ECT on Countyfile at Christmas! :: 
School chickens go home to roost :: 
Where there's muck... :: The Trust's Estates in Gloucestershire
The Fairford Park Estate
4,200 acres
The core of the Fairford Park Estate, which is situated in an attractive area of the southern Cotswolds on the edge of the Cotswold Water Park, was purchased by Ernest Cook in 1945 from the Barker family; at the time it extended to about 2,500 acres.
Further land was purchased by the Trustees in 1966 (Court Farm), 1967 (Hooks Farm at Southrop Airfield), 1975 (Homeleaze Farm) and in 1982 (Donkeywell Farm). At present the estate extends to about 4,200 acres, comprising five let farms which are mainly arable with grazing land along the River Coln Valley, together with 260 acres of woodland, let cottages, let fishing and a let shoot.
As Fairford is central to the main estates owned by the Trust, its headquarters are located in the former stable and coach house yard of the former Fairford Park House.
Fairford Park House was used as an American field hospital during the war and later part of the park was occupied by displaced Polish people until the camp closed in 1959.
Sadly, as was the case with many other houses after the war, the cost of restoring the house to its former condition was considered by Ernest Cook and his then agent John Hill to be financially prohibitive, so the house and some adjoining land were sold to the Gloucestershire County Council. It is now the site of Farmor’s Comprehensive School, a primary school and a nursery, so local children can spend all their school years on the same site.
Countryfile coup for ECT... 
The Ernest Cook Trust is to feature on the popular TV programme Countryfile over Christmas.
Countryfile presenter Ellie Harrison and camera crews spent a day filming on the Trust’s Fairford Estate on Dec 6th. The resulting programme will be broadcast on BBC1 at 8pm on Wednesday December 28th .
The programme comes just as the Trust prepares to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee in 2012. It will tell the story of founder, philanthropist Ernest Cook – a grandson of travel agency founder Thomas Cook - who launched his Trust in 1952.
Countryfile, which is watched by around eight million people, will also feature the Trust’s work today in caring for the country estates Cook bequeathed and in helping children to learn from the land.
Presenter Ellie Harrison, who was brought up in Gloucestershire, was filmed taking part in a Forest School session with children from St Christopher’s C of E primary school in Langford, near Lechlade.
Filming also featured the Trust’s Head of Education Anne Newman, Fairford Estate’s woodman Stephen Boulton, Agent and Director Nicholas Ford and tenant farmers Jeremy Iles and James Hart and their anaerobic digester.
ECT’s Director Nicholas Ford said: “We had a really great day out on our Fairford Estate filming with the Countryfile team. This is such a coup for the Ernest Cook Trust, particularly as we prepare to celebrate our 60th year.”
School chickens go home to roost
Five years after Fairford C of E Primary School built its chicken run with ECT’s help, parents have gone poultry-mad, with one-in-five families now keeping hens.
The school incubates some of its hens’ eggs and when chicks are old enough they are sold to willing parents.
“We have about 150 families and over 30 of those now have hens, whereas they didn’t before,” said head teacher Jane Sparling. “Our children don’t go home and pester their parents for a kitten or guinea pig. They ask for a hen.”
The school started with rescued battery hens and today has 18 chickens in a range of breeds.
Where there's muck...
ECT tenants Jeremy Iles and James Hart have appeared in Farmers' Weekly, in an article about their on-farm anaerobic digester. Click here for a link to the article.
The pair, who run neighbouring farms on the Trust’s Fairford Estate, joined forces to build the digester - a 250 KW power-plant which generates electricity from chicken, cow and pig manures and slurries. There are only an estimated 20 farm-based anaerobic digesters in the UK.
The £1.1 million project was realised with the support of ECT, which gave its permission to build the digester. It was part-funded by a £430,000 grant from the Rural Development Programme for England, via the European Agricultural Fund for European Development 2007-2013.
Power from the plant is being sold into the national grid. It can generate enough electricity to power the farm and to light up 200 homes, while also creating another income stream for the farmers.
Poultry farmer Jeremy Iles said the anaerobic digester is very cost-effective in the long-term. It will provide electricity for the farm, while giving an additional income from the sale of exported electricity.
It has also removed the need to buy fertilizers on their jointly-farmed arable land, and has helped them meet and exceed the environmental criteria set on their businesses by the Environment Agency.
“It’s been very hard work and has involved a great deal of our time,” said Mr Iles. “But what we have managed to demonstrate is that two tenant farmers working together can make a project like this happen. We have managed to show that this is achievable for farmers.
“It is very rare for two tenant farmers to be able to realise a project like this, and it’s really a credit to the Ernest Cook Trust, which has supported us and given us the confidence to invest in our farms.”
Nicholas Ford said: “This is a remarkable achievement and a ground-breaking project. We are very proud of the fact that two of our tenants are at the very cutting edge of environmentally-friendly farming practices.”