April

Spring is here. Daffodils, tulips and blossom are out across the Estate and despite there still being a chill in the air, the days have brightened up.

Golfers are enjoying the dryer spell and making the most of Cowdray’s revamped 18-hole championship golf course. A ceremony took place on Sunday 7^th April to celebrate its reopening following an extensive £1million course improvement project and redesign over the winter. Jonathan Russell, Cowdray’s CEO, thanked the greenkeeping team, led by Course Manager Jonathan Smith, and Tim Allen, Cowdray’s Director of Golf, for their hard work during the two- and a-half-year project. The project on the main course included a full rebuild and design of all bunkers and pathway networks, along with some sympathetic landscaping around some green complexes.

Tim Allen, Director of Golf, opens the course

Cowdray’s greenkeeping team

The day before the ceremony, the Spring Run the Seasons race took place across the Estate with hundreds of runners racing through the Deer Park, around the edge of Cowdray Golf Course and up towards Henley Common. Luckily the day was sunny, and competitors choose between a 5km, 10km and a dog-friendly Canicross.  This is the third in a series of four Run the Seasons races. The final summer race is on Friday 28^th June at 7pm around Lawns polo fields and out to Ambersham Common.

The Spring Run the Seasons race gets underway

Runners celebrate completing the Run the Seasons Race

At the end of April, the Gundog Challenge started at the Deer Park and then moved to in front of Cowdray Ruins. The event involved some of the best handlers in the UK and Europe raising money for the Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex.

Gundog Challenge at Cowdray

In other news on the Estate, this month, respected Cowdray Forester Geoff Heath decided to hang up his planting spade and retire. In his time on the Estate, Geoff has personally planted by hand over 375,000 trees. Geoff leaves a legacy of young Oak and Conifer forests of the Estate that will be enjoyed for hundreds of years to come. And Forester Gil Bates has reached a milestone of 35 years of working on the Estate.  This is a huge achievement and well worthy of congratulations.