Dartington reports progress on its recovery path

Further progress has been reported by Dartington Hall Trust in putting its operations in better order and preparing the charity for a “sustainable future”, even though its latest annual update indicates that the trust remains some way from escaping its financial difficulties.

Robert Fedder, the trust’s interim chief executive, says in the document that the charity’s new “landlord model” is generating a steadier flow of income while a tougher approach to limiting costs is starting to pay off in Dartington’s remaining wholly-owned and operated activities. Lord David Triesman, who took over as the charity’s chair in March 2023, says Dartington has now embarked on a new era where it seeks to establish a “sustainable future” for its sprawling estate that is “not dependent on a perennial combination of disposals, unpredictable benefaction and hope”.

It is neither a municipal amenity nor a public resource

Investments

The trust’s report and accounts for the 18 months to February 28 this year – available on the government’s Companies House website – says the charity turned in a small surplus of £681,000 for the latest reporting period. The surplus was helped considerably by net gains on investments over the 18 months of £7.44m. This comprised £3.88m of gains through revaluing property assets and £3.56m of profits on sales of non-core land and other assets, some of which has been in train for some time. Underlining that, without the investment gains, the trust would have turned in a large loss, total spending in the period was £19.69m, with income of £12.93m.

The reporting period immediately before the last one was the 12 months to August 31 2023. Over this time the trust showed a deficit of £4.69m.

The discrepancy between the lengths of the two adjacent reporting periods is because the trust earlier this year changed its year-end from August 31 to February 28, the adjustment requiring that for one year only the charity’s latest reporting period is 18 months. From this point the year-end will remain at the end of February.

As a further reminder that the trust’s financial difficulties are far from over, its net cash outflow from operating activities was £12.12m in the 18 months, compared to an outflow of £1.8m in the previous one-year period. Cash at the bank stood at £208,000 on February 28, compared to £3.46m 18 months earlier. Reflecting however that the trust retains a healthy balance sheet, following the revaluation of the investment property portfolio, net assets at the end of February  were £28.5m, compared to £27.57m 18 months earlier.

Into The Future

Looking ahead, the trust’s management says that it is now “implementing a plan whereby [Dartington] can operate on a cash positive basis, to allow it to reinvest in the estate and further fulfil its charitable objectives”. The large cash outflow in the most recent period has been due, the charity says, to the “significant costs” of the restructuring that started during 2023. It says it is continuing its stance of “reviewing occupancy across the estate” and “attracting tenants for farmland and unused space … [as well as] identifying first-class operators for the trust’s catering and hospitality facilities”.

While “working with partners as appropriate” Dartington says it will be seeking further “to enhance the ability to generate incremental revenues and continue to attract visitors” while also carrying on with its effort on the “preservation for the nation of [Dartington’s] medieval buildings, which absorb substantial capital year-on-year”.

In his remarks, Triesman says that many of the trust’s local critics in the past two years “have lost sight of the fact that the estate they have enjoyed so much, often for free, is private, albeit held within a charitable trust. It is neither a municipal amenity nor a public resource. Nonetheless, it will continue to welcome generously the local community and the wider public”.

Other parts of the report say that the number of Dartington “members” continued to grow steadily, from 2,200 at the time of the last annual report, to 2,604, with increasing visitor numbers. In one mark of progress, the trust says that Regenworks, described as a “coworking specialist”, began to take over occupancy of parts of the estate’s studio space in 2024, and now acts as a “master tenant”, hosting more than 60 workers on its site from different businesses.

The number of employees at the trust fell from 364 at the end of August 2023 to 214 on February 28. However this decrease was offset by more people being employed on the estate who are working for tenants and other non-Dartington entities.