Open letter from Robert Fedder, interim CEO of Dartington Hall Trust

10 September 2025

Affection and denial won’t stop Dartington Recovery

An update on turnaround progress at Dartington Hall Trust is a little overdue. Apologies - the team has been even busier than usual in recent months as we launch new initiatives and deal with some lingering legacy issues.

Nonetheless, it’s high time we reviewed some of the good news from this year so far, as well as exploding some myths and countering some misinformation.

If I had a fiver for every time a visitor or a member of staff remarked “the place is really buzzing these days”, we’d amass quite a fund. It’s true, though: car visits have quadrupled in two years; commercial tenant occupancy has jumped from 57% to 95% in the same period; more space is being brought back into service - High Cross House is now back in action, refurbed and busy, it is now the HQ of national fashion chain Busby & Fox; we now have more than 200 businesses on the estate, employing over 1,000 people.

So it’s no surprise there’s a buzz. In addition to members, our own staff, and regular visitors, those operating daily on the estate are also bringing their friends and families, enjoying many facilities at a discount: the excellent new gym, The Space; world-leading golf and sports simulation centre, MiGolf; the Barn Cinema, pub, hotel, four great cafes and more.

They’re also doing business together, sharing ideas at the ReGenWorks coworking offices and beyond. A wonderful community and ecosystem of local businesses is developing fast, spanning environmental innovation, technology, leisure, arts and, of course organic, regenerative farming at How Now Dairy.

Some say we’re turning Dartington into a business park. If that were true it would certainly be the most picturesque on the planet. No, there have always been businesses here, including in the Elmhirst era. We’re helping to accommodate more that would fit with each other, while supporting the interests of our visitors.

The transformative ‘landlord model’ we’ve developed is building sustainable, stable revenue to get Dartington back on its feet once and for all. Rental income is critical to the trust. Two years ago, several business tenants (and a few residents) owed rent that wasn’t even being collected, let alone paid, while the Trust headed for collapse. One even complained that his rent had gone up by £17,000. In fact, that was the level of his annual rental; he’d just never paid it.

Of course, change is never easy nor to everyone’s liking. As they say, you can’t please all of the people all of the time. Change is necessary, however. They also say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over – in Dartington’s case, over several lossmaking decades - and expecting different results. Without the tough decisions and new thinking introduced by the present management, we wouldn’t be celebrating this year’s centenary. The Estate and its activities would have finally hit the buffers at the 98-year mark.

Historical affection drives most detractors of the turnaround plan for the Trust and Estate. It appears to transcend any common sense or appreciation of basic financial housekeeping. Worse still, this intoxication by denial does not stop at some longstanding local visitors, former students of the estate’s schools and colleges, or activists: it seems also to afflict otherwise highly intelligent, educated and professionally successful individual stakeholders, whose experiences might have led us to expect a greater level of understanding from them -  before we even consider the possibility of their support for our mission.

There are a few such people around at present: one or two former senior executives; a local journalist with a record spanning several decades of reporting at national level about the ups and downs of big, complex businesses; and a relatively sane former donor for whom, like the rest, heart unfailingly rules head regarding all matters Dartington.

Here’s a recent assertion from him: “Seemingly none of your Trustees or senior staff have any experience of how to run a Charity at a profit. It can be done but you need the right people and the right attitude.”

This charity has possibly never run at a profit. Since 2008 its statutory accounts show operating losses totalling £50m. A recent article by Ivor Stolliday, effectively CEO from 1992 to 2004, described the Trust as a “profligate orphan”. During our tenure we have met his successor, who has wished us luck in our mission and every success that had eluded him in 11 years at the helm. This was despite what said former donor calls “superb fundraising”, during that time.

The latter has been problematic for us. We are regularly approached by ‘professional’ fundraisers demanding high salaries or retainers, without any guarantees or indeed proof of ability. These people have instead often been offered very generous commissions that would dwarf their required contracted pay, at which point they lose interest.

Nor have there been rich pickings to be had with formal grants from, for example, The Arts Council, English Heritage or the Lottery Fund; the simple reason is that the Trust’s abominable financial record over several decades makes us a bad bet for such institutional donors or public donors.

They also read and take fright at vexatious, counterproductive, local ‘noise’ from those pining for the old Dartington – as do our bank lenders, possibly our most crucial stakeholders at present. Their support for the turnaround plan and our promise to control costs, allowed us narrowly to avoid administration shortly after our appointment in 2023, We had identified this prospective collapse within a few weeks, yet it seemed to be a surprise to many in the then management and some trustees.

We’ve been harangued recently about the “supreme jewels” of the discontinued Dartington International Summer School and our Grade II* listed gardens. The former was a perennially loss-making event, effectively closing the estate to other activities and visitors for long periods. As it grew in scale, so did its deficit.  This is not a concern for the most recent ‘managers’ of the event when they operate in an empty boarding school during the summer holidays. Our first smaller replacement event, Choralfest, has more than broken even.

The gardens are enjoyed by many. They are beautiful in so many ways. At 26 acres, they are not huge. Paying visitors have unfortunately left very mixed reviews online for quite some time. Members obviously don’t pay. Greater enforcement or ‘revenue protection’ for the gardens would require an enhanced, compelling offer at the same time. This may not be appropriate. We are reviewing pricing and the gardens experience.

For avoidance of doubt, the in-house gardens team that recently left one-by-one had been in line for – with no individual excepted – a TUPE transfer to our chosen contractor. They would have all returned to full-time pay and enjoyed more variety and better prospects in a well-funded company. Not joining was entirely their choice and their business.

In the first week of the new arrangement, state-of-the-art equipment, unaffordable to the trust and deployed by excellent staff, delivered faster, higher quality results when performing important maintenance tasks.  In terms of horticulture, an exacting Service Level Agreement is in place, developed and overseen by our own Chief Operations Officer, Nick Harris. Trained to degree level in horticulture at a specialist college, Nick has been a head gardener in large, listed gardens, as well as managing estates. He is more than qualified to direct the contracting team and has vastly more management experience than any previous head gardener.

Excusing the gardening puns, let’s grasp the nettle and address the thorny issue of historical donations for the gardens, the vast majority of which predate our team. Whether from the bequests of others, or on occasion from donors’ own pockets, these were always hugely appreciated. They made much possible. Benefactors were thanked and listed in public documents. A West Wing hotel courtyard bedroom was even named after one, although we assume from his “withdrawal” of undiscussed future support that this is no longer of interest. Nonetheless, these donations, although significant, had little or no impact on the Trust’s overall financial health, as is evidenced by its reporting over that period.

I said from the outset when I became interim CEO that we had to achieve sustainable financial stability, not dependent on unpredictable and conditional benefaction, or perennial land sales. Only in that way could we reverse decades of losses and feckless management decisions. On our watch, monthly losses are reducing significantly and steadily. We are partnering with specialists in activities previously run poorly while owner-operated by the Trust.

When we achieve a sustainable surplus, we will be in a position to consider subsidising events, such as more arts and culture productions, that are unable to cover their costs. Our charitable objects are broad and, over time, certain of those may wax and wane in emphasis. However, our charitable status is alone justified by our dedicated stewardship of unique medieval buildings.

One vocal critic says we’re heading for a brick wall. He’s right: in fact, we’re accelerating towards it, a brick wall of resistance, appalling entitlement, rejection of inescapable facts and wilful naivety from those who know better – and we’re determined to smash through it.

Robert Fedder