All the world’s a stage at wonderful Wintershall

GREAT ESTATES A family’s passions have made this corner of Surrey extra special, finds Boudicca Fox-leonard

On a dark December night, if you walk up a hill on the Wintershall estate to the top of a spur of the North Downs, past a tree that features in the Domesday Book, you arrive at a panoramic view of the Surrey Hills. There you will find the Holly Barn, inside which is a theatre for 500 people, as well as donkeys, sheep and horses, a choir and musicians. Welcome to the Wintershall Nativity.

For 30 years the estate has been known for dramatic performances. The first Nativity was held in the former cow shed in 1989, a small affair for family and friends of Peter and Ann Hutley. The audience sat on straw, the shepherds followed not a star but battery torchlight, and the crib was a trestle table. Today thousands have seen or taken part in the annual performance, with local volunteers often on stage. Peter, now 92, has an OBE for services to Christian understanding and charity.

Appearing in the Wintershall Nativity is a rite of passage for a Hutley, says Peter’s son Edward. He’s played kings, and his wife, Lulu, has been the Virgin Mary three times. All but one of their four children have played baby Jesus. “One of our daughters was born in January and was too big by December,” says Lulu.

With Peter and Ann recently gaining two more great-grandchildren, there’s a strong likelihood of a Hutley in the manger this year too. Other family members will be corralled into playing shepherds, but not Edward, who is more used to the role of Pontius Pilate. “He wasn’t happy when they demoted him to shepherd,” jokes Lulu.

Everyone who takes part is an amateur, apart from Jesus in The Life of Christ, performed on the estate every June. They also put on a performance of the Christ’s Passion for a packed Trafalgar Square on every Good Friday.

“I feel I’m quite professional now. I’ve done over 300 stage productions,” says Edward, who was born and bred on the estate. His father bought Wintershall, a beautiful 13th-century manor house, in 1962, after making his fortune in property development.

Today Peter and Ann live on a cottage on the estate while Edward’s older brother Nick lives in Wintershall House. Edward and Lulu live over the hill at Slades Farm, a 1537 house bought by the estate in 1990. His sister Charlotte de Klee lives between Scotland and the estate and his other sister Henrietta lives in a converted barn with her husband, the artist Nic Fiddian- Green.

In 2014, Charlotte took over as producer of the plays, which have been seen by more than a quarter of a million people, with the concept travelling to all parts of the world.

Just like the Nativity, the running of 1,000-acre Wintershall is very much a family affair, where everyone’s interests and passions are reflected. “My brother is more of a farmer. I’m more of shooter and my sister Charlotte is into the plays,” says Edward. “There’s also my brother-in-law’s sculptures.”

Lulu adds: “The whole family lives here and we use every inch of the place.” For her and Edward, this means a rock benefit every few years, enlisting friends from the music world.

“We’re rockers,” says Edward. “You can’t help it with the Roger Taylors, Jeff Becks, Mike Rutherfords and Eric Claptons. That’s our period.” Money from the last Wintershall Charity Rock Concert in 2016 went to HASTE and the James Wentworth-stanley Memorial Fund. The next concert is set for 2020. “The musicians are up for it, but it’s a heck of a lot of work,” says Edward.

It’s just one of the ways the estate has evolved over 50 years. As well as wellestablished fisheries, there are shoots, and a thriving equestrian centre.

Edward, who was raised “wild and free” at Wintershall (“There was a bell to call us in for lunch or supper”), still feels lucky to live on the estate. “Most days Lulu and I think how blessed are we to have this and still have our health to do lots of other things, and make it pay for itself.”

Having visited large houses where rooms are kept for best and fires are rarely lit, the Hutleys at Slade Farm have a “more the merrier” mentality. The Queen Anne house forms a courtyard with two Tudor cottages and 19thcentury stables and cattle sheds.

“It’s a bit of a Tardis. People drive past and would be forgiven for thinking there’s not a huge amount of it, but without trying to swank, it does blow people away once they see it all,” says Edward.

Which is just as well, as the couple are keen to attract guests. They run bespoke stays where you can ride, have a massage or party in the woods.

What you get is the Lulu and Ed treatment. “It’s very personal. People can be on their own or they can be thoroughly looked after by us,” says Lulu. With their youngest son, 19, about to go travelling, the couple are full of plans for expansion. “We want to do holistic breaks. A digital detox,” Lulu says.

They are certainly at their happiest when sharing their home with others. “There’s a moment when Wintershall and Slades is full of people, it’s really hectic,” says Edward. “And then it closes down, so the woods and grounds can breathe. But then you fill it up again.”

At Christmas this year the family will gather in the Fallow Barn at Slades Farm, where there will be a big lunch, an equally huge tree and a roaring fire. “Food from the land. Everything home-made with everybody mucking in,” muses Lulu.

It’s the attitude that forms something of a constitution for Edward and his siblings as they look towards the estate’s future. “So we can keep it whole and as one, so we can all live here in our different ways respecting each other’s privacy but at the same time respecting the estate,” he says. “Preserving the tranquillity but at the same time allowing it to be used.”

‘Edward wasn’t happy when they demoted him to shepherd’

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