On Sunday, September 8 2013 Lord Vestey, Patron of Friends of the Cotswolds charity, will be opening his beautiful gardens to the public. The Estate has been owned by the Vestey family since 1921. It extends over 5,500 acres of grassland, arable and woodland on both banks of the river Coln and is set in the beautiful Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Cotswold District Council announced its intentions to sell Northleach Old Prison in 2011 to save itself the repair and maintenance costs. And in July of this year and after a lengthy fundraising campaign the Friends of the Cotswolds charity has taken ownership.
The ‘Friends’ wants to turn the Grade II-listed prison into a community heritage site and open a rural crafts academy. Simon Randall, chairman of the group, said the academy would ‘promote training in stone-walling, hedge-laying and provide work for blacksmiths and wheelwrights’.
The prison was built in the 1790s as the Northleach House of Correction, one of four houses of correction in Gloucestershire and the keeper’s house, female cells, police station, court room and front facade and perimeter wall still survive
All proceeds from the open day will be donated by Lord Vestey towards the fund raising efforts by the ‘Friends’.
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For further information please contact on 07967 099456 or email Kate.Farquhar-Thomson@oup.com
