Dartington Hall Trust (DHT) has announced the appointment of James Gaisford to its Board.
James is a qualified Chartered Accountant, with more than 40 years’ experience of financial and commercial roles in the corporate and charity sectors.
Based near Exeter, his career has spanned retail, publishing, higher education, care services and investment management.
Recently retired from full-time roles, he remains active as a non-executive director or adviser with businesses and charities.
This latest Board appointment is the fourth since April 2025 as DHT has sought appropriately qualified Trustees to guide it through its next phase of recovery and beyond.
Further strong candidates have been interviewed and the Board looks forward to announcing additional trustees in due course.
Commenting on James Gaisford’s appointment, DHT chair Lord (David) Triesman said:
“James brings a highly relevant skill set and breadth of experience to this next period of our mission; his contribution will be extremely valuable.
“Good progress has been made in the last two years in reversing decades of spending not matching income, during which time there was no strategy for a long term future without losses.
“It is pleasing to see positive change accelerating this year as Dartington celebrates the centenary of the Elmhirst ‘modern era’.”
In the year to May 1, the Dartington Estate welcomed 148,933 car visits, of which 44 per cent were return visits from the previous seven days.
The figure is almost four times higher than total car visits in the year to May 1 2023 (37,921), the beginning of the present turnaround project, when only 22 per cent were ‘repeat frequent’.
Employment across all enterprises operating on the estate quadrupled to more than 1,000 in that two year period, as the number of tenant business grew from 101 to 162 and occupancy of available business space increased from 57 per cent to 95 per cent.
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