplied all the vitalitems that, even with the bestpreparation, always seem to getforgotten when you leave home to goon your holidays!

The Club had put together a busyand varied programme of events andentertainment, which ensured thateveryone there always had somethingto do, something to see andsomewhere to go. It even had its own‘Rally Radio’ station.

For the many children on the sitethe Club had set up the Mayday Cluboffering – among other things – artsand crafts, a bouncy castle, outdoorgames and evening entertainment.Moving the huge generators onto the site in preparation

Here they come – some of over 3,000caravans who spent the weekend at Holkham

Testing the connections – water and electricitywere provided to all pitches

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Two huge marquees were erected tokeep everyone sheltered during theevening entertainments laid on overthe four evenings of the Rally. Therewas a 70s night, complete with comedians, a Celine Dion tributewith Tracey Shield – a past winner ofStars in Their Eyes, a Dance Nightand a Variety Night. The undoubtedhighlight of the weekend was a 60snight starring Herman’s Hermits, TheSearchers and Marty Wilde and theWildcats – it was a fabulous sell-outshow, much enjoyed by 1,800 peoplewho rocked the night away!

However, there wasn’t onlyevening entertainment on offer – the

intention of the organiserswas that there should besomething to do through-out the weekend so thatthe ralliers were offered acomplete package. To thisend there were sportingevents such as netball andfootball competitionswhere county CaravanClub groups competedagainst each other forprizes. There was a fun runfor the very enthusiastic,

an It’s a Knockout-style event, a dogshow to keep the large number ofdogs (and their owners) entertained,a One Man and His Dog show with atwist, in that the dogs were in factgeese and so on and so on.

The opening ceremony, attendedby Lord and Lady Coke and membersof the Caravan Club’s executive committee, featured the stirringmusic and precision marching of theMinden Band of the Queen’s Division, resplendent in their uniforms on a fine but windy weekend. There was no way that theweather was going to get in the wayof what turned out to be a fantastic four days for all concerned.Lord and Lady Coke enjoying the opening ceremony

Lord Coke’s beautiful Airstream caravan joins the party

Early arrivers get the shopping in while morecaravans stream through the gates

Netball was just one of the sports on offerover the weekend

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Bringing TheOutside InAfter a month away with my camera in America earlier this year,it was great to return to Holkhamto find out that Bringing The Outside In had been awarded BestCoastal Shop Runner Up in theCoast Awards, featured in CoastMagazine.

After two years of hard work it was great to get national recognition. Coast readers alsovoted Holkham Beach runner upfor best beach, keeping North Norfolk on the map.

With new branding launchingsoon and a list of new suppliers, thesummer is looking good.

The annual exhibition of my localcoastal photography will launch onSaturday 2 August, and will continueto run throughout the summer.

Bringing The Outside In is opendaily from 10.30 – 4 except Tuesday.

Martin Billing • Gallery Owner

Bringing The Outside In offers a lovely,eclectic mix of pictures, crafts, books andother moreish stuff!

I live about twenty miles from Wells-next-the-Sea and the only morning Ihad problems driving to work turnedout to be Easter Sunday with the snow.Two events stick in my mind – one ladwith a stock pile of snowballs which hethrew at any youngster walking pastand the children using the slope at theedge of the touring field to slide downon sledges. Thankfully Easter goes backto a later date for the foreseeable futureso normal seaside kit will be required.

Park opening is always a challenge,particularly when Good Friday is thefirst Friday of the season. My thanks goto all the team at Pinewoods whometiculously completed all therequired tasks. This resulted in usopening with no problems to troubleus, other than the one and a halfinches of rain which fell the first nightand the snows of Easter. GeneralManagers of holiday businesses in theMediterranean must get bored withoutthe peculiarities of our British weather.

During the winter we had a specialistcompany in to clean out the dykes,with the expectation that in the long-term this would improve the parkdrainage. For a brief period thiscompany made things worse becausethe digger ended up in the dyke and ittook some time to remove!

This operation has helped the parkenormously and we can now see thechange in levels as the tides come inand out and the water is noticeablylower by the train station, something Ihave not seen since I have been atPinewoods. The maintenance teamhas filled the holes in the wettest areas

and seeded in an attempt to put thetent fields back to how they used to bebefore the 2007 rains.

During the winter we invested in anew reception and a recycling centre,both of which have been muchappreciated by our customers.

Reception opened on time with veryfew teething problems. The extraspace and comfort enables us to offerone of the best holiday park receptionsin the area. Our team finds theenvironment much more comfortablewith improved heating, lighting andthe extra room.

The recycling was held up due to thecontractor not being able to lay theconcrete because of frost at night. Nowall we need is for the landscaping togrow to shield the units. This is nothelped by the Muntjac eating the tipsof the new plants. Currently we havecontainers for paper/card and glass; wehave also purchased wheelie bins forboth the sales office and reception/accounts so everything which does notneed shredding is recycled. Allcardboard from the shop is collectedon a daily basis by the site team. Wehave built the area large enough toexpand the recycling operation; thiswould be speeded up if localauthorities in our catchment areaoffered the same recyclingopportunities.

We are hopeful that 2008 will be amuch better season than last year, butwe do need the weather so please stoprain dancing for the next few months.

Richard Seabrooke • General Manager

Pinewoods Holiday Park

The smart new reception area at Pinewoods


I arrived at Holkham on 24 April totake on the role of Head Keeper. Ihave been a keeper for over 24years now but have spent the lastsix years working for the Van Cutsem family on their wild birdshoot in North Yorkshire.

Having spent some time with theother keepers on the estate andgetting to know the large numberof staff here I am now looking forward to the busy months ahead.

April through to June are some ofthe most important months in theshooting calendar as pheasants andpartridges begin to nest and hatchyoung. Over these months thekeepers will be busy retrieving thesurplus eggs from the wild to setunder broody hens. The rearing fieldwas set up and the chicks startedhatching from the middle of May. Tohelp with this busy period the estate has recently purchased fivenew Honda quad bikes.

Nick Parker • Head Keeper

Game Department

The magnificent five! New quad bikes forthe Game Department

I started at Holkham at the beginning of March, replacing Michael Turner whohas moved on to bigger and different things. We wish him well for the future.

I arrived into bright sunshine following a warm, dry bright February. SpringBarley was all drilled and everything was looking well. Week two and all change– just as the sugarbeet drill left the shed the heavens opened, delaying the startof drilling by a week. A stop-start drilling season with 81mm of rain in Marchsaw all the sugarbeet drilled by the middle of April. Most of it felt like it hadbeen drilled at the weekend!

Then the new swamp in the park was addressed. An almost dry week resultedin the fields being ploughed and the majority of the area drilled to linseed;returning to the Holkham cropping after a break of a number of years. I hope itwill yield well and can be marketed into the currently very buoyant oilseedmarket.

The newly acquired Castle Acre farms look well, although there is still a veryhigh weed burden – a legacy of its organic farming days. It might take morethan one season to tidy up but it has a lot of potential for the future.

The new Knight sprayer is well christened, clocking 250 hours in the first sixweeks with only minor problems. New combine harvesters are expected toarrive at Longlands in the next few weeks, although the old one can still befound working occasionally.

Mark Bowyer • Farms Manager

Holkham FarmingCompany Ltd

Harrowing spring barley at Waterden in February 2008 in a Massey Ferguson 135 driven byStephen Hall. This was the first tractor Lord Leicester bought on Park Farm in 1973

Forestry DepartmentWe carried out a survey in ‘The Oaks’ on the condition of the trees thereand found that three needed to be removed, a horse chestnut and an Ilexwith fungus at the base and a lime tree with die back in the crown. Thesewere felled and removed. An oak tree has been planted where the lime treestood in memory of a member of the armed forces. We also took out a lotof low boughs in this area.

We removed two Ilex trees at Octagon Cottage in Holkham. They wererather large and stretched the Nifty Lift machine to its limit.

We supplied hazel branches for the Stiffkey River restoration project atWarham for the first time.

We have cleared up a lot of gale damage after the Easter gales. Severalloads of Ilex branches have gone to London Zoo for the giraffes.

Ian McNab • Head Woodsman


As reported in the last newsletter Ipromised to give you an update on themajor changes at Holkham BuildingMaintenance. Very sadly we have hadto make a number of redundancies, 14in number, and so our workforce isnow down to 12 people.

We have now been able to purchasea new computer programme and weshould have gone live by the time youread this newsletter; this will enableus to monitor the jobs better and givethe tenants dates as to when the workcan be done, this will also allow us tocarry out the works on a schedule ofrates, which I believe has not beendone on the estate before.

Using the National schedule ofRates is an average cost for all types ofbuilding repairs in the country, whichwill show that the trustee’s are gettingvalue for money, which I’m sure youwill agree is what we all want from thepeople we employ.

The schedule of rates is going out totender to local contractors to priceand we hope to have a contractor inplace at the beginning of July to takeon the day-to-day maintenance ofproperties on the estate.

At the moment we are employingcontractors to carry out our plumbingworks and larger projects are beingtendered for by local contractors.Fisher and Son (Fakenham) Ltd havebeen carrying out our plumbing jobsand their team of Barry Rob, DanielRob and Alistair Finn along with JimMitchell, Mike Brunton and StuartLingwood who co-ordinate ourrequests from the office are at presentproviding us with a good service.

This winter seems to have lastedforever and the high winds caused anumber of problems for us with themain offender being roof tiles comingoff. Lets hope that we have a fantasticsummer so that our external repairsand redecoration programme can becompleted. It is the turn of Quarlesand Castle Acre this year with workstarting in the summer, weatherpermitting.

Our Joinery and Windowcraft teamshave been involved in a private jobfor a ‘Giants’ Seat’. We provided theSwedish timber for Mr ThomasSedgwick to build the three partbench and then it was returned to us

to oil and paint in linseed products.Our teams worked really hard on theproject and I think you will agree thatthe finished product was quiteamazing – as pictured.

Work on the drainage system isnearing the end now. It has been amammoth project but the wholeprocess is working really well. Ourcontractors Garner Groundworkshave worked tirelessly to get HolkhamVillage linked into the system and weare hopeful that the one remainingproperty (Hill House Farm, Holkham)will be completed by the summer.

Training is on going here atHolkham Building Maintenance. It isimportant that we are all aware of ourworking environment and the hazardsthat can be found here. We also use ahuge amount of machinery which weneed to understand and respect inorder for us to be safe at all times. Asyou can see from the picture even theoffice staff (Dawn) are getting sometraining in!

We have had two 65th birthdayssince our last newsletter. One of ourcarpenters Avelino de Brito Pereiraturned 65 in March and has decidedto stay with us for a little while longer.Avelino started work with HectorsHousing before moving to HolkhamBuilding Maintenance in 2005.

Maurice Bray turned 65 in May andas many of you will know Maurice hasspent all of his working life atHolkham. Maurice has decided to

reduce his hours to two days a week sothat he can enjoy semi-retirementwith his wife Jane. We would like towish both Maurice and Avelino goodhealth and happiness for the future.

We would also like to congratulateRobert Savory on passing his secondyear carpentry exams as well as hisdriving test.

Barry Turner • Building MaintenanceManager

Building Maintenance

Getting the staff in training!

The stunning ‘Giant’s Seat’ – oiled and painted in Holkham linseed products


Peter May and William Owen coming down on the cherry picker, having put chicken wire onthe chimneys to stop the Jackdaws nesting at Model Farm, the residence of Lord and LadyLeicester

Holkham Linseed PaintsWe have had a very good start to the year so far, sales have been picking upvery well indeed since the beginning of April, and all just in time for our endof the financial year.

We have sent out a large quantity of paint to the Isle of Man governmentand are looking forward to hearing how they are getting on with the paints.

It appears the word is spreading about Holkham Linseed Paints as we haverecently been receiving a lot of enquiries about the paint from painters andarchitects in Scotland who have been asked to specify our paints, so we arekeeping our fingers crossed that the large orders continue to come in.

Rebecca Amphlett and I stood in for Amanda Taylor at the EcoBuild Exhibition at Earl’s Court in London at the end of February. It was the firsttime that either of us had been there, and only the second time that we have

had a stand at the event. It was agood experience for both of usas well as offering potential customers a chance to get abetter understanding of thepaint before they buy.

In January we had an enquiryfrom a lady in Cromer calledJean Gardner who was openingan interior design shop and wasvery interested in becoming aretailer of Holkham LinseedPaints as she was already familiar with the product fromwhen she worked at EasternInteriors. We are now pleasedto say that The Norfolk HouseCompany was as impressed withour products as we are and isnow part of our group of retailers for customers to buyour products from.

Davey Ingram • Holkham LinseedPaints

WindowcraftDepartment

Adam Lovick of the WindowcraftDepartment embarks on the restoration of an old door

And how the door will look when it’s finished. Quite a difference!

The month of May 2008 saw the finalconnections being made to theHolkham village wastewatertreatment plant.

This is the first Accel-o-FacTM plantto be constructed in England and itwas commissioned just over two yearsago by the Estate.

The Holkham plant has attractedconsiderable attention from watercompanies in both the UK andEurope. Visitors from as far afield asGreece and Romania have appraisedthe plant and feedback has beenuniversally positive.

Anglian Water seems to have beenparticularly impressed, so much sothat it has commissioned a similarplant, currently under construction atSutton St James in Lincolnshire, withseveral more planned over the nextfew years.

The Accel-o-FacTM process,designed by LAS International Ltd.,marks a more sustainable approach towastewater treatment for small ruralcommunities.

This treatment system incorporatesa number of highly unique features,not the least of which is a self-

digesting sludge process that requiresno pre-screening, sedimentation tanksor clarifiers, no sludge removal,dewatering or conditioning, and bestof all, no routine sludge disposal andthe associated lorry traffic in and outof the works. All sludge iscontinuously self digested within theinitial treatment stage.

Another feature of the treatmentsystem is the very low energyrequirement. LAS is unique in its useof a fully biologicalprocess. Instead ofrelying onelectricity, theAccel-o-FacTM

system uses windenergy to optimisethe biologicalconditions in thetreatment cellswhilst naturalsurface absorptionprovides theoxygen needed forthe treatmentprocess andpositive odourcontrol.

The Accel-o-FacTM system wasdeveloped 30 years ago in the UnitedStates by LAS International where ithas been used extensively in a varietyof wastewater treatment applications.

Praised by the North Norfolkplanning authority for its softengineering and sustainable approachto sewage treatment, the Holkhamplant is proving to be an elegant,odour-free solution to the village’swastewater treatment needs.


Accel-o-Fac plant all sewered up

Plans on paper – how it all started out

The new wastewater treatment plant for Holkham village is now all connected and in fulloperation. John Gillett, Managing Director of LAS International, the company responsiblefor building the plant, explains all.

A notable feature of the last fewmonths has been the series of financepresentations I hosted for employees. Ibegan before Christmas with a talk forDepartment Heads in two separatesessions at Longlands. There was keeninterest and the managers encouragedme to undertake a similar exercisewith their teams over winter.

In the New Year I requisitioned thePinewoods coffee lounge for a dozenemployee presentations, in groups ofeight to twelve. I think the fact thatthe groups were fairly small andrelaxed (Mr Seabrooke has invested invery comfy furniture at Pinewoods!)

provided an atmosphere that allowedfor a useful dialogue on differentaspects of Estate finances.

I addressed the perplexing questionof what the Finance Department is forand what it does (I think manyattendees were genuinely surprised atthe extent of the Estate and itstransactional complexity), as well as asummary of Estate performance overrecent years. Attendees also gained anunderstanding of how each section orcompany fitted into the ‘whole’.

The presentation went on toconsider a few financial ‘myths’ andfinished up with my personal view of

the financial outlook and how itmight impact on individuals andcompanies (regrettably many of theprospects I outlined have materialisedin the wider economy).

I genuinely found it to be a veryrewarding exercise. It was good to beable to see so many of our team atHolkham but it was also a realpleasure to be able to see how, after acouple of minutes, wariness offinancial matters evaporated: armsunfolded, people sat forward andbefore long sensible, challenging andengaging questions were being asked. Ithink that there is a case for an annualupdate of this exercise.

The Finance Department is similarlyengaging with the wider Estate. As Iwrite all of my team are currentlyinterviewing Heads and owners tryingto establish the most importantfeatures of the services that we offer.Essentially it is all about trying tomake sure that our customers, internaland external, are getting the servicesthey need and the value that theyshould get from those services. Someinteresting responses have arisen andthe exercise has reinforced myperception of how vital it is for allparts of the Holkham Estate tounderstand their customer base.

Mike Wyard • Finance Director

Finance Department

Mike Wyard the Finance Director showing that estate performance is on the up!


Holkham National Nature Reserve

The beginning of 2008 saw major staffchanges here on the National NatureReserve. Vicky Francis and I startedour new jobs in December and havespent six months settling in and gettingto grips with the tasks involved inmanaging such a large and complexsite. There have been lots of new people with whom to establish working relationships.

The second half of the winter wasvery wet and one of our major

challenges was trying to prevent thegrazing marshes from flooding toomuch – a little flooding is a good thingfor all the wintering ducks and geesebut too much can have a bad effect onthe quality of the grazing for the following summer. I think we got thebalance just about right!

Holkham usually attracts a few rarebirds during the spring. The most notable this year were a WhiskeredTern that graced the pools west ofLady Anne’s Drive for an afternoonand a Hoopoe that spent several dayson Overy Dunes. These are Mediter-ranean species that overshot theirdestination when returning from theirwinter quarters, ending up in Norfolk.

Some of our common summer migrants were very late in arriving. The

pair of Swallows that nest in the barnat our office in the village didn’t turnup until the beginning of June this year.

As I write this, the bird breeding season is well underway and numbersof all the wildfowl and wading birdslook good. Many of these now haveyoung – the Little Egrets and Cormorants have large and noisy offspring in their nests.

On the quieter and more remotebeaches Common Terns and LittleTerns have settled into their breedingcolonies and are incubating eggs. Theterns are always at risk from high tideflooding and from predators but wehope that all our breeding species willhave a successful season.

Michael Rooney • Senior Reserve Manager


● David Whately MC, who died on 24 April 2008 aged 84,was awarded the MC in Italy in April 1945 when he wasserving with the 9th Lancers. Whilst attacking a German position his tank was hit, perforating his eardrum. Though inconsiderable pain he continued to attack and capture three150mm guns and two 88mm anti-aircraft guns and countlessenemy. His citation proclaimed “The resolution and determination of this officer in pressing home his attack undoubtedly caused the enemy to become disorganised, andresulted in the squadron gaining its objective and capturingthe bridge intact although it was prepared for demolition”.

He was educated at Eton and at Sandhurst won the Swordof Honour. After the war he went to Oxford University. His

varied career started in photography, then advertising, thenhe became a stockbroker specialising in an esoteric branchof research based on charts. He was unconventional inthought and at work. He married the dress designer BelindaBellville in 1952, and is survived by her and three daughters,Lady Coke being the youngest.● Len Dunn, who died on 14 March 2008 aged 88, was bornin Holkham village and spent most of his working life on theestate, starting in the sawmill at Longlands.

He saw active service in Europe in World War II, returningto the estate in 1946 to work in the kitchen gardens. Hemoved to the Terraces where he was promoted to head gardener, and he retired age 62.

Obituaries

The GlobeThe Globe Inn at Wells has enjoyed abusy Spring period and despite somehorrible Easter weather in March thepub was packed with families, boredchildren and very soggy dogs! By MayBank Holiday weekend the weatherhad become almost summery andagain the pub was very busy over thisperiod.

Several private bookings to celebrate birthdays and anniversarieshave added to the high level of business. Groups have included anentertaining party of Harley-Davidson bikers (following a goodwrite up on The Globe in their magazine), Lord Coke’s old boys reunion, for which we served school

food – bangers and mash, spotteddick and lumpy custard, plus a groupof not so young Essex girls looking

for a good time in Wells! So, we havebeen highly flexible in our style andapproach.

Joining the Globe as General Manager in February after nearly fiveyears running the Lord Nelson atBurnham Thorpe, I have introducedseveral new themes including curryevenings and Jazz nights.

With summer here the Globe willbe offering barbeques in the pleasantcourtyard with jazz twice a weekthrough July and August. Chris Woodget has been appointed headchef and we have a keen lively teamboth in the kitchen and out front.

Ian Brereton • General Manager

The Victoria HotelWe have experienced a number ofsetbacks at the Victoria since beingvoted the Norfolk Dining Pub of theyear in 2007 by the readers of TheGood Pub Guide. The death of headchef Andy Bruce in November 2007,reported in the last issue, still weighsheavy on us. The credit crunch hasaffected our figures, as it has those ofother establishments along the coast.

More recently we have endured twounforeseen incidents. The first oneinvolved an elderly couple taking anunconventional route via the garden,in their attempt to exit the car park.The second one has led to the closureof the hotel bedrooms for about threeweeks. We had a series of hot waterpipes leak, to such an extent that thedining room resembled a tropicalrainstorm. Thanks to our team’s

resourcefulness we had the bar andBBQ up and running within threedays. We also used the opportunity togive the hotel a spring clean.

Many thanks also to Barry Turnerand Holkham Building Maintenance,Fishers plumbers and our insurers, theNFU, for such a prompt response incoming forward with a rescue package.

In January three windows were“Windowcrafted”. Whilst we wait forthe rooms to come back on line, twomore bedrooms and our loungewindows will be properly repaired andpainted with Holkham Linseed Paint.We will also repair the chimney toallow us to use the fire in winter.

It gives me the greatest pleasure toannounce the return of Ian and LisaClark from Spain. They return, olderand wiser, to take up their old job asmanagers of the hotel. We are veryexcited by this. They were both verypopular with staff and customers alike.They will set high standards…. andmaintain them. I am confident theyare the right people to guide the goodQueen Vic toward calmer seas.

Viscount Coke

Not the best way to leave the car park!

A new arrivalJustin and Ros Gibbs’ second sonCharles Duncan was born in TaupoNew Zealand on 7 February 2008.Charlie weighed 3.89kg, and arriveda week early – his maternal grand-parents Johnny and Carolyn Coke,were in Hong Kong on their way toNew Zealand when they heard thenews.


On 29 February I was interviewed byNorwich Evening News in the MainLibrary at Holkham.

This came about when my fatherwent into ECN in Norwich to ask ifthey would like to run a story about alocal man aged 30 who works as a butler. The Evening News runs a regular feature about local people andthe jobs that they do and thought itwould make an intriguing story.

Rebecca Gough at the paper phonedand asked if I would agree to beinterviewed and after consultationwith Lord Coke and Mary Rudd, ourPR Advisor, I was given the green

light, and gave my very first interviewall about myself!

Photographs to accompany the articlewere taken in the Library and outsideon the South Terrace. Afterwards theinterview was conducted in the Librarywith Rebecca Gough in the presence of Laurane Herrieven, Holkham’s Marketing Manager.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself and havesince been approached by Country Lifeto do a similar interview with them. Atthis rate I might have to get my own‘agent’.

Daniel Green • Butler

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The proud parents (and brother) with thenew arrival

In May we held a raffle in the EstateOffice for a portable DVD player, wonby Sylvia Daley, our Retail Manager.We raised £50 which we donated tothe East Anglian Air Ambulance.Thank you to all those who helpedraise money for a very worthy cause.

Estate Office

Raffle result

New butler interviewed

Holkham Cricket – Estate v ClubIt has been pleasantly surprising toplay our first two 20-over matchesbetween the Holkham Cricket Cluband Holkham Estate without being affected by the weather.

The first game in May was a draw.Both teams scored exactly 105 runs.Stars for the estate were Kevin Bray(Farms) – 22 runs and two wicketsfor 17, and Martin Joyce (Game Department), 27 not out.

It was encouraging to see newblood making an impression withChris Mills (Victoria) keeping wicketvery professionally and scoring 19quick fire runs. Robert Savory (HBM)bowled well, as did Stephen ‘Shrek’Hall (Farms), they both picked up awicket, though the latter’s may havehad more to do with the financial remuneration he offered the umpirethan accuracy.

The June game turned in the Estate’s favour, thanks to Piers Richings whose link with us is gettingmore tenuous – he ‘used’ to live in ahouse that ‘used’ to be a Holkhamhouse. He has now moved to Hindringham.

Piers scored 25 not out, MartinJoyce scored 23 not out and PaulMatthews (Woods Department) 15not out. Successful bowlers wereRoger Combe (Lord Coke’s cousinand grandson to the 5th Earl’s sister)who got two for five and MartinJoyce on two for eight.

The Estate overhauled the club’stotal of 92 with an over to go to winthe match despite dropping sixcatches and losing six wickets on theway... but at least that meant nearlyeveryone had a bat, and sore hands.

The final game is on Wednesday

2 July at the cricket pitch at the frontof the house. Do come and watchthis nail-biting decider – there arefew better things to do thanwatch the sun set over the lake,listen to the sound of leather on willow and have a bit of a mardle.

Viscount Coke

An interested audience!


Holkham People

HOLKHAM ENTERPRISES (Bygones): Laura ComerHOLKHAM FOODS: Tarquin Bix, Dot Cooper, Vanessa Dack,Andrew Featherstone, Becky Fowle, Emily Gould, TaylorHammond, Jamie Hepher, Eileen Heyhoe, Bethany Mahon,Leanne Page, Victoria Smith and Simon Weller

PINEWOODS HOLIDAY PARK: Julie English, Ricky Jordan,Louise Palmer, Andrew Reid, Tom Sands and Claire WalkerTHE VICTORIA HOTEL: Alex Thoury and Manuel PalmaTHE GLOBE INN: Phil Wakeman, back from his trip to China

HOLKHAM ENTERPRISES (Gift Shops): Julie Gould, whobecame a grandma in January when her daughter Sally andhusband James had a daughter, BethanyHOLKHAM FOODS: Taylor Hammond, voted on to theNational Youth Parliament for the next two years by her school

GAME DEPARTMENT: Nick Parker and his fiancée Kate whowere married on 21 June. James Beckerleg on his promotionfrom student to Under-keeperTHE GLOBE INN: Peter Miozja, Tansy Moore and ChrisWoodget, all of whom have been promoted

James and Emma Harrison of Hall Farm, Wighton had adaughter, Isabella Rose, on 20 April 2008, a sister for Oscar and AlfredJohnny and Carolyn Coke’s daughter Ros and her husbandJustin Gibbs’ second son Charles Duncan was born in NewZealand on 7 February 2008To Pinewoods Park Manager Jacki Ramm and fiancé Ross

Fulford, son Harvey, weighing in at 8lbs 6oz on 18 January 2008Congratulations to Sharon Thorn (Victoria) and Gary Douglas(The Globe) on the birth of their son, DanielZak Maufe (son of Holkham tenant Teddy at Branthill) and hiswife Nadia have had a son, Kai, born in San Francisco on5 March 2008

All contributions for the next Newsletter should be submitted to the Editor, Sara Phillips, by 15 October 2008. E-mail [email protected]

WELCOME

WELCOME BACK

FAREWELL

CONGRATULATIONS

GET WELL SOON

BIRTHS

HOLKHAM ENTERPRISES (Hall): Lady Coke’s newhousekeeper, Tracey Davies, whose new role at Holkhamincludes looking after children, flower arranging and keepingthe house in tip top order. New stewards: Jean Bourne, RoryGould, Laura Smith, Martin Webb, Tony Peach, CatherineCockrill and Jean Loose HOLKHAM FOODS: Jody Page, Samantha Price, EmmaWeller, Emma Reynolds, Karen Beck, Aaron Ward, SylviaDabrowska and Ian MalletHOLKHAM GARDEN DEPARTMENT: new Head Gardener,Tim MarshallHOLKHAM FARMING COMPANY: new Farm Manager,

Mark BowyerHOLKHAM GAME DEPARTMENT: new Head Keeper, Nick ParkerPINEWOODS HOLIDAY PARK: Kelvin Armiger, PhilippaCooke, Andrew Fuller, Christine Mahon and Nicole Parker THE VICTORIA HOTEL: new managers Ian and Lisa Clark,Aneta Jedrzejczyk, Kasia Czulak, Tania Guerreiro, MaciekWeber, Shannon Howard, Leonard Swinin, Charlotte Greedy(Reception)THE GLOBE INN: Ian Brereton, Robert Williamson, SatuPurtilo, Chris Black and Stella Goodey (who combines the roleof waitress with that of resident jazz singer!)

HOLKHAM BUILDING MAINTENANCE: Sharon Yates,who left in April to start a new position as medical secretary atthe Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s LynnHOLKHAM FARMING COMPANY: Farm Manager MichaelTurnerGAME DEPARTMENT: Head Keeper Simon Lester

HOLKHAM ENTERPRISES (Gardens): Head Gardener PeterGoodwinTHE VICTORIA HOTEL: Phil Lance, Alan Clarke, MatejDanovsky, Robert Dodman, Mary Edwards, Rhayne Heynike,Lukasc Norek, Malwina Piatyszek, Filipe Rodrigues, KimSheppard, Jamie St John and Luke Wheeler

Mary Edwards (Room Steward) currently recuperatingfollowing a bad fall

Philip Freezer (Holkham Building Maintenance) currently recovering from an operation

DEATHSDavid Whately MC, who died on 24 April 2008, aged 84. Father to Viscountess CokeLen Dunn, who died on 14 March 2008 aged 88

David Ruffles, who died on 8 May 2008 aged 60Ena Dodman, wife of Eric Dodman (long-serving gamekeeperon the Warham beat), who died on 6 June

Documents

Holkham Estate newsletter 2008 - Raptor Persecution Scotland