proportion of the estate (including, in 1920 about 1300 acres around Mattingley) and many family artefacts. Major Scott Murray died in 1943 and two years later Dorothy married Colonel Colin Kayser Davy (1896–1971). In the 1950s and 1960s Dorothy Davy sold off Walpole family pictures, books, manuscripts, miniatures, and silver. The management of the gardens was simplified, it being written of Dorothy that 'If you want to find the lady of the manor in winter she will be in some bush with a billhook; in summer pursuing her little motor mower along the paths. You'll find her with no difficulty, for as soon as you get anywhere near the dogs will come rushing and bawling blue murder.' Dorothy lived at Heckfield Place until her death in 1977 after which the estate passed to her daughter's family and was sold. Conference and training centre Heckfield Place and sixty-seven acres were bought by Patrick Hungerford and Toby Ward in 1981 and converted to a training and conference facility, acquired by Racal Electronics the following year. Racal's customers, particularly military radio users, attended training at Heckfield Place through the 1980s, resulting in an eclectic mix of international guests. In the mid-1980s, Racal began the move into cellular radio, launching Vodafone in January 1985 after selling off much of Racal to Thales (formerly Thomson CSF). Heckfield Place now became essentially a Vodafone staff training centre. Racal sold Vodafone in 1991 and in late 2000 Racal itself was bought for £1,300m by Thales. The house was run as Thales Commercial University until its sale to the current owner in 2002. Heckfield Place as it is today From 2009 the manor house underwent extensive renovation prior to opening in September 2018 as a hotel with restaurants, a spa and screening room. The 220 acres of pleasure grounds, former site of The Grove, and the 180-acre Home Farm form a consolidated landholding, fringed by its own woodland, and by fishing on the River Whitewater. With a tagline of 'Calling all Curious Minds,’ a programme of varied events, including workshops, screenings and talks, known as The Assembly, is staged at the property. If the House is the heart of Heckfield, the certified-organic farm is its soul. In the process of achieving biodynamic status at the end of 2020, the farm provides much for the House: from flowers to rotating arable crops and honey. In 2020 Heckfield Place opened