The estate

WHEN the late Sir Anthony Milbank installed a biomass boiler at Barningham Park, his Grade Ii*-listed home in Co Durham, 20 years ago, he was regarded as a green pioneer. Now, thanks to his son, Sir Edward, who took over in 2008, many of the 7,000-acre estate’s properties, plus the church and pub, are heated using biomass systems fuelled by woodchip from its woodland. ‘We’ve removed 15 oil boilers and installed biomass boilers in 30 private houses, some of which are also fuelled with our woodchip,’ explains Sir Edward, whose family has owned the estate since 1690.

Barningham’s conversion to renewables inspired him to diversify into planting new forestry, as well as maintaining the estate’s traditional ventures, including a sheep farm and grouse moor. His new business, Pennine

Forestry, is planting three former sheep farms with mixed conifer and broadleaf for fuel and to support timber industries. ‘We have 12% forestry cover here compared with 35% in Europe, yet the value of timber is increasing and the grants are attractive.’

Sir Edward and his wife, Lady Natalie, have also reopened The Milbank Arms as a sustainable gastropub; the menu includes meat from the estate’s wild shoot. Their next venture, a housing development on a farmyard on the edge of the village, will be run off renewable energy. He’s ordered an electric car and is installing charging points at the pub.

The Government’s incentives for renewable systems are less favourable these days, but ‘for new housing, ground-source heat is efficient and, if you have your own woodland and storage, biomass is a no brainer’.