Wyastone Leys

Wyastone Leys is a country house estate and Grade II listed building situated near Ganarew, in the southwestern corner of The Doward, in Herefordshire, England.

The house is in close proximity to the River Wye and less than 50 metres (160 ft) from the county boundary between Herefordshire and Monmouthshire.

The house and its surrounding buildings are now occupied by Nimbus Records, who were the first producers of compact discs in the UK.

In the woodland of Little Doward Hill above the house, the Forestry Commission planted, in 1959, a pattern of trees with contrasting foliage in the shape of the letters ER, to mark the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The interior has been largely altered to accommodate business and domestic uses; a long drawing room at rear of the ground floor retains some fine restored stucco ceiling ornament.

[13] John was the son of Henry Bannerman (died 1823), who was a successful farmer in Perthshire who moved into the thriving cotton trade in Manchester in about 1808.

Sir Alfred and Lady Hickman were the next occupants of the house, living there from at least 1940[17] until 1946 when they moved to Charrington Court, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

[20] He married Olave Harriet Fock, daughter of Baron de Robeck, in 1921 and was living in the house in 1946 on his silver wedding anniversary.

[28] The company was also involved in the development of their own form of surround sound[29] and won Queens Awards for both Technology and Export.

The company took an interest in the house, reverting the flats into which it had been divided, into a single dwelling and rehanging some of the original tapestries.

[25] Part of the estate is now run as a small business park with offices, light industrial units and storage facilities.

The house and grounds were used as a production location for the BBC series Torchwood in 2007[31] and in 2015 for the Guy Ritchie epic adventure film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

View of the house, showing the Forestry Commission planting on Little Doward Hill in the shape of the letters ER
Aerial view, also showing the River Wye and the A40 dual carriageway