History:
Views
of the estate.......
Hallsannery was bought in 1984 and was then developed as a Field Centre by a partnership of the Cornford and Jollands families. The main house, although Georgian in design was not built until the 1840s during the reign of Queen Victoria. The original owner was a rich merchant from Liverpool who made his fortune dealing in spices from the Orient. The main house had adjoining servants’ quarters at the back, as well as a coach house where grooms and coachmen used to live. We think the parkland was planted at the same time and still contain the original oaks, which are now almost 200 years old. A cottage was built at the beginning of this century for the gardener and housekeeper, and three new buildings have been added in the last 17 years since the estate has been a residential Field Centre. In November 2005, residential courses ceased but day courses continue
Landscape:
The Parkland looks to the
North over Bideford and to the East over the Torridge Estuary and the Tarka
trail, once a railway line (land belonging to Hallsannery was sold to the
Railway Company in 1869) and now a cycling and walking trail. It is an area of
high landscape value. There are two areas of woodland, which were probably
planted at the same time as the Parkland: at the time of purchase in 1984 these
areas had become completely colonised by Rhododendron ponticum which we
are slowly removing to improve the wildlife value.
Who
lives and works here?
Sally and Chris Cornford live in a
new house on the Estate where Sally keeps sheep and Red Devon cattle, Pip and
Pete Jollands and their three children live in the old gardeners’ cottage.
Involvement under
Countryside Stewardship :
Our hedgerows boundaries
are being restored in the traditional way and the stone faced hedge banks
repaired and restored to the style of the area. On the species-rich grassland
(Steep Slope) the scrub, composed mainly of gorse, is being controlled by
removing and burning off site. We are not applying fertiliser to the Parkland
in the hope of restoring it to a species-rich grassland. The trees in the
Parkland will be replaced if needed with other native species. We hope that
over time the area will return to the way it looked in Victorian times.
Views of the estate
Hallsannery also offers meeting rooms and small conference facilities and runs field courses in ecology and biology as well as producing a range of educational software.
Integrated Geochemical Interpretation which offers geochemical training and services to the oil industry is also based at Hallsannery.
Contact Hallsannery for further information
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