THE CHOLMONDELEY GARDENS TRUST

Registered charity 1134333 · accounts filings on the Charity Commission register

The preservation of the walled garden at Houghton Hall and gardens at Cholmondeley Castle. The advancement of education for the public benefit of the historic and horticultural importance of the gardens and such other charitable purposes beneficial to the community.

Objects

1 THE PRESERVATION OF THE WALLED GARDEN AT HOUGHTON HALL, NORFOLK; AND/OR2 THE PRESERVATION OF THE GARDENS AT CHOLMONDELEY CASTLE; AND/OR3 THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION FOR PUBLIC BENEFIT OF THE HISTORICAL AND HORTICULTURAL IMPORTANCE OF THE GARDENS; AND/OR4 SUCH OTHER CHARITABLE PURPOSES BENEFICIAL TO THE COMMUNITY CONSISTENT WITH THE OBJECTS ABOVE AS THE TRUSTEES SHALL IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION DETERMINE.

Area of benefit: NORFOLK

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

Causes: Environment/conservation/heritage · Get email alerts

Financial health, per its FY2025 accounts

The accounts state that the charity incurred a deficit of £807,488 for the year, resulting in a decrease in unrestricted reserves to £1,864,927. The trustees note that the charity is dependent on the continued support of The Marquess of Cholmondeley GCVO to meet its day-to-day working capital requirements.

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

What the accounts disclose

Accounts independently examined (not a full audit). Discloses 4 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.

• 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
• Investment
• Paying staff
• Risk management
• Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
• Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
• Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
• Trustee expenses policy and procedures
• Volunteer management

Corporate structure

• Registered company of the charity Companies House 06811619

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.

• LONGSTAFFE-GOWAN, Todd — director, appointed 21/12/2025on trustee list
• SASSOON, Adrian David — director, appointed 21/12/2025on trustee list
• CHOLMONDELEY, Sarah Rose — director, appointed 18/10/2024on trustee list
• CHOLMONDELEY, David George Philip — director, appointed 16/03/2009not on trustee list

Official officers record.

Structured financials (annual return, FY ending 31/03/2024)

Reported reserves equal ~51.2 months of spending — in the top quarter for charities its size (median 7.1 months; benchmarks).

Per its annual return, largest income source: Donations and legacies (93% 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: 1.9% of total income — below the median for charities its size (3.0%) (benchmarks).

Trustees · trustee networks

• Adrian SASSOON
• Lady Sarah Rose Cholmondeley · trustee of 1 other charity
• MARQUESS OF CHOLMONDELEY
• Todd Longstaffe-Gowan

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

Operates in: Cheshire West & Chester · Norfolk

Income and spending

Common questions

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 CASTLE BROMWICH HALL AND GARDENS TRUST.

• CASTLE BROMWICH HALL AND GARDENS TRUST income £287k
• HOGHTON TOWER PRESERVATION TRUST income £114k
• CHISWICK HOUSE AND GARDENS TRUST income £3.2m
• The Auckland Project income £14.5m
• THE EXBURY GARDENS TRUST income £128k
• CAREW POLE GARDEN TRUST income £102k

Side by side with its peers

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