On Monday 24th March Eastnor Castle played host to The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award 4×4 Challenge Event.

Supporters from across the world were given the opportunity to take part in each section of the Award through an exhilarating Land Rover 4×4 Challenge which included a driving experience, extreme physical activities, team building games and inspiring community participation projects.

Hosted by Eastnor Castle and Jaguar Land Rover, the experience began in London, where guests were collected and driven to Eastnor Castle, Herefordshire. With its thirty miles of test track, Eastnor is an important tool in the research and development of new Land Rovers. Guests had the opportunity to test out the vehicles, as well as experiencing other high adrenaline activities and the breath-taking 5,000 acres of the Eastnor Castle estate, gaining an insight into how it feels to be an Award participant. 

Guests were joined for the event by HRH the Earl of Wessex, Trustee of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award Foundation. To replicate the Service element of the Award, the group carried out projects for Eastnor School and Eastnor Church.

James Hervey-Bathurst, owner of Eastnor Castle commented “We were delighted to have The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award at Eastnor. The guests were an impressive group and heavily committed to the Award. They were obviously having a good time facing the challenges we were able to lay on for them. We hope they will come back”.

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award (the Award) is open to all 14-24-year-olds, regardless of their background. The Award is about personal development not a competition with others. It enables young people to learn practical and social skills that are valuable to their life and career development.

We are pleased to reveal our exciting, unique addition to the children’s playground – a brand new Land Rover Defender!  The full size Defender was donated to Eastnor Castle by Land Rover to celebrate over 50 years of vehicle testing on the estate.  The Land Rover has been fully child proofed and it sits alongside the existing tractor and motorbike, however, it doesn’t have an engine so will not be going for any fun rides! 

David Littlewood, General Manager “We are very proud of the Land Rover and are hoping it will prove to be extremely popular.  It’s probably the first time a brand new Land Rover has been used in a playground and I am sure it will survive all the inquisitive children playing with it.  We are grateful to Land Rover for the enormously generous gift and hope they will be on the estate for the next 50 years”.

A new zip wire also be installed in the playground as part of the upgrade and will be ready to welcome the first visitors of the season on Good Friday for the annual Easter Egg Hunt.