HESTERCOMBE GARDENS TRUST LIMITED
Registered charity 1060000 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register
The restoration and maintenance of all the historic gardens and buildings at Hestercombe for the benefit and education of the public.
Causes: Education/training · Arts/culture/heritage/science · Amateur Sport · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts
Financial health, per its FY2023 accounts
The accounts state that the charity incurred a net expenditure of £396.8k for the year, resulting in a decrease in total assets to £10.885m. The auditors identified a material uncertainty regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, citing that current liabilities exceeded current assets by £618,919 and that existing cash flow facilities were insufficient to cover expected requirements without additional actions. Management expressed confidence in future operations based on planned property sales and ongoing bank support.
Automated summary of the FY2023 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.
What the accounts disclose
Reserves position: below the charity's own stated reserves policy (held: £-229k)
“The result of this is that there is a deficit in freely available reserves (unrestricted reserves less fixed assets net of long term debt) of £229k (2021: £15k) at the year end.”
Per its FY2023 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Going concern: material uncertainty disclosed
“We draw attention to Note 1.1 in the financial statements, which indicates that the group incurred a net loss of £211,792 during the year ended 31 December 2023 and, as of that date, the group’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by £618,919. As stated in Note 1.1, these events or conditions, along with other matters as set forth in Note 1.1, indicate that a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.” — page 10
Per its FY2023 accounts as filed with the Charity Commission.
Accounts audited by Albert Goodman LLP. Discloses 3 of 6 completeness components.
Year-over-year changes
- Going concern: no going-concern doubt (FY2022) → material uncertainty (FY2023).
Comparing this charity’s FY2022 and FY2023 accounts as analysed by this site.
Insolvency history (Companies House)
The charity’s company has insolvency history on the Companies House record (company status: administration).
in-administration — 2025-08-01
Corporate structure
Company officers (Companies House)
Current officers of the charity’s own company per the Companies House register, cross-checked against the Charity Commission trustee list by name. A director not on the trustee list is usually a timing or naming difference between the two registers — check both records before drawing conclusions.
- POW, Rebecca Faye — director, appointed 11/10/2024on trustee list
- ORMROD, Christopher — director, appointed 01/12/2023on trustee list
- HIND, Charles Wheelton — director, appointed 14/07/2023on trustee list
- LAMBERT, Roger Mark Uvedale — director, appointed 02/12/2022on trustee list
- PEASE, Catherine Annie — director, appointed 01/12/2017on trustee list
Official officers record.
Property (HM Land Registry)
9 registered titles in England and Wales held by the charity’s company or corporate body (5 freehold); recorded price paid £2.3m. All charity-held property. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright, OGL v3.0.
Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): instagram
Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2023)
Cost of raising funds
£1.1m
Reported reserves equal ~0.0 months of spending — in the bottom quarter for charities its size (median 4.8 months; benchmarks).
Per its annual return, largest income source: Other trading activities (66% of income) — components as reported reconcile to the return’s total income; not from the accounts narrative.
Per its annual return, cost of raising funds: 49.9% of total income — above the 90th percentile for charities its size (median 5.2%) (benchmarks).
Register events
- Received assets from another charity (26/10/2018) — per the register’s event history; asset transfers typically record mergers or reorganisations.
- CHARLES HIND · trustee of 1 other charity
- Catherine Pease
- Christopher Ormrod
- John Abbott
- LADY JOSEPHINE WALEY-COHEN
- Rebecca Pow
- Roger Lambert
Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).
Operates in: Somerset
Income and spending
Common questions
Is HESTERCOMBE GARDENS TRUST LIMITED financially healthy?
Per its FY2023 accounts: The accounts state that the charity incurred a net expenditure of £396.8k for the year, resulting in a decrease in total assets to £10.885m. The auditors identified a material uncertainty regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern, citing that current liabilities exceeded current assets by £618,919 and that existing cash flow facilities were insufficient to cover expected requirements without additional actions. Management expressed confidence in future operations based on planned property sales and ongoing bank support. Its FY2023 accounts were audited by Albert Goodman LLP.
Who funds HESTERCOMBE GARDENS TRUST LIMITED?
Funders whose own accounts filings name HESTERCOMBE GARDENS TRUST LIMITED as a grant recipient include THE HEADLEY TRUST, THE MEDLOCK CHARITABLE TRUST.
Known funders
Grants to this charity found in funders’ own accounts filings.
Government & lottery funding
Grants to this charity published as open data by government and lottery funders (360Giving).
Funders of similar charities
Funders whose accounts show grants to charities similar to this one (and no recorded grant to this charity) — a starting list for fundraisers.
Charities like this
Semantically similar by activities and financial character, from our analysed corpus. Compare with ABERGLASNEY RESTORATION TRUST.
Side by side with its peers
Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.