Environment and Conservation
Conservation at The Northumberland Estates covers many aspects:
Historical restoration – The maintenance and restoration of the vast number of listed buildings, art and other assets of historical importance is a continual process accounting for significant expenditure each year
Farming and wildlife – The Estate encourages its farmers to enter a wide range of environmental schemes aimed at improving the range and diversity of wildlife on the Estate. In 2007 Northumberland Estates won the highly prestigious Purdey award for conservation for a project aimed at boosting grey partridge numbers.
Forestry – Extensive tree planting in the region of 80,000 to 100,000 trees per annum is achieved each year by the Estate.
Renewable Energy – This is an area of keen interest. A Victorian hydro electric scheme on the river Aln has recently been restored at a cost of some £80,000 and further hydro based schemes are likely to follow. Projects involving anaerobic digestion and pyrolysis are the subject of feasibility studies amongst others.