Chief Executive Officer – job pack
ST AUBYN ESTATES
www.staubynestates.com
St Aubyn Estates has been a part of West Cornwall life for more than 600 years. It is a modern familyowned enterprise spanning 5,000 acres with a diverse portfolio of businesses which include land and
property management, tourism and hospitality, building and farming. James and Mary St Levan live
on St Michael’s Mount, which is run in partnership with the National Trust. They, and other members
of the family, are actively involved and work in close partnership with the Chief Executive and the
Senior Management Team.
There are six business units: St Michael’s Mount, The Godolphin Arms, Cornish Heritage Builders, St
Aubyn Estates (Land & Property), St Aubyn Estates Holidays and Trevarthian Farm.
Management and central functions for all the businesses are provided by the Godolphin Company. The
board of directors of the Godolphin Company will consist of James and Mary St Levan, the CEO and
two non-executive directors (one of whom remains to be appointed).
St Michael’s Mount
www.stmichaelsmount.co.uk
One of the most instantly recognisable landmarks in the country, St Michael's Mount is a National
Trust property, family home, island community and entrancing visitor destination all in one.
In 1954 Francis St Aubyn (the third Lord St Levan) gave most of St Michael's Mount to the National
Trust, along with a large endowment fund for its upkeep. He retained a 999 year lease for the family to
live in the castle and a licence to show the historical rooms to the visiting public.
While the National Trust now ensures the preservation and conservation of the Mount, the St Aubyn
family continue to live on and manage the island, as they have done since the middle of the 17th
century. This unique partnership gives St Michael's Mount a vibrant community life now as well as
preserving its astonishing legacy built up since the island’s earliest known inhabitants during the
Bronze Age.
St Michael's Mount welcomes as many as 300,000 visitors a year to the castle and village. The
beautiful, but fragile gardens are open on a more restricted basis, but can also be seen and enjoyed
from the castle battlements. The village has a restaurant, cafe and two shops as well as a picturesque
harbour.
Twelve families live permanently on the island and all have a role to play in its upkeep such as running
the boats or tending the gardens. From March until October, 90 plus seasonal staff come on board to
offer our visitors a memorable and enjoyable day out. The defining characteristic of the people who
live and work here is a passion for and commitment to St Michael's Mount.
The Godolphin Arms
www.godolphinarms.co.uk
The Godolphin Arms is on one of Cornwall’s best locations, on the water’s edge of Mount’s Bay along a
two mile stretch of beach in Marazion, West Cornwall. It offers stunning views of St Michael’s Mount
and boasts one of the most magnificent beachside views in the country.
A major renovation project at the beginning of 2014 has resulted in a warm and welcoming beachside
inn – a place to eat, drink or stay and explore the magic and unspoilt beauty of the South West coast.
Our stunning coastal location has inspired the design, bringing the natural beauty of the beach outside
in with relaxed, mellow living spaces and a two-storey light-bathed glass and zinc dining area opening
out onto a balcony upstairs and a terrace downstairs. Our guests can walk directly from the beach into
our beach bar or beachside terrace. They may choose to stay in one of our ten en-suite bedrooms with
quality at the heart of every aspect of the experience.
Cornish Heritage Builders
www.cornishheritagebuilders.co.uk
For many years St Aubyn Estates had an in-house building and maintenance team undertaking highly
specialised work on St Michael’s Mount and many projects on the estate. In order to utilise to the full
their expertise in the heritage sector, the team took the name Cornish Heritage Builders and have
developed a portfolio of external clients including the National Trust as well as private clients who
entrust them to empathetically restore or renovate museums, period houses, cottages and barns.
Cornish Heritage Builders has won Cornish Building Awards for Refurbishment and Renovation of a
sixteenth century cottage along with an Aware from the Painting and Decorating Federation for work
carried out during the renovation and refurbishment of the Castle on St Michael’s Mount.
Our teams of specialists and heritage experts provide high standards of excellence for clients
throughout Cornwall.
St Aubyn Estates (Land & Property)
St Aubyn Estates Land and Property comprised over 5,000 acres of agricultural land, residential and
commercial property, woodland and coastline. The estate holdings are in three blocks, one stretching
north and east from Marazion, the second being north and east of Lamorna Cove and the third being
to the south and east of the Land’s End peninsula.
The majority of the agricultural land is let to tenants, several of whom are farming families who have
been cultivating the same fields for generations. There are numerous small parcels of land let as
paddocks, for horticulture and leisure use.
The St Aubyn Estates Land and Property team is working to determine further diversification of land
and property utilisation.
St Aubyn Estates Holidays
www.staubynestatesholidays.co.uk
The far west of Cornwall is an ancient landscape that is compelling in both its beauty and remoteness.
There are six holiday houses at Porthgwarra or Nanjizal Cove, all with entrancing sea views and on
either the coastal path or beach. Our holidays offer a warm, comfortable, relaxing home-from-home
backed up by excellent customer service and in-depth information about West Cornwall to make the
most of any stay.
Porthgwarra is at the heart of the Estate and is within an area of outstanding natural beauty and a site
of special scientific interest. It was once a thriving fishing village and wildflowers and birdlife abound,
the South West Coastal Path stretches out and the entrancing Cove is also the location of our little
beach café which acts as a touch point for our guests where we will always provide a warm welcome.
Trevarthian Farms
www.staubynestates/trevarthian-farms
Trevarthian Farms comprises 900 acres and is centred around Marazion and Goldsithney. The main
crop is potatoes of around 300 acres per year, grown on contract for Walkers Crisps. Yields of around
4000 tonnes of potatoes produces some 40 million packets of crisps. Additionally the farm grows
wheat, barley and forage maize for animal feed. There is also permanent grassland that is cut for hay
and silage and contributes to the environmental agenda to preserve the habitat for wildlife.
Our Vision and Values:
Our Vision is:
It is our vision to be a force for growth, whilst preserving the beauty of the landscape under our care –
in order to secure the long-term prosperity of the Estate for future generations, to help maintain the
unique character of St Michael’s Mount and to benefit the wider community in West Cornwall.
Our Values are:
Our values are the key things that define us and the behaviours that we display and expect of our
people are to be:
 honest
 considerate
 energetic
 responsible
 resourceful
Our approach:
We aim to achieve success by:
 Robust strategic planning
 Strong leadership
 Attracting great people to work for us
 Investing in our people
 Cash generation for reinvestment in existing and new businesses
 Continually adapting to change
 Protecting our existing businesses
 Improving our corporate governance
 Strong internal and external relationships
The portfolio of business activities is diverse, but the businesses complement each other and
are all run for profit to ensure that we can invest any surplus appropriately to grow and
achieve our aspirations. We seek to rely on the businesses to support our aims, rather than
the disposal of our assets. The businesses employ around 100 members of staff, rising to over
200 during the summer months.
Our brand reflects our commitment to our people. We seek to establish ourselves as the
place synonymous with activities that have our values at their core. We work with our people
to develop their skills in order to be able to tell our story in a coherent manner to both
external and internal audiences.
We gather information about our business performance and analyse this to deepen our
understanding to make improvements. All of our businesses are linked through our systems
and information gathered is used to determine wider strategic activity.
Our core leadership roles span the resource, operational, marketing and finance functions.
We want our people to work here because they are stretched, developed and care about the
products – whilst having fun! We have the mindset to continually challenge everything we do
in order to find better solutions and ways of working.
Key objectives:
We have set ourselves five key objectives which span the organisation, and inform our
business plans:
 Culture – St Aubyn Estates will be a magnet for people with aspirations and
continue to be a place where people mind about one another;
 People – Training for our own people will be a top priority with a rising investment
in real terms each and every year;
 The Landed Estate – The conversion of most of our redundant traditional farm
buildings to alternative uses will exemplify a more pro-active approach across the
Estate;
 St Michael’s Mount – By continually improving the visitor experience, we will
attract at least one quarter of our visitors from overseas;
 Marazion – Our major investments, in particular The Godolphin Arms and the old
Manor Offices, will help to fuel the town’s increasingly vibrant economy.
Applications:
To apply, please submit your CV along with a covering letter detailing your suitability for the role to
ceo@staubynestates.com