The Estate Office will be closed from 12.30pm on Christmas Eve until Tuesday 29 December.

In a positive step to reduce carbon emissions on Garrowby Estate, air source heating systems are currently being installed in three bungalows in Bugthorpe and a property in Great Givendale. The systems work by extracting low-grade heat from the outside air and using it to provide heating and domestic hot water. 

Anyone using the A64 southern bypass around York can't have failed to notice the new campus that is being constructed on Halifax Estates' land at Heslington.

Phase 1 of this £500m development comprises 614 student rooms, three new academic departments and the Hub and Catalyst Buildings, which will contain 'knowledge exchange' accommodation for science and technology based businesses. This first phase is due to be completed by September 2010.  

Congratulations to Lord Halifax's Farm Manager, Clive Rowland and his wife, Ruth, on the recent birth of their third son, Ewan. Although Ruth wasn't planning a home birth, Ewan had different ideas!