Hardwick Community Energy

Cutting energy use and exploring solar on an estate moving into community ownership

Hardwick Estate is an organic, sustainably managed rural estate covering 900 acres in the Chiltern Hills, South Oxfordshire. It includes Hardwick Hall, several farming and educational enterprises, 430 acres of mixed forestry, and a small community of people who live and work on the land.

The group formed in November 2022 to reduce the estate’s energy use, explore on-site renewable energy, and improve the environmental standards of its homes, buildings and houseboats. Options include rooftop solar on the main house and 27 smaller homes, and ground-mounted solar across up to 400 acres of the site.

Hardwick is also an estate in transition in another sense. Inspired by community-owned estates in Scotland, the Rose family have decided to gift the estate to the community who live on it, to be run as a charity. Hardwick Trust is set to become the first community-led estate in England. It will be governed by trustees elected from the estate’s residents, with the community holding it to account. The first seven community trustees were elected in April 2025.