Hardwick is an Estate in transition to a pioneering form of ownership and governance, following the Rose family’s decision that they do not want to continue the family line of private aristocratic ownership for personal and philosophical reasons. The Rose family were inspired by the many Scottish community owned Estates and came to the conclusion that gifting the Estate to the community who live on it to manage as a charity, was the best way of securing Hardwick’s ethos, strong community spirit and biodiverse land into the future.
The last few years have involved in depth work with the Hardwick community to introduce and work on this idea together, and at present we are expecting to register the charity which will own the Estate (to be re-named Hardwick Trust) by early 2026. This charitable structure will be governed by a majority of Trustees elected from the Hardwick community. These Trustees can then co-opt other Trustees with relevant experience to fill the remaining board positions. The community of Estate residents (around 90 in total) will be eligible to be members of the Trust who will vote in Trustees and hold the organisation to account.
We are very proud that we will be the first community led Estate in England, and recognise that as pioneers we are breaking new ground and experimenting with what works in a Southern English context which is quite different to most of the Scottish Estates. We see this as an ongoing learning journey and are keen to share our experiences with others, and hopefully inspire other new forms of governance on old Estates which could work better for local communities and the land.
The Hardwick community elected its first seven community Trustees in April 2025 (see photo from election event). With the addition of up to five further co-opted Trustees this will be the ‘Interim Board’ who will be responsible for guiding the creation of the charitable structure which will own the Estate, and setting up all the policies and processes required by the new Trust to make it a functioning and successful community led entity. Once the charity is set up and the land and assets passed into it they will become the first Trustees of the new organisation.
If you have any queries or inquiries relating to the transition please contact the Interim Trustees on Trustees@hardwickestate.co.uk