Nearly two decades after then-Prince Charles saved Dumfries House from being sold off, the King's Foundation has transformed the neglected Scottish estate into a thriving hub for education, conservation, and traditional crafts. Now, that same vision is set to reshape Australia's historic Hillview Estate in the New South Wales Southern Highlands.
Dumfries House: A Heritage Success Story
Set among rolling woodlands and manicured gardens in East Ayrshire, the 18th-century mansion attracts around 150,000 visitors each year. But locals say its greatest legacy is not the Georgian architecture or the world-renowned collection of Thomas Chippendale furniture preserved within its walls. It's the jobs and opportunities created in a region still recovering from the decline of its mining industry.
"Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness, Skye," said our chaperone, counting off four iconic Scottish destinations. "This, we think, is the fifth," he said, striking his thumb as Dumfries House came into view.
From Neglect to Revival
Originally built for the 5th Earl of Dumfries in the 1750s, the house was unoccupied for much of its life. Centuries of Scottish weather had worn at the stonework and ravaged the landscape. In 2007, the property was put up for sale, and appraisers from Christie's began cataloguing its contents, including a notable collection of original furniture crafted by Thomas Chippendale.
"He's known as the Shakespeare of cabinet making," said Carol Drummond, the estate's tours manager. It's thought 600 of the British woodworker's authentic pieces survive worldwide, with 10 per cent sitting at Dumfries House. "It's almost unique to have a house of this age with its original furniture of the 18th century still in situ, that's quite a find," she added.
The then-Prince of Wales and his foundation accumulated around $100 million in donations and a loan to purchase the entire property and contents.
Transformation Under the King's Foundation
When Julie Dougall, a local horticulturalist, started working in the education garden, the area was "basically brambles and nettles, totally overgrown, no beds, no shrubs, only one tree." Now, volunteers weed potato beds without pesticides, and vegetables go from farm to table at the estate's cafe or events. Some even appear in the Dumfries House Lodges restaurant, which boasts a Michelin key.
Beyond volunteers, two to three thousand students train annually in artisanal skills at risk of being lost, such as stone and woodworking, dressmaking, and thatching. "With the demise of that coal-mining area, we needed everything we could get," said John McGee, Deputy Provost of East Ayrshire Council. "It was important to bring it back to life, but not only bring it back to life, but allow people into the estate and the whole area being a kind of living organism."
Gavin Wight, a butler trained at the estate, said: "Before the course, I was even unemployed. I had been to college; I didn't get great grades at school, and I definitely didn't see myself serving the King within my first year of work." He added, "Go from one day serving a wee old woman. And then you could go from that to serving Idris Elba, or Benedict Cumberbatch. It's crazy."
Exporting the Model to Australia
Constantine Innemée, CEO of the King's Foundation Australia, is tasked with exporting that vision from East Ayrshire to New South Wales's Southern Highlands. In 2024, the Foundation purchased Hillview Estate, the former Vice-Regal residence of 16 Governors of New South Wales. The 58-hectare property features a grand example of 19th-century Australian federation architecture, showing wear from harsh sunlight instead of rain.
"It's daunting, but daunting in an exciting way," Innemée said. "It's no secret that as King he loves Australia, I think for him it's about that excitement we both have about finding out the specifics about where can we have that impact and seeing that first cohort of students coming through and seeing that first education program come onsite."
Quickly parallels between the properties come into focus. East Ayrshire is the home of Robert Burns, Scotland's most famous poet, while the regions between Sydney and Canberra where Hillview sits served as inspiration for Banjo Patterson's bush ballads.
"It's not just about the building and the restoration of a building," Innemée said. "Dumfries House is an incredible building but really all its energy and positive impact comes from those programs and comes from those young people coming through those programs here."
"What's really exciting me about Hillview is, we're at that part of the journey now where we're going where can we have maximum positive impact in Australia, what are the traditional crafts and skills we need to start educating in Australia, unless we help the next generation of makers realise that's important, we lose that part of Australian cultural identity."
There's no current timeline for the overhaul, but the Foundation wants the community centred in the process. "It's not going to be a case of the scaffolding is going to go up, the gates are going to close, you're not going to see it for another 3-5 years; you're going to see it when it's open," Innemée said. Instead, change will begin to unfold across the next year.
