Showering family return to ancestral Kilver Court
ONE of the most important families in Shepton Mallet is returning to its ancestral home.
In a statement, the Showering family announced it had bought Kilver Court from Roger Saul, the founder of the Mulberry label.
Roger and his family revealed in August that they were selling the upmarket shopping centre, beautiful gardens and other facilities.
In a statement issued at the time they said: “With all the challenges of the last 18 months, we have made the difficult decision that the time is right for us to hand the reins of Kilver Court to someone new.”
The Showering family said: “Kilver Court is our ancestral home. The
Ship Inn was purchased in 1854 by Francis Showering. It is from there our family’s business grew, aided by the success of Babycham, into a major business employing many people in Shepton Mallet.
“We are excited to reunite the Showering’s Cider Mill and Kilver Court that were split apart in the early 1990s.
“We see significant benefits and synergies of combining this very large and prominent property.
“Our grandfather Herbert Showering, a keen gardener, designed the gardens with the help of Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner George Whiteleg in 1961.”
The gardens were first laid out by Ernest Jardine for his lace workers. He used the old mill ponds as boating lakes.
“They became known as Jardine’s
Park and included fruit and vegetable plots which provided food for the workers.
The Showering family’s statement added: “Kilver Court is a well-visited and popular destination and the gardens are as spectacular as ever. It is still open.
“Currently in a limited form. We have three great retail outlets – Mulberry, Toast and Yves Delorme. We plan to open the gardens and a café again before too long. We have a very exciting future planned and will invest to create even more of a major attraction in our area.
The Showering brothers returned to the Shepton Mallet cider mill in April 2016 when their company Brothers Drinks bought some of C&C Group’s cider-making facilities for an undisclosed sum, helping preserve some jobs at the site.
C&C, the Irish owner of Magners, caused consternation when it had revealed in January 2016 that it planned to stop making cider in the Somerset market town, where the drink had been produced for more than 240 years.
Matthew Showering said in an interview with ITV back in October 2016: “Our grandfather built the factory and so it’s great to get back there.”
We are excited to reunite the Showering’s Cider Mill and Kilver Court that were split apart in the early 1990s SHOWERING FAMILY