LAST year, people living on the fringes of the Highclere Estate were rocked by the news that the 8th Earl of Carnarvon wanted to sell some of the family’s 5,000 acres for housing in order to fund an estimated estate repair bill of almost £12m.
The earl’s controversial approach to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to ‘enable development’ on the estate prompted many nearby residents to wonder exactly where and exactly how much housing would be built.
Those details have still not been released, but here the earl explains to our reporter, Jane Meredith, just how badly his family estate needs the money to keep it preserved for future generations.
From the outside, the Sir Charles Barry-designed Highclere Castle looks impressive, beautifully crafted and in excellent condition.
But on closer inspection, much of the stonework is crumbling and many of the upper storey rooms are damaged and unused.
The turrets of the 19th Century, Grade I listed castle and outer walls in particular are crumbling and likely to become ruinous over the next two decades, unless repairs are carried out soon, according to Lord Carnarvon.
"Basically you can just rub it and it comes off," he said, while demonstrating the effects of erosion upon weathered sandstone turrets on the castle's tower.
Around 50 of the castle's rooms are currently unusable, due to interior damage, as water seeps in through roofs and walls, bringing ceilings down in the third floor. Elsewhere, the second floor is uninhabitable and without a power supply, with the heating on constantly, in an attempt to dry out the damp.
"Water has poured into all sorts of areas," said Lord Carnarvon, adding it would cost a estimated £1.95m alone to carry out repairs needed to the historical castle, built between 1838 and 1844.
"The trouble is, from the outside it doesn't look like a ruin - but like any old building."
Only the heart of the castle's interior, the Saloon, with its great oak staircase, and the rest of the ground floor along with the first floor, used by bridal parties, remain usable and this, he said was after repairs to leaking windows in the Saloon's ceiling.
"The aim is to get the second floor working and then we could generate more income from, for example, a shoot, or a conference," he said.
Coming a close second on the hefty repair bill list is an estimated £1.87m for repairs to the estate's fifteenth century Manor Farm Barn, including the tiled roof.
Built in 1451 to1452 for the Bishop of Winchester, the oak threshing barn was recently upgraded to a Grade 1 listed building, and is an important part of the region's agricultural history and set to remain in use as a storage building.
To add to the financial headache, four of the estate's seven follies are in need of urgent repairs include London Lodge - the original carriage drive entrance to the castle - with a £637,500 repair bill which includes the cost of extensions at either side of the lodge to create two small houses.
Other follies in need of repair include The Temple of Diana (£400,000 to £500,000), built in 1836, and Beacon Hill Arch, which bears the Herbert families' coat of arms (over £100,000).
Essential forestry management and development of the Capability Brown landscaped grounds also rack up expenses - for example the cost of fences around a new four acre arboretum, a figure which alone ran into thousands of pounds.
Income generated by the castle and estate has been badly affected by the economic downturn, with fewer companies booking the castle as a venue for corporate events and wedding bookings although constant, proving less grand affairs, with the estate's barley crop badly affected by last year's downpours, reducing the quality - and price - from £200 to £80 per tonne.

* The Castle’s recent history

FACED with mighty bills, and with the estate's income dwindling, Lord Carnarvon last year applied to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to enable development on the estate - with a decision on this expected in October.
If this principle is approved, he can then submit planning applications to the council for further consideration - but was unable to say exactly where the sites would be, other than the northern fringes of the 5,000 acre estate, neighbouring Highclere and Burghclere, or how many houses might be built.
"I honestly don't know," he said, adding various sites had been submitted for consideration.
"It's totally in the air at the moment in terms of dimensions and size - the idea is to get the policy first and then see where we are."
Nothing he added, would be built in the estate's historical central parkland, or on any downland, while some sites were in an AONB.
However the recession, he pointed out, was not a good time to build.
"Everything depends on values - at the moment we are not starting anything."
Last week, villagers likely to be affected by the proposals were deamnding to know the exact size and location of any development.
Villagers in Burghclere and Highclere, neighbouring the estate's northern fringes, are the most likely to be affected and last week, chairman of Burghclere Parish Council, Bob Hills, said people were still in the dark about the issue.
"If they are not prepared to tell us where they want to build and how many houses and of what style, we are not prepared to back them," said Mr Hills.
Horace Mitchell, a conservative borough councillor for Burghclere, Highclere and St Mary Bourne and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's cabinet member for planning and infrastructure, also said last week that Highclere Parish Council had suggested forming a local interest panel, presided over by an independent chairman, to steer it and enable members to come to a fair conclusion about the issue.

To see more pictures from around the castle click on the link below.