Member Article

Planning for the future

A rural estate in Northumberland is planning for a bright future, just over a decade after it was set to be demolished.

The management team at Eshott Hall, near Morpeth, created a ten-year strategic development plan outlining the expansion of Filebase - its record management business, the development of extra bedrooms and the refurbishment of its holiday cottages.

With help from Business Link they also identified training needs for staff and helped Eshott Hall to source support towards providing training through the North East England Investment Centre.

The 17th century country house offers accommodation and is a venue for private house parties, weddings and executive conferences. Plans for a major restoration project were put into effect in 1997 and the hall was restored, along with nearby Eshott Village.

Ho Sanderson, owner of Eshott Hall estate, explained: “After achieving our initial development targets we were ready to grow the business further. “All of Business Link’s rural account managers have agricultural backgrounds, making them ideally placed to understand our requirements and help us plan and implement our next stage of development.”

In addition to supporting the development of the business plan, rural account manager John Atkinson carried out a diagnostic of the business, identifying training needs and available funding.

He said: “It has been a great pleasure working alongside staff at Eshott Hall, which is a fantastic example of successful restoration and diversification, helping them to continue and accelerate growth into the next decade.”

Mr Sanderson said: “John has been a very positive influence and very quickly became one of the team. His knowledge of our sector was invaluable during planning and we will certainly be working with Business Link in the future.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .