Celebrating 60 years at Tendring Hall Estate
Martin Barnett was presented the award at the Hadleigh Show, celebrating his distinguished career at the Suffolk estate.
Martin ‘Barney’ Barnett joined Tendring Hall Estate at the age of 16 on a 2-week trial in 1965. His first job was hoeing the Christmas tree plantation before undertaking training to cut timber and manage woodland. He is now the head forester for the estate.
Celebrating 60 years at the estate, Mr Bartlett, 75, was awarded the RFS Long Service Award at the Hadleigh Show on 17 May.
Mr Barnett has built up a hugely well-respected Cricket Bat Willow enterprise on the 370-acre estate. Starting with 500 bat willows in the first year, he has planted over 20,000 trees during his career, with 4 crops harvested. He also carried out contract felling work all over the country for 10 years for Sir Joshua Rowley.
After the 1987 storms, it took Martin and the estate team 5 years to clear all the fallen trees, and they planted over 87,000 replacement trees. More recently, he has overseen the start of a restoration project of the Grade II Repton-designed parkland.
“I am a timber feller by trade, and to this day I still enjoy working with timber,” Mr Bartlett said. “I am also incredibly proud of what we have achieved with the Willows. Starting from scratch we have built a reputation for high standards and good presentation.
Mrs Emily Holden, owner of Tendring Hall Estate, added: “ Martin has been an integral part of the Estate at Tendring Hall for 6 decades helping to oversee a huge amount of change during that period. He has been an incredibly loyal and dedicated member of the team and has now worked for 3 generations of our family”.
Read more:
