Balfours – bicentennial celebrations

Shropshire’s longest standing land agency celebrated its’ 200^th anniversary with a drinks reception for clients and professional contacts.

Balfours roots go back to 1825 with a firm founded by Timotheus Burd, who lived west of Shrewsbury at Cardeston, hosted the event close to its origins at the nearby Loton Park, courtesy of Mr and Mrs Edward Leighton-Graham.

Rory Galliers, Balfours managing partner, reflects: “This is a fantastic landmark, for which we happen to be the custodians for this celebration event. “Our guests arrived by car, but in 1825 Timotheus would have been totally reliant on real horsepower. Even telephones didn’t come along for another 51 years, though we do share our bicentennial year with the first public steam railway.

Today the Balfours team of qualified Rural Chartered Surveyors maximise the latest technology to assist clients. “These are hugely challenging times for landowners, farmers and landlords. Food production and security, global warming, conservation and environmental markets are all issues we are working with,” Rory adds.

Loton Park is one of the county’s finest privately owned country estates, which has been the ancestral home of the Leighton family for over 300 years. Balfours guests were following in the footsteps of two future Kings of England, George IV and William IV, who visited Loton in 1806, 24 years before the beginnings of today’s Balfours – which now has its head office at New Windsor House at Oxon Business Park, west of Shrewsbury.