There have been a whole host of community events this year. We have seen the Coronation celebrations, a soggy Street Market and a return of the Christmas Bulb Sale… not to mention an amazing charity quiz in the village hall.
Sadly several long term residents died this year;-
Andrew John
John Churchill
William Carr
Jackie Matty
Neil Watson
Elsie Phillips
Johnny Dawe
New additions: People and businesses
- Rex, a son to Stu and Kirsty Norledge
- Stu & Kirsty have also set up ‘The Unnamed Hot Sauce Company’ https://www.unnamedhotsauce.co.uk/
- Bruce Hutt has based his business back in the village
- Laura Aggett has set up – LEWis Brand Orthotics https://www.lewisbrand.co.uk/
- Jack and his family, who have also been Grasshopper parents, have taken over the lease of the Yew Tree from the owners and are building it into a welcoming village pub serving good food and also takeaway food. yewtreepub.com
Marriages:
Jess Hutt and Noah Booker
Whilst the community have been especially busy, here at Overbury Enterprises we have been up to quite a lot as well. Here is our 2023 review.
Gardens & Garden Team
We had the annual National Gardens Scheme opening of Overbury Court in April, to which we had record numbers of people and the daffodils were flowering to perfection. From May to November it was also lovely to see our Kemerton Walk flourish in a kaleidoscope of colour with new wildflower beds.
In June we held our biannual Overbury and Conderton Open Gardens where the village had 16 gardens open to the public, the standard was so high and it was great to see the effort that has been made by so many residents. The event was a roaring success as we manage to raise over £5,000 for community initiatives in the village.
This year we have planted bulbs around our verges and look forward to a dazzling display of daffodils in the spring. The garden team has also been planting many bulbs and biennial plants in and around Conderton and Overbury so hopefully the villages will have an abundance of colour next year. Thank you to Wychavon District Council for giving us some funding towards this and we also hope to gradually add to the landscaping around the village.
Forestry and Keepering
The last 18 months have been difficult for wildlife, specifically birds, due to bird flu. Some good weather, along with predator control, habitat enhancement and feed and supplementation will give our local wildlife a good chance to rebuild their numbers over the coming years.
We have enjoyed seeing people get out into nature and spot the wide variety of species that we work so hard to promote.
We also hosted several local schools for a Countryside Learning Day in the summer. The children had a busy day learning about farming, conservation, history, forestry and land management.
We continued Overbury and the Martin family’s long standing tradition of donating a Christmas tree to Tewkesbury Abbey. We have also been extremely busy with log orders as the year draws to a close – Martyn has been producing plenty of firewood with his new processor. He has also been using a much larger saw to process timber felled at Overbury, which the joinery department can then use in the workshop.
Martyn explaining about tree conservation at the Countryside Learning Day
Grasshoppers
The nursery has continued to attract families from near and far with lots of our current families having new babies.
We have had a busy year – we had a visit from the chefs at The Yew Tree Inn to teach the children how to make pizza. The children have loved learning about gardening with Harry and the team and enjoyed lambing time. We also made bread with Overbury wheat.
It was a year of celebration with the coronation of King Charles III and children enjoyed learning about the royal family.
In July, we said a sad farewell to 20 of our preschool children who went off to start their primary school journey.
We have finished the year with the children collecting their own Christmas tree, with the help of farmer Jake and the farming team and then decorating it with their own decorations.
Farm Team
The weather gave spring, summer and autumn an unprecedented amount of rainfall – over 45cm between January and September (even though we had a very dry June) - making harvesting a long, drawn out process and highlighting the challenges of food production in a world with increasing climate changes. Thank you to the farm team for working long hours to get crops harvested and next year’s crops established.
Despite this, it was a great year for our apple harvest in September. Apple juice has been pressed ready for sale. A single variety, Ashmead Kernel, is available now and is ideal chilled on a Christmas table. If you fancy trying one of these, they are £4.50 bottle. Please contact the Estate Office on 01386 725111 if you would like to buy some.
We had lambs raised on the Hill and Vale available for sale several times this year, including at the very successful street market and pop up shop. Look out for more opportunities to try our delicious lamb next year. The sheep flock managed by Sam and Shirley have had a successful year. Keep your eyes, peeled for our trial flock of Overbury wool-shedding sheep to see if you can spot them on the hill.
Over winter, we will be planting more trees for habitat creation, biodiversity and carbon capture– if you would like to join in do let us know.
We welcomed William Goodman to the team, along with Charles Bull who is with us on his sandwich year from Hartpury University and said goodbye to Mark Frost. Jake has stepped down as Worcestershire County National Farmers Union chairman after his two-year period.
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Visitors enjoying a tour led by Jake on Open Farm Sunday
Build Team
The building and maintenance team have had a very busy year undertaking several refurbishment projects, the biggest of which has been the Dynamo House, project managed by Mark and completed just in time for the shoot season to start at the end of September. It has been beautifully converted to compliment the building’s Arts and Crafts style and will be available for select lettings through Overbury Hub.
Darkes House, 2 Church Row, 49 Overbury, 35 Pigeon Lane and 9 Gable Row have all undergone smaller refurbishments and all houses in School Lane have had new double glazed aluminium windows. Manor Lodge also underwent a full re-thatch – this is only done every 30 years so it was a great opportunity to see skilled craftsmen at work.
The department also oversaw the installation of 365m of underground electrical cabling and subsequent removal of overhead electrical cables in association with National Grid.
Joinery
Our team of skilled joiners, headed by Simon Whitaker, have undertaken several projects both locally and at Overbury. Their skills are much sought after and external projects have included a beautiful library, doors, windows and gates, and a replacement noticeboard for Beckford Church, pictured below.
One of the many beautiful pieces created by our skilled joiner, Simon
Overbury Hub
Our beautiful, flexible meeting and co-working spaces at the Old Village Shop and Old Smithy along with our five-star holiday let, Manor Farmhouse, have all continued to be busy this year. We welcomed some new faces along with many who love the facilities and setting so return to us time and time again. We will shortly be launching our new Overbury Hub website in the new year to enable us to promote our lovely spaces, both close to home and further afield as well as our tailored packages linking a stay at Manor Farmhouse with use of the Old Village Shop facilities.
Back at the office…
We have welcomed Kathy, our new Finance Manager, and almost said a sad goodbye to Cherrelle who leaves us at the very end of 2023. Jo has taken on an additional role as assistant to Mark and is now managing the day to day maintenance calls and booking contractors, so if you have any issues, she will most likely be your port of call. We have hosted numerous successful pop up shops at Stockton’s Courtyard during the spring and summer months from our regular fortnightly market to a dog themed event, finishing off with a Halloween themed pop up. If you have any ideas on anything else you would like us to organise, please do let us know. We welcome ideas and are looking forward to re-starting the pop ups next year when the weather is better. We love providing a community space for people to meet friends, have a cup of tea and buy some local produce. We hope you enjoy them too and we welcome anyone else who would like to join us with a stall in 2024.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2024 from all of us at Overbury Enterprises.