In collaboration with Clifton Design, London (Mark was lead-designer 2006-2013) in 2007 we were commissioned by Great Oakley Estates & the de Capell Brooke family, to produce a landscape analysis and outline development masterplan for two newly acquired estates & farmland; some 1500 ha in total.

Merging two previous large farms into one, the estate acquisition included a number of historically significant buildings, structures & protected earthworks; including the site of a Medieval “cleared” village, a large 17th farmhouse and fishponds.

With the aim of unifying the two estates and general landscape and ecological improvements, our client also identified the potential and family wish for the planting of a new “heritage” broad-leaf woodland.

Self-evident on the ground, our analysis illustrated that after decades of intensive farming activity, the estate was denuded and neglected, consisting of fragmentary estate trees, copses, hedgerows & ponds.

Our final estate masterplan combined essential farm improvements with a habit-rich landscape layout; including a new millennial 11 ha broad-leaf woodland (Bescaby Oaks Diamond Woods), the creation a new park & gardens around a historically significant farmhouse and large-scale hedgerow & copse improvements.