Happy New Year and Welcome to our first blog of 2010

The year got off to a spectacular start with 6-8 inches of snow falling during the first week of January and with the village school closed for much of the week, families made the most of the weather and beautiful surroundings to go tobogganing or take long walks in the snowy scenery.

And we have had some fantastic sunsets too:-

Well done to all those who entered our Snowman Competition... the results are set out below:-

Winner – Overbury Grasshoppers

(we love the basket and hat)

Runners up - Jake Daley

(sweeping brush in hand)

and Mollie and Casper Chambers

(we love the ivy buttons)

And a special mention for Connie
and Grace Malpass with their

snowman's tea party for four

and to Hugh and Georgie Milway for their potter's teapot

Rain doesn't stop our streetmarket

Lorraine on the toy stall

Jake & Andrea Freestone selling lamb
Alex outside with the bacon butties!
Though the streetmarket was relocated to the village hall it was still a huge success and made over £3,000 for village causes. The estate team were out in force (see above).

Launch of our blog

Thank you for discovering our blog - some news, updates and thoughts from a rural estate in the Cotswolds. This entry is written by Penelope Bossom (from the family who have lived on and looked after the estate for over 250 years).


It is a very busy time in the village of Overbury. This weekend we are preparing for the annual Streetmarket, last weekend we had a Fun Pet and Pony Show which raised over £2,000 for our village school and the County Air Ambulance. The school term has not long to run and hopefully the farm team will soon be bringing in another harvest.

On the estate, a family has just moved out of the beautiful nine bedroomed Silver Rill House overlooking the park. We are looking for another family who will enjoy the unique opportunity of looking after this historic house and enjoying the benefits of walking out of the garden straight onto Bredon Hill and a network of many miles of footpaths without a road to cross and 360 degree views.

Would we have designed our housing market to become the volatile family investment it has become? The biggest choice a family faces is choosing where to live and work. It is fraught with worry and risk. The timing around the sale or purchase hardly lends itself to making the best long term decision. If anything good has come out of these strange times it is the re- evaluation of what is important. We certainly have noticed a surge of interest in growing vegetables and moving out of cities.

If finding a family home in fantastic countryside is of interest, why not look at renting from one of England's rural estates? Most have a long term agenda (unlike buy to let landlords) and the surrounding countryside is usually well loved and looked after. Although estates are different, Overbury prides itself on having a strong community, a very popular primary school, a high proportion of self employed (certainly not a dormitory village) and is surrounded by some of the most beautiful countryside, mostly within the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.