A recovery in property values has put half a million pounds on our estimate of the value of Portman estates, putting Viscount Portman back into the billionaire bracket.
Viscount Portman’s most recent venture, the Portman Burtley Estate, consists of 2,000 acres of farmland and woodland in the Buckinghamshire countryside.
It’s home to a prize-winning organic herd of 200 pedigree South Devon cattle, complementing Viscount Portman’s 3,000 acre Herefordshire estate.
Sales of organic beef are made directly by the farm, and customers include Waitrose.
Viscount Portman, aged 52, is spending £40 million developing the estate, determined to make sure that the London properties maintain their high value, despite the recent decline in property prices. The estate may have been in the family for nearly 500 years but the properties have the very latest in facilities including broadband technology and wireless internet.
Viscount Portman’s strategy includes the revamp of Portman Square.
The proposals follow an estate-wide review by Dutch architect Jan Gehl and aim to make the busy square pedestrian-friendly and more accessible from Oxford Street and Baker Street. The plans are likely to be implemented after the 2012 Olympics.
Christopher Edward Berkeley Portman – the 10th Viscount Portman – comes from a family who have been landlords of the 110-acre Portman estate in central London since the 16th century. It was bought by Sir William Portman in 1532 to graze goats.
The Viscount is currently compiling a history of the family and its estates.
The Portman property portfolio, as well as the 3,000 acre estate in Herefordshire, includes a 17,000 acre farm in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Australia as well as shares in commercial properties in New York and Palm Beach, Florida. The family also has a holiday home in Antigua.
