Tutbury Castle – The Duchy of Lancaster Estate

ASSIGNMENT

GFG was approached by the Head of Rural Investment from the Duchy of Lancaster (previously the Estates Director from Deene Park) to seek our advice on what type of commercial events/hospitality activity could be considered for Tutbury Castle, a thirty-eight acre site just on the outskirts of Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

The current tenant, trading as the Tutbury Trading Company had decided not to extend their fifteen-year tenancy and as a result, GFG was commissioned to assess alternative commercial revenue options for the Estate, as part of the two-stage evaluation process.

The first stage was to evaluate the core assets of the Estate, the buildings, location and proximity to major towns/conurbations, but also meet the current tenant to gain a deeper insight into the previous business model, including any operational constraints.

Offering a diverse range of Heritage audits, GFG was commissioned to undertake an Observational Audit – which involved a one-day site visit that led to our report, outlining several diversification options focusing specifically on Hospitality and Family attractions.

THE REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS

Once submitted the report was then discussed internally with The Rural Investment Director, the Estates Director, and Rural Estate Surveyor. Outline below are some of GFG’s recommendations, which were: –

• With Tutbury’s extensive car parking facilities with excellent views overlooking the River Dove and Derbyshire countryside, redesign the grassland area for both Caravans and Motorhomes which would also entail providing additional amenities; Café, shower units, cloakroom facilities, etc.,

• Children’s activities – having established a very loyal family client base, there were a number of options for consideration:-

• • With emphasis on biodiversity and care for the environment, design and create a Children’s Nature trail in the grassland moat area surrounding the Castle.
  • Construct a bespoke Adventure playground that could attract up to one hundred to one hundred and fifty children a day, based on a two-hour duration. Financially, we demonstrated that ROI would be within two years.
  • A Dinosaur Valley trail – constructing a four to five-hundred metre gravel path, with six to eight animatronic Dinosaurs located intermittingly along the walkway, each Dinosaur would vary in height from four and twelve metres.

• Celebratory events – having established a reputation for marquee weddings, GFG suggested approaching a Teppee company to market Tutbury offering several locations within the Estate grounds. This would appeal to the Staffordshire demographic profile audience, who we had been led to believe had less disposable income to spend on such events.

Following our submission outlining a range of alternative options, the Duchy then commissioned an established UK Chartered Rural Surveyor to find a new tenant who would consider signing a fifteen-year tenancy agreement, for the next fiscal.