Open Air Business May 2016

EVENTS
Are there any events that you
wouldn’t consider holding?
I prefer events when the public go
home at 18:00 (six o’clock) and then
we can relax. We have never yet
had a music festival and I am quite
keen not to do so on hearing what
goes on from my children. Equally,
the litter can become a very real
problem at such events, I am told.
We have trouble enough with it at
our more sedate ones!
Do you arrange any of your own
events or use outside event
companies?
Predominantly we provide the
venue as Licensor and leave the
organisation of the often specialist
event to the Licensee to put on
the fair or event that they want.
This means my financial exposure
is limited and I don’t risk using
skills I don’t have! I am also sure
that the events are much better
run and more varied because of
this decision. That said we are
promoting an event with the
Napoleonic Association this year,
which will see us acting as the
organiser and promoter. This is a
first for us.
Do you hire the venue for a flat fee
or take a cut of the ticket sales?
Usually a flat fee. We have tried
base fees plus headage but I find it
unreliable and a cause for ill feeling;
have they declared the correct
number and why does it perhaps
not tally with what we have been
able to glean from the gate men on
the day?
“SO MUCH
IS AT STAKE,
FINANCIALLY
AND WITH
EXHIBITOR
AND VISITOR
EXPECTATION,
THAT IT
CAN BE A
VERY HARD
TO MAKE A
DECISION TO
CANCEL”
What challenges have you faced?
Weather of course. So much is
at stake, financially and with
exhibitor and visitor expectation,
that it can be a very hard to make
a decision to cancel. Once the
event is underway the Licensee
takes on that role and as they all
have safety officers, they make the
call to close any dangerous part,
such as an unsecure tent in high
winds which happened one year.
On another occasion we faced a
showground with water standing
in every divot and pot hole. We
should have cancelled but I didn’t
want to make that call for the
reasons just given. I stood and
looked at it, found I was not brave
enough and went to a meeting
in London for the day. The wind
blew, the sun came out and the
event was saved!
What percentage of total estate
revenue is attributed to the
events you host?
No precise figure here but a
rapidly rising contribution to
the estate’s overall profitability.
From agriculture that might
achieve a rent of £120 an acre with
some additional environmental
payments, we now have income
many times that, and there is still
space and time for the farming to
continue.
What extra maintenance do you
need to do to the estate to hold
these events?
The infrastructure is always
being updated and improved:
water supplies, additional
hard standing, tree planting
as well as additional grassland
maintenance. But the overall cost
of these is not large and they are
used by many events over a long
period.
How was the experience with
the local authority in regard to
planning?
We do not host enough events to
trigger a planning issue. Oddly,
the parkland is divided between
two local authorities by quirk
of a boundary. At times we are
not sure who to speak to! Of
equal importance to planning is
the licensing. Ensuring we have
enough TEN’s (Temporary Event
Notices, which particularly apply
to sale of alcohol) between the
several users can be testing.
Any advice for other country
house / estate owners thinking
about holding events in their
grounds?
We are the fortunate owners
of some of the most beautiful
countryside in the UK, often with
very expensive-to-run-houses as
the centrepiece. You cannot sit
and expect life owes you a living;
every aspect of a diversified
estate has to be made to pay its
way. Hole Park has gone down
the route of outdoor events
because that suits us. There are
alternatives but whatever you do,
do something, not nothing, and
do it well.
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