New visitor facilities at Holkham for 2016: January 2016

Friday, 8 January 2016

A new lease of life

As building work on the new visitor services area continues afoot, Lady Glenconner joined the team today to look around the new Lady Elizabeth Wing. The transformed space was used by Lady Glenconner's Mother, Countess of Leicester, who set-up Holkham Pottery in the building during the 1950's.

Lady Glenconner standing outside the new Lady Elizabeth Wing

Lady Glenconner inside the new events and function space

Lady Glenconner as a young woman making piggy banks in the old Holkham Pottery

New Visitor Facilities for 2016

Plans for a major transformation of the former stables and redundant pottery buildings at Holkham will create exciting new and improved facilities for visitors to the hall and park. Working with one of the UK’s leading names, Hopkins Architects, the project will create many new features.

The plans include a new café and restaurant which will double the amount of indoor seating. The current café is no longer able to accommodate the number of visitors coming to Holkham Park, which is estimated to have risen by more than 50% over the past four years.

A larger shop will extend the opportunities to showcase the local suppliers and producers who provide most of the gifts and items for sale in the shop. The conversion of the former pottery into an indoor events facility will create a space capable of seating over 250. This will enable the estate to host weddings and conferences, which will extend the visitor season beyond the busy summer months and support local accommodation providers in low season.

The longstanding Bygones Museum which is owned by the Bygones Charity will close and be replaced by a new exhibition telling the story of Holkham’s unique farming heritage.

The exhibition is being designed by Drinkall Dean and will become the focal point of the estate’s ambitious education programme which now employs a full time education officer and works with over 50 schools. The aim of the new exhibition will be to show how the land is linked to food production and will explore themes of nutrition and cookery, which are increasingly relevant to young people.