THE COUNTRY TRUST

Registered charity 1122103 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

To bring food, farming and the working countryside alive for those children least able to access it whether through disadvantage or disability. We do this through Farm Discovery day visits to real working farms throughout England and North Wales, Farm in a Box, Countryside Discovery residentials and yearlong Food Discovery programmes where children discover growing, cooking and even selling food.

Objects

3.1 To promote study of and to disseminate knowledge of the earth and of all that lives in, upon and above it and in particular to promote study of and to disseminate knowledge of the land natural resources plants and living creatures and of Mankind's effect upon them; 3.2 To promote knowledge of and understanding of Mankind's natural cultural and architectural heritage and to protect preserve and stimulate public interest in and care for those matters; 3.3 To protect preserve enrich and stimulate public interest in and care for the beauty and character of the land and countryside; 3.4 To provide or promote the provision of facilities whereby the public in general and young persons in particular may gain access to the countryside and whereby they may be educated about the countryside in general and about matters concerning the countryside and the enjoyment thereof; 3.5 To promote sound learning about the importance of the land and is products to the whole of modern society; 3.6 To carry out such other legally charitable purposes as are necessary for the attainment of the above objects or any of them.

Area of benefit: NOT DEFINED. IN PRACTICE, ENGLAND AND WALES

The charity’s charitable objects and area of benefit, quoted from its governing document as held on the Charity Commission register.

Causes: Education/training · Environment/conservation/heritage · website · Get email alerts

Registered contact address: Chelmsford, East of England, England (from the postcode on the register)

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity finished the year with a surplus, resulting in total reserves of £810,980, comprising £640,176 in unrestricted funds. Per the trustees' report, this surplus enabled the building of a small operating reserve to pilot bridging timing gaps between funding receipt and activity delivery. The charity reports no material uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern.

Automated summary of the FY2025 accounts; the evidenced findings below carry the verbatim passages.

What the accounts disclose

Accounts audited by Edmund Carr LLP. Discloses 6 of 6 completeness components.

Policies the charity declares

In its annual return the charity told the Commission that it has the policies listed below. This is self-declared: it is not verified by the Commission or by this site, and it is not evidence of how a policy works in practice.

• Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
• Complaints handling
• Complaints policy and procedures
• Conflicting interests
• Financial reserves policy and procedures
• Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
• Internal risk management policy and procedures
• Investing charity funds policy and procedures
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding policy and procedures
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Social media policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

From the charity’s annual return (Part A, self-declared)

Answers and figures the charity gave in Part A of its annual return to the Charity Commission. They are self-declared: not verified by the Commission or by this site. Only positive answers and figures are listed; items not listed are simply not shown.

Source: this charity’s annual returns on the Charity Commission register.

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 06436266

Leadership, per the charity’s website

• Jill Attenborough — CEO (source)

Listed on the charity’s own website when we last crawled it; roles may have changed. Pay-band disclosures above are anonymous statutory disclosures and are not attributed to any named individual.

Funders the charity credits

Named as funders/supporters on the charity’s own website (the charity’s claim, distinct from accounts-verified grants).

• National Garden Scheme — “The Country Trust is incredibly grateful to the National Garden Scheme for its generous support during the 2025–26 academic year. Through a …” (source page)

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.

• FINNIS, Jeremy Paul Godsmark — director, appointed 24/02/2026on trustee list
• EVERITT, Mark Alexander — director, appointed 10/12/2025on trustee list
• DEATKER, Guy Frederick — director, appointed 02/10/2024on trustee list
• LINLEY, Gavin Craig — director, appointed 02/10/2024on trustee list
• GENT, Michael George Lockyer — director, appointed 29/06/2022on trustee list
• KAUR, Keranjit — director, appointed 29/06/2022on trustee list
• ATTENBOROUGH, Jill Dorothy — secretary, appointed 16/07/2014

Official officers record.

Public profiles (found on the charity’s own website): facebook · instagram

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/12/2025)

Reported reserves equal ~5.0 months of spending — above the median for charities its size (median 4.7 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (92% 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: 7.3% of total income — above the median for charities its size (5.3%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Gavin Craig Linley
• Guy Deatker · trustee of 1 other charity
• Jeremy Paul Godsmark Finnis · trustee of 1 other charity
• Keranjit Kaur
• Margaret Anne Bufton-McCoy
• Mark Alexander Everitt
• Michael George Lockyer Gent
• Rachael Frossell

Trustee list from the Charity Commission register (current, not historical).

Operates in: Throughout England And Wales

Income and spending

Common questions

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 FOOD AND FARMING DISCOVERY TRUST.

• FOOD AND FARMING DISCOVERY TRUST income £130k
• THE COUNTRY FOOD TRUST income £649k
• THE CHILDREN'S ADVENTURE FARM TRUST LTD income £1.2m
• COUNTRYSIDE LEARNING income £437k
• CLA CHARITABLE TRUST income £288k
• CARSTAIRS COUNTRYSIDE TRUST income £291k

Side by side with its peers

Each row is that charity’s latest analysed filing; every value is quote-backed on its own page.