Profile: Charlie Forbes-Adam

CHARLIE Forbes-Adam, the owner of the vast 8,000-acre Escrick Park estate between York and Selby, which he’s transformed into a modern business park that appeals to 21st century businesses, admits he had an interesting time in his teens and 20s.

But his life was transformed at the age of 30, when he took over the family business.

His success shows that ancient Yorkshire estates can provide the perfect home for fast-growing businesses.

Now 55, he’s happily married to Rosalind and settled with three children, Beilby, Hal and Lottie.

“Like other traditional rural estate families, we were asset-rich but cash poor.

“There’s been a downhill slide over the last 30 or 40 years but landowners have started to get their acts together,” Mr Forbes-Adam said.

The old way of life – with its sense of entitlement and privilege – has long since gone.

Here’s a short potted history of the estate’s development.

Escrick Park has been owned and managed by the same family for more than 300 years. In 1668, Sir Henry Thompson, Lord Mayor of York and a successful wine merchant bought the Lordship of Escrick. He’s an ancestor of the current owner, Charlie Forbes-Adam.

Over the next 150 years, the estate increased in both size and grandeur. Beilby Thompson, whom Mr Forbes-Adam’s son is named after, had the village of Escrick moved to the north of the Manor House.

In 1775, an Act of Parliament created an early bypass around the village, which is now the A19. The third Lord Wenlock, sometime around 1800 began the construction of a model village, which he unfortunately didn’t complete.

Landholding on the estate peaked in the late 19th century, with the estate at its height reaching a staggering 22,000 acres, making it the largest lowland estate in the north of England at this point in its history.

The estate has contracted to just under 8,000 acres now as a result of the lavish lifestyles on the estate and a combination of death duties.

In the First World War, Escrick Park was used as a military hospital for soldiers. Mr Forbes-Adam said: “My great grandfather was governor of Madras, a role he was given by Lord Curzon, who was a pal. My grandmother took over the estate 50 years ago and rented Escrick as St Margaret’s School.”

The school is still thriving and he is a governor.

“When I took over the estate my accountant said to me ‘increase cash flow’. I’d done A level Maths and I knew to increase cash flow, I had to reduce cash going out. It was straightforward enough.”

He immediately set about reducing the massive borrowings on the estate in the form of overdrafts.

He looked at ways of generating income for Escrick. Seven farmsteads were converted into offices and light industrial forming 40 units.

As Selby was part of Yorkshire’s coalfield they were eligible for Euro funding in the form of a 30 per cent grant.

Mr Forbes-Adam cites Roger Tempest, a pioneer of farm conversions as an influence. But Escrick is the first of its kind in the York area, although some neighbours have now got significant square footage.

He is also Yorkshire chairman of the Country Landowners Association.

“We’ve gone to a lot of trouble to enhance the immediate environment. Sculptures have been restored and farm ponds. As I look out of the window I see oak trees in the distance. You’re straight on to the open road and there’s no need to sit in traffic during rush hour. And free parking. It doesn’t suit everybody but it appeals to many,” he added.

“We run a holiday park with houses and residential lets. The holiday park opened in 2005. Hollicarrs has 180 pitches and we week going to open a farm shop in 2008 but I’ve become more cautious as I’ve got older.”

He also has a strong humanitarian streak. The Bridges charity asked him to set up their Selby Abbey Appeal.

He explains: “The thrust of the appeal was to help a charity, the Rehabilitation of Addicted Prisoners Trust, which was about to close down because of bureaucracy and red tape surrounding it. We set out our stall with the aim of raising £100,000 a year for three years. We raised £340,000 in two-and-half years.

“RAPT run a treatment programme at HMP Everthorpe and a day centre called HART in Hull. I’m so incredibly full of admiration for those in the prison system who are able to turn their life round. Of those, 70 per cent are in sustained recovery and they really want to make amends and help people who are in early recovery.”

To the outsider, Mr Forbes-Adam says it looks like he had an idyllic early life and in a way, it was.

“But there are downfalls including death, divorce and debts,” he added: “As the third son, it was a bit of a surprise for my dad that he’d inherited. One brother was a vicar and the other was killed in a car crash on the way to my christening.

“He suddenly inherited when he was not bred into it. The estate is currently in eight different family ownerships at the moment and it’s quite a task holding it all together. I’m lucky to come from a privileged place but I know I’m only a steward of this place. Around 70 per cent of family businesses, according to the Institute of Family Businesses, fold or are sold within three generations.

“Usually, the source is family conflict as when there are families and money it can be problematic.”

His rural estate has proud deep-rooted ties with the family.

“My grandmother was an only child and was the heiress at the age of 22. Like Downton Abbey, she converted it to a hospital for officers during the First World War,” he said.

“The Census of 1891 revealed that there was one child and two adults living here and they had 27 domestic staff. It’s absolute bonkers.”

Three new commercial tenants have recently moved to the estate.

Since 35 acres of derelict buildings on the park east of the A19 underwent a comprehensive £1.4m refurbishment, 140 jobs have been created, significantly boosting the local economy.

The farm building conversions won the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors award. In 2010, Mr Forbes-Adam received the Anders Wall Award from the Brussels-based European Landowners’ Organisation in recognition of the host of environmental initiatives that have been instigated at Escrick Park over the past two decades.

The judges were particularly impressed by the breadth of diversification on the estate and its ability to maximise the potential of the rural assets while at the same time enhancing the natural environment.

Since 1990, 18km of new hedges have been created, 12 ponds created or restored and 90 hectares of wildlife habitat created on arable land. Work is underway to create Three Hagges Jubilee Wood – which will become the largest area of woodland in the district.

Mr Forbes-Adam said he was delighted to welcome the tenants to the business park and it was a ringing endorsement of the quality of the rural offices, which are attracting new occupiers in challenging economic times.

He said he is tremendously proud of creating a serious business park with top-class facilities within a rural idyll.

He believes the “exceptional and inspiring” working environment is unrivalled in the South York and Selby district.

CV of Charlie Forbes-Adam

Name: Charlie Forbes-Adam

Title: Owner of the 8,000-acre Escrick Park estate between York and Selby

Date of Birth: October 8, 1957

First job: My first job was as a jackeroo in Queensland, Australia.

Favourite holiday destination: Going on safari in Tanzania.

Last book read: Return of A King by William Dalrymple.

Favourite music: Little Feat

Favourite film: Withnail & I – the cult film from the 1980s.

Car driven: Audi A6 Allroad

What are your hobbies: Shooting, fishing and tennis.

What is the thing you are most proud of: My family