Small Business Rate Relief Extended

Good news in Wednesday's budget; the current temporary increase in Small Business Rate Relief, which was due to end on 30 September 2011 will now continue for a further year (from 1st October 2011 to 30th September 2012).

Therefore ratepayers with rateable values below £6,000 pay no rates at all for the period and those with rateable values between £6,000 and £12,000 receive tapered relief from 0-100%.

More information is available on line at http://www.communities.gov.uk/ or you can contact your local authority Business Rates department.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has also welcomed a number of announcements in the budget; see their website for more information http://www.fsb.org.uk/

Croome and West Warwickshire Foxhounds Meet at Overbury Court

The Joint Masters of the Croome and West Warwickshire Foxhounds met at Overbury Court on Tuesday 15th February for their annual day's hunting at Overbury, starting in the vale and moving out onto Bredon Hill later in the day.

Many thanks to Billy and Michaela for a fantastic spread of food and drinks, which set both riders and followers up for the day!

Wychall School from Birmingham came along to meet the hounds and also the hunt's golden eagle, followed by a trip to the lambing sheds to see what the Overbury Farms team were up to there.

Fabulous Farmhouse - Available April 2011

Beautiful Cotswold stone farmhouse, with plenty of room for the growing family. This stunning house will be available to rent from early April and is set in a beautiful rural location, just outside the popular village of Beckford.

Rent: £2,750 per calendar month

The house backs onto a wide network of footpaths and bridleways on Bredon Hill; an ideal family home or weekend getaway for anyone who enjoys an outdoor lifestyle.

Accommodation comprises: 4 large bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1 shower room, farmhouse style kitchen with range cooker, 2 sitting rooms and 2 further reception rooms.

Please see the Overbury Estate website at http://www.overburyestate.co.uk/ for more details, or give Clemmie a call in the office on 01386 725111 for a chat if you are interested in finding out more.

Introducing The Overbury Stallions 2011

This is the first in a series of blogs introducing Overbury Estate based businesses and what they do:-

Following a long standing tradition of a stud farm here at Overbury, Simon Sweeting and his family (who also own and operate Conduit Stud) have leased the Overbury Stud since the year 2000, launching the very successful Overbury Stallions Ltd and initially standing Kayf Tara.

The stud now stands a very impressive line up of five stallions: Bertolini, Kayf Tara, Proclamation, Sagamix and Schiaparelli.

As well as standing champion national hunt stallions, they also provide full time boarding services for mares and their offspring, advise on sales and consigns at all major stock sales and undertake foaling; this is done at Conduit Stud (75 foals are born there every year)

Simon employs a team of 7 dedicated, experienced staff, who offer a top quality service at keen prices.

Please visit their website at http://www.ovstud.co.uk/ and check out Simon's blog for more information on what the team and horses are up to. Their offspring have already had a number of wins this year.

Christmas lights

You may recognise these fantastic Christmas lights which are displayed each year by one of our neighbours on the back road to Tewkesbury between Kemerton and Bredon every year, I think they are still there this week, but take the opportunity to drive past if you can; they light up the sky and look amazing....

Overbury's Winter Wonderland

As temperatures have dropped this week the whole of the Vale of Evesham has been shrouded in a cloak of freezing fog. The sun did creep out this evening on the top of Bredon Hill and the following pictures were sent to us by Ben Holland Martin - many thanks.

Alexandra Churchill's Christmas Show and Sale

Alexandra Churchill invites you to her Christmas Show and Sale at home in Overbury.





The new studio will be open on Sat 4th & Sun 5th Dec and also on Sat 11th & Sun 12th Dec between the hours of 11am and 4pm.


Guest artists: Danek Piechowiak (custom engraved glass), Fiona Cameron (hand made silver jewellery) and Toff Milway (renowned ceramic artist) will also be exhibiting and selling their wares.


For further information and contact details please visit http://www.alexandrachurchill.co.uk/