Ilona Harris- Director

Ilona Harris joined the Trust in November 2022. She was previously Head of Commercial at Weald & Downland Living Museum, West Sussex, supporting the charity’s growth to financial stability and leading teams across key income generating departments: Retail, Catering, Events & Venue Hire, Fundraising and Membership. 

Ilona’s experience also includes Head of Corporate Partnerships at Tate, where she generated partnerships worth over £18M including several multi-year relationships; Senior Business Manager at Royal Opera House and Corporate Giving Manager at English National Opera.

Clare Clinton - Arts, Heritage & Learning Manager 

Clare read History and History of Art at the University of St. Andrews before going to work at Christie’s auction house and various art dealers in London, including CCA Galleries. In 2009 she wrote Metamorphosis not Metaphor, a retrospective on the work of Donald Hamilton Fraser RA, published by Lund Humphries. Clare joined the West Horsley Place Trust in 2017 as Operations Manager and has overseen numerous filming projects, building works and community events. She is now excited to build West Horsley Place's public programmes and volunteering opportunities. Clare sits on the Historic Houses Learning Advisory Panel and is a West Horsley parish councillor. 

Matt Link - Estate & Gardens Manager

They say if a man is from Yorkshire you do not need to ask, as he will already have told you. Matt is from Yorkshire. Matt first arrived at West Horsley Place in 2016 and has been looking after the gardens and estate ever since.  Matt took the well-trodden route of a management studies degree at Brunel University followed by seven years in publishing, seven years at Chatham House as production manager, before turning full-time professional freelance photographer running his own company, Matt Link Photography. This led him to photograph many of the world’s most famous faces throughout the UK and overseas. 

His role at West Horsley Place has grown along with the Trust and he has continued his professional development to accompany his passion for the estate and gardens. His latest course focuses on habitat management within the countryside. His intrinsic naturalistic style and photographer's aesthetic eye chimes perfectly with today’s essential movement towards embracing and encouraging biodiversity. Matt aims to continue blurring the edges between the formal walled garden and the wider estate and believes the 21st century will see many more classic gardens focus on a sustainable future for all of nature rather than solely harking back to practices and styles of the past. 

Chrissie Paver - Marketing, Brand & Audience Manager

Chrissie joined the team in August 2023 having been Head of Marketing and Communications at Painshill Park in Cobham. Previously to that she worked for many years at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, studied theatre and art at the University of Kent and trained as a dancer. She has worked as an artist, specialising in papercutting, and enjoys crafts, gardening and listening to history podcasts. She bring to the role a passion for the arts and is very much looking forward to building West Horsley Place's reputation as a place for culture, heritage and wellbeing.

Yendle Barwise - Environment and Sustainability Manager

Yendle has come to us from the University of Surrey (where he is also completing his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering) and has an MSc in Conservation and Land Management from Bangor University. He has previously worked as a craftsperson for the Forestry Commission in Lincolnshire, as a community forester in Merseyside, and as a ranger in North Wales, where he is from. Working with our Environment & Sustainability Steering Group, with Matt and all our colleagues, Yendle’s role is to develop a land management plan for the estate and facilitate the trust’s work towards net zero by 2030. This will include monitoring and supporting biodiversity, establishing new woodland, bringing existing woodland into formal management, creating a net zero roadmap, and taking forward related action on behalf of the trust, such as our sustainable energy and heating strategy.

Carolyn Farrell - Operations & Events Coordinator

Over the years, Carolyn has worked in interior design, graphic design and her early working life was spent as a Court Stenographer which was an education in itself! For the past 10 years, she has worked in the events industry mainly focusing on weddings and other celebrations. She has seen more than 500 weddings now and marvels at how each one is unique. She loves the excitement during the planning process and the sense of exhilaration in the air on the Big Day.

Caroline Leary - Executive Support Administrator

Caroline joined the team in September 2021 as our Team Administrator. Caroline lives locally and has spent many of the past 15 years working in Surrey schools supporting them with finance and general administration. After a spell working in central London for an Academy Trust as their Business Accounting Partner, she is now excited to be able to use her skills and experience to support the Trust. Caroline has been a volunteer at many events including being a Gamesmaker at the London 2012 Olympics, a wonderful experience she says changed her life. You may have also seen her helping out at the Clandon Park Run.  She is very much looking forward to meeting our growing team of volunteers at West Horsley Place.

Jo Ellison - Arts, Heritage & Learning Coordinator

Jo joined the team at West Horsley Place Trust in June 2021 to deliver the National Heritage Lottery Funded project, Heritage without Barriers. She has a background in visual arts having freelanced as a Community Artist in London and loves to create opportunities for people to discover their passion and grow in confidence. Jo has BA Hons in Fine Art from London Metropolitan University and an MA in Applied Anthropology and Community Art from Goldsmiths University. Having run numerous community engagement projects in London, Jo is looking forward to putting her skills into action at West Horsley Place to bring people alongside us as we discover more about our heritage with the help of our wonderful volunteers.

Robin James - Conservation & Collections Manager

Robin has worked in historic houses since 2017. Having developed an interest in the preservation of historic objects, he studied for a Masters degree in preventive conservation at UCL alongside working for English Heritage. Starting his career at Apsley House, he went on to care for historic collections at Kenwood and Chiswick House. In his previous role he was also involved with projects at Ranger's House and Marble Hill. He has a particular interest in the management of insect pest species that threaten organic historic material, and his postgraduate thesis researched the relationship between climate change and the development and distribution of insects. In his new role at West Horsley Place, he is very keen to study the house’s resident insect populations, and implement best practices for the preservation of our unique objects and building fabric.

Robin Ball - Buildings and Facilities Coordinator

The second Robin working at West Horsley Place, sometimes known as Rob, joined the team in July 2022.  Robin has a wide-ranging job role involving liaising with the numerous contractors who work on the estate, carrying out a numerous handyman jobs around the house, and assisting with events and the day to day running of the house and estate.

Having worked in the property industry for many years, Robin has more recently become well known locally as a handyman. His new role combines his knowledge gained in his previous jobs. Robin lives close to West Horsley Place and is looking forward to assisting the rest of the team in realising the goals of the trust.