Permission granted to build holiday lets and café on Ewhurst Park country estate

Planning permission to build nine holiday lets and a café on a North Hampshire country estate has been granted.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council approved plans to demolish a barn and convert existing farm buildings into the new development at Ewhurst Park on August 2.

Ewhurst, located south of Tadley, is a 925-acre estate owned by Malaysian-born environmentalist, entrepreneur and former model Mandy Lieu.

The plans describe the new development as: “A sustainable redevelopment of this historic farmyard setting, sympathetically modernising existing farm buildings to provide new accommodation for holiday rental.”

The development location is a farmyard on the estate located north of the main house and stables.

The holiday rental units will be a combination of self-contained two storey units and single level suites and studios.

Five of the two storey units will be located within a redeveloped barn building, and all of these will have their own mezzanine level with a lounge space.

The former estate office will be re-developed into another two storey holiday let and two barns will be combined and altered to provide space for the remaining smaller units and the café.

The plans for the development can be viewed on the Basingstoke and Deane planning portal at reference 23/01292/FUL

Since purchasing Ewhurst in 2020, Ms Lieu has spearheaded an estate-wide biodiversity project which aims to regenerate landscape, reduce habitat loss and protect native species.

As part of this project, she introduced two beavers into a special enclosure on the estate in January, the first time the animals have been present in Hampshire in over 400 years.