Green for go as Harewood House builds a new future

HAREWOOD House will host a Green Yorkshire Show next year to celebrate the steps being taken by local companies to protect the environment, the Yorkshire Post can reveal.

The event, which is due to be held in September 2011, is part of a strategy to place Harewood, near Leeds, at the heart of the community.

Richard Mansell, the chief executive of the Harewood House Trust, said: "Harewood's heritage is the foundation stone for building a new model for the future."

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The Green Yorkshire Show will highlight the importance of sourcing produce from Yorkshire-based companies, and the types of lifestyle changes that can help people to reduce global warming.

It follows the announcement that the trust has signed a partnership agreement with Boutique Catering, the hospitality company, and design and communications agency Logistik

to expand the stately home's retail, leisure and hospitality services.

The trust is a charitable educational organisation which was set up to preserve the house, its collections, grounds and buildings.

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Mr Mansell said the Green Yorkshire Show would be aimed at businesses and consumers and was in keeping with the trust's educational role.

Traditionally, Harewood has been open from the beginning of April to the end of October. Mr Mansell plans to keep the house open for most of the winter, apart from a period in January and February when it will need to be closed for essential maintenance. There are also plans for a Victorian-themed Christmas event, and the trust hopes to hold more children's concerts and corporate conferences.

Mr Mansell said that the trust had been retaining an annual turnover of around 2m. Turnover for the whole of the Harewood site had been three to four times that amount, but, in the past, most of that had been going to sub-contractors, Mr Mansell added.

He plans to retain more of Harewood's total income and re-invest it in the facilities.

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Mr Mansell hopes to increase the total turnover to around 10m within three years.

He is devising a retail strategy driven by "local sourcing and sustainability" which will mean that more local food produce is sold at Harewood.

Palatial history

Harewood House, which dates from the mid-18th century, has been described as a "St Petersburg palace on a Yorkshire hill".

It has interiors by Robert Adam, furniture by Thomas Chippendale and paintings by Turner, Reynolds, Titian and El Greco.

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The house has an Italianate terrace, and a landscape garden and lake designed by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown.

The house and garden attracts 250,000 visitors a year. It also stages themed events and concerts which attract an annual audience of around 100,000 people.