HERITAGE LOTTERY FUNDING TO BUILD AN EDUCATION AND HERITAGE CENTRE WITH PUBLIC SERVICES IS REFUSED.

This ambitious and challenging project is split into a number of development phases:

1. Purchase 180 acres of land, 26 Suffolk Punch  horses and some equipment. This purchase was completed on 31st March 2006 and the Trust raised £700,000 to cover all the costs.
2. The current stage is to build a visitor centre with education and heritage display areas so that visitor income can fund the development and delivery of lifelong learning programmes and work skills training. The Projected cost of this phase which includes the visitor centre, a new access to the farm, car parking, and refurbishment of the stables and some landscaping was projected at £1.9million.
3. At a later time construct rural craft workshops and a display and exhibition arena for demonstrations. 
4. Re landscape approx.15acres in a valley which already has ponds and a stream as an English garden using trees and flora which have association with Suffolk.

If the application to HLF for capital funding totalling £900,000 toward the second phase described above been approved it would have meant that building work could have started quickly in the expectation that the public could visit the Stud from the summer of 2009. Sadly it will now take much longer to complete this stage of the project and it will also delay the delivery of our educational programmes. The Trustees are determined to overcome this setback and are now actively engaged in seeking other sources of funding to pay for the crucial second stage of this project.   Having saved the Colony Stud of Suffolk Punch horses which have been at Hollesley for over 110 years from being dispersed we are determined to use these animals, a unique landscape and the heritage and history of the area as base plates for education and lifelong learning for all age groups and all social backgrounds. 
This project has a huge significance for conservation, biodiversity, the rural economy through eco tourism and new jobs, education and training especially for those who are socially excluded, deprived or from poor social backgrounds. It is also crucial to the survival of the Suffolk Punch horse as a breed that the Colony Stud and the expertise we have in providing covering and livery services to mare owners throughout the UK continues.

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