BL-24 - Flipbook - Page 77
ENTREPRENEURS
repair. Queues of tenants appeared
(quite rightly) asking for modernised
plumbing, electricity and watertight
roofs!
The 19th century follies were not
looking happy, and perhaps one of the
most beautiful, the Temple of Diana
overlooking Dunsmere Lake had a tree
growing out of its rotunda, with stone
昀氀aking off in all directions.
“The smoothness of our gin
is a result of using our oats in
the botanical process.”
The 1990s was a decade of innovation
around the Castle, hosting weddings
and corporate events such as car
launches, while I was also working in
London with partners in interesting
technology businesses such as
Telecom Express, a successful
automated telephone services
operation which (among many other
projects) ran the Daily Telegraph’s
Premium Rate dating service, and also
installed the system for speaking the
winning numbers for Camelot and the
昀椀rst National lottery.
Our links with Newbury racecourse
are historic, as it was partly founded
by my great-grandfather, the 5th Earl,
and an interesting marketing link
is that we sponsor races both in the
name of Highclere Castle Horse Feeds
and Highclere Castle Gin. There is a
common thread, too: the smoothness
of our gin is a result of using our oats
in the botanical process.
The best replicas from Tutankhamun
would be key to making the project a
success with our visitors. Wonderful
craftsman who loved Egyptology
had created a brilliant Tutankhamun
Museum of replicas in the wilds
of Cornwall. It suffered because of
dif昀椀cult access, so we offered to buy
the replica collection.
Fiona and I then had to get to work
to create a circular walk needing a
new linking tunnel of some six metres
in the depths of the Castle cellars. It
was no easy task to 昀椀nd a safe place
to tunnel through what looked like
solid foundations whilst avoiding any
key structural points and collateral
damage.
My father and I opened Highclere
to the public in 1988, and some
entrepreneurial activity bought
glimmers of hope for better returns
to the Estate. As ever, farming was
producing very low returns, but my
father had great connections to the
racing world. He sent his horses to
Richard Hannon Sr who asked about a
more consistent supply of high-quality
oats for the racehorses: horses cannot
eat oats straight off the 昀椀eld. The hard
outer husk must be removed as well
as all dust and then only the heavier
grains are good enough for the topclass thoroughbreds.
Sourcing second hand equipment from
Scotland for milling oats, we created
Highclere Castle Horse Feeds, which
has made a major contribution in
improved margins to the farm, as well
as establishing a reputation for quality
oats and haylage. Richard Hannon Jr’s
horses alone have won 553 races and
£13.6m in prize money in the last 昀椀ve
years, all powered by Highclere Estate
oats.
Castle cellar. We were fortunate
to have a collection of real objects
from the time of the 5th Earl’s work
in Luxor, but our goal was also to
recreate the excitement of the story of
the discovery of Tutankhamun.
Using techniques similar to mining in
shallow seams with long narrow drills,
we managed to spread a 昀椀lm of red
dust from the cellars to most areas of
the Castle. Finally, we broke through
safely and created a steel structure
around our new tunnel.
Highclere Castle Gin
This side investment helped the
Estate, and gave me a background in
systems design, which was put to good
use when designing our 昀椀rst online
barcode ticket system. I think we were
one of the 昀椀rst historic houses to offer
this way of buying tickets.
The boom years before the 2008
昀椀nancial crash gave us a fair wind and
we 昀椀xed the roof with tons of new
lead and thousands of slates, working
day and night on many weekdays and
Saturday evenings, and running events
to fund the considerable costs.
Our 昀椀rst serious entrepreneurial
venture was the creation of our
Ancient Egyptian exhibition in the
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ISSUE 24
Fiona and I spent much of 2008 &
2009 living like moles in the dark
of the Castle cellars. We were lucky
to 昀椀nd some brilliant Polish display
cabinet craftsmen who helped us build
this incredible new exhibition. Fiona,
being the more academic of our team,
wrote up much of the interpretation,
while I was busy procuring all the
Tutankhamun replicas.
Fiona’s skill in ancient Hieroglyphs
allowed us to create what has been
recognised as an authentic and really
educational exhibition which is seen
by just over 50% of our visitors.
The considerable investment and
risk have made a positive return
in every way: people of all ages
enjoy the extraordinary skills and
accomplishments of this ancient
world.
