A great turn out of Forum members at Chester Farm Estate
The Farmhouse Kitchen at Chester House Estate
Over 70 members of the Heritage Forum representing societies, individual members, museums and other heritage providers from across the county met to explore the long-awaited buildings and facilities at Chester House Estate.
We were welcomed by Jack Pishhorn and his team in the Threshing Barn, which can double up as a venue for weddings. He gave us the background to the project and a summary of the journey taken to get to this point, as well as their vision for the future. We’re sure we will all agree the end result was worth waiting for! Jack also explained that visitor numbers and community involvement since Chester House Estate opened in October last year have far exceeded expectations.
The Threshing Barn
We heard from Natasha about the Learning Programme, which will work closely with schools offering either in-person or remote lessons about the landscape of the site which, as they say, covers ’10,000 years of Northamptonshire history’. They already have a number of adult learning talks planned and are looking to further expand on this.
A number of interns spoke about their work and how they have supported the project and, just as importantly, how the project has supported them.
The Creating Tomorrow Trust has a base here and we heard how this is delivering opportunities to young people with learning needs, to help them gain skills and self-confidence to take them forward with their lives.
The archaeological site
The ARC - Archaeological Resource Centre - is a unique purpose-built store which will bring together all the archaeological resources presently stored in over 90 different locations across the county. This is something that has not been made possible before and will offer fantastic opportunities for research in the future.
Working alongside the team is the Nenescape Partnership, a HLF-funded initiative, which has been supporting the volunteer team and investing in skills as well as working in collaboration with other heritage partners.
Supporting all these strands is a massive number of volunteers who play such an important role in all areas, from the catering side, administration, learning, research, ARC or ground maintenance.
Jack gave details of the large number of events coming up. There are plans for half term activities, a lambing festival in March, archaeological digs and Roman/Heritage Festival in the summer with a Grand Official Opening on 20 July.
Finally, in his presentation, Jack stated that there are lots of opportunities for members of the Heritage Forum to work together with Chester House. This could be on collaborative events, resource sharing, school offers, by using the conference/meeting room spaces available and through joint marketing.
Following this, members broke up into groups for a tour of the facilities and impressive they certainly were. Alongside the Learning Centre, small museum and ARC is a courtyard with smaller shops selling local and vintage products, a farmhouse café with indoor and outdoor seating, a play area and much more.
After a very enjoyable lunch, we had the opportunity to hear the results of the training survey which we recently completed, and to listen to the Heritage Forum’s plans for the rest of the year.
Further details on planning a visit can be found on the Chester House Estate website.
