Nicola Lisle talks to the director of Cogges Manor Farm about plans for Witney’s favourite attraction

From wildlife to weddings — it’s all happening at Cogges these days. Following a major revamp over the winter, there are now nature trails and an adventure playground near the medieval moat, as well as a new soft play area in one of the historic barns.

And, director Colin Shone tells me proudly, they now have a ceremony licence that allows them to host civil marriages and wedding receptions. I join him in the wooden-beamed cafe on a Monday, the only day in the week on which Cogges is closed to the public, and it is eerily quiet. But it’s also a perfect opportunity to catch up with all the latest goings-on at a museum that has survived against considerable odds.

Six years ago, Oxfordshire County Council announced plans to close the site due to the need to cut back on funding. But now, under the care of a new charitable trust, Cogges is thriving, and there are big plans for the future.

“When the site closed there was a public outcry,” says Colin. “It’s a very popular place, very much at the heart of Witney and West Oxfordshire, and I think everyone saw the need for it.

“A number of bids were put together, and Cogges Heritage Trust was the one entrusted to take on the task. I came in just after that started, and we are now moving towards our goal of being commercially sustainable.

“So alongside fundraising we’re building up our own business through weddings, through the cafe and through entry and season tickets. But also we’re striving to reduce our costs and ensure that we’re getting best value for money so that it can progress.”

A huge challenge, then, I suggest. “It is, but the challenge is part of the attraction!” he laughs.

Perhaps surprisingly, Colin’s professional background is in retail. He worked at Waterstones for 20 years — nine of those in the Oxford branch — as well as spending a year with the National Trust, before coming to Cogges in November 2011. So what brought him here?

“It’s a place I used to visit. And it’s a sector I care about, so it links with all the things about retail — working with customers and that love of people, meetings lots of different people and focusing on what people want.

“It also allowed me to explore my love of heritage, and this is a fantastic mixture of history and heritage, so that’s ideal for me.”

One of Colin’s passions is to share with the public all aspects of Cogges — the nature, the architecture, the archaeology and the several hundred years of history, all of which go to make up a fascinatingly diverse living museum.

“We’ve got thousands of years of history to explore, in this wonderful location, and we’re just starting to tease out the best of the place. It’s a great site, and we want to get more and more visitors enjoying it.

“We want it to be a place where people have fun, but also learn about the history of the site. We want it to be a place where people can enjoy the natural environment but also learn about how we improve the conservation of the habitats around the site. There’s also amazing archaeology here.”

Colin is particularly excited about the new play equipment near the ancient moat, and he hopes this will enhance appreciation of an area of the site that hasn’t yet been fully explored.

“Historically it’s an important part of the site — it’s the original site of Witney, the original settlement by the river, and we’re trying to tease out some of that historical importance but in a way that is ambitious and fun and sensitive to the history and to the environment.

“So we’ve got this adventure play area set around the moat and along the Windrush, and it’s all bespoke made. We’ve also got a trail that goes through an area of the woodland, and a walk along the river, an area of really interesting wildlife.

“It’s a really exciting way of bringing the place to life, whilst being sensitive to the historic importance, and we’ve done it partly to stretch the site. Too much was focused on the area around the front courtyard, and we weren’t encouraging people to enjoy the whole diversity of the site.”

That enjoyment is further enhanced by a busy programme of events. This year there are workshops on traditional crafts and skills such as willow animal sculpture, dry stone walling and making willow baskets, as well as a scarecrow festival, a beer and cider festival, and outdoor performances of Romeo and Juliet and an all-male A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

As Cogges faces a more robust future, Colin is grateful for the support of local people over the last few years. This included generous funding from Oxfordshire County Council and West Oxfordshire District Council, as well as a number of local firms who gave their services free.

“All of this shows how much Cogges means, and how important it is that it survives, that people have given up their time and their money to support us. So that’s amazingly generous. There’s a lot of goodwill. It’s allowed us to do things that otherwise we couldn’t afford to do.”

With all the changes already made and the plans for the future, Colin is acutely aware that any changes have to be sensitive to the history and environment of the place.

“There’s a spirit of place here at Cogges. One of the things I love about Cogges is that it wears its history on its sleeve. So you can see all stages of the building of the house, the continuity in detail of the farm buildings and the 12th-century moat.

“All those things are so strong, you can feel the ghosts of Cogges here, and we have a responsibility to them.”