ABOUTA place with a past. A landscape with a future.
From Stone To Sky is a privately owned 65-acre estate in the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley National Landscape — shaped by centuries of human use and now entering a new chapter.
Farming and land management remain at its heart. Film, landscape recovery, hospitality, sound and culture are different expressions of the same idea: finding ways for an extraordinary place to remain alive, useful and cared for.
The name began with this building.
Once an agricultural outbuilding, it later became a stripped-pine furniture workshop and then a small family annexe. After flooding during Storm Dennis, it was left waiting for another chapter.
An early architectural proposal imagined its next life as an ultra-retreat and studio space shaped around the elements — earth, water, air and fire — moving from the solidity of the building below towards an upper studio and bedroom opening to the valley and sky.
The project was called Stone to Sky.
That particular building has not yet been realised, but the name endured. In time, it came to describe something much larger: the relationship between the estate’s old stone, its living landscape and the open sky above.
From Stone To Sky became the name for the whole place.
From stone to sky.
THE NAME
Nothing here begins at Year Zero.
THE STORYThe buildings, trees, fields and paths at From Stone To Sky carry histories far older than the project itself.
The valley is documented from 1222. The farmhouse was already standing by 1608, and the estate contains layers of architecture and agricultural history that continued to evolve through subsequent centuries.
From Stone To Sky does not begin with a blank landscape. It begins with what is already here.
-
![]()
Lime Plaster
-
![]()
Original Ironmongery
-
![]()
Flagstones
-
![]()
Timber Frame + Salting Slab
THE NEXT CHAPTERStewardship needs a working model.
Landscapes require long-term care, and long-term care requires resources.
Farming and land management remain at the heart of From Stone to Sky. Filmmaking, hospitality and creative practice offer ways to diversify the estate’s activities while supporting its continued care.
Ecological observation and restoration help guide how the landscape is managed and understood over time.
THE PEOPLEMade by people, shaped by place.
PARTNERSHIP
WYE VALLEY NATIONAL LANDSCAPE
Founding partner of the Observatory · nature recovery · ecological monitoring · research · project development
Wye Valley National Landscape is a founding partner of the From Stone To Sky Observatory and is closely involved in the development of the estate’s landscape, monitoring and research programme. Through the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme and associated landscape funding, it is supporting a substantial programme of nature recovery and ecological monitoring across the estate.
The work includes the creation and restoration of wildflower-rich meadows, woodland pasture, new hedgerows and shelterbelt planting, stream restoration, leaky dams and other measures designed to slow water and create additional habitat, alongside biodiversity surveys and long-term bioacoustic monitoring.
The team is also helping develop university and research partnerships, coordinating further ecological surveys and contributing to the development of the Observatory and its long-term evidence base.
ECOLOGICAL MONITORING
WILDER SENSING
Bioacoustics · biodiversity sensing · long-term ecological evidence
Wilder Sensing is the Observatory’s specialist bioacoustic monitoring partner, helping establish a repeatable biodiversity baseline and track changes in species activity over time.
LANDSCAPE & ECOLOGY COLLABORATORS
A landscape needs more than one kind of expertise.
People and organisations we work with:
HEREFORDSHIRE MEADOWS
Grassland and meadow restoration
HEREFORDSHIRE WILDLIFE TRUST
Wye Adapt to Climate Change
ECOHAB WILDFLOWERS
Local-provenance wildflower seed · meadow restoration contracting
WHITEAVON CONSULTANCY
Land management · agricultural/environmental schemes
CREATIVE COLLABORATORS
Artists and image-makers helping to record, interpret and tell the story of the landscape.
BETH BREEDON
Illustration · mapping · Living Archive
DARREN THOMAS
Aerial photography · landscape documentation
CAT STEPHENS
Documentary photography · people · process · archive
FILM · PLACE · TOURISM
People and organisations we’re glad to work alongside.
FILMING IN ENGLAND
Film industry · location support · production network
FOREST OF DEAN & WYE VALLEY TOURISM
Destination network · tourism · place promotion
From Stone To Sky has grown out of one family and four very different working lives.
Jemima brings music, film and creative direction; Jenny a long history across film, television, theatre and hospitality; Colin the operational thinking and commercial negotiation behind film productions; and Marc the safety, security and emergency-response experience of careers in the military and Fire & Rescue Service.
Each looks after a different part of the place — creatively, practically and safely.
JEMIMA PHILLIPS
Founder & Creative Director
Creative vision · Estate direction · Film · The Living Score · The Living Archive
Composer, sound artist and creative director. Jemima has created sound worlds for clients including Rolls-Royce, Adobe and Montblanc, written headline sets for the Farnborough Airshow, and previously served as Official Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales.
As founder of From Stone To Sky, she leads its creative direction and the day-to-day running of the estate, bringing together film, landscape, hospitality, sound and culture within one evolving project.
JENNY PHILLIPS
Co-Owner & Heritage Steward
Film & television · Heritage · Hospitality · Estate continuity
Jenny brings extensive experience across film, television, theatre and stage management, alongside hospitality and client-facing work. She brings both an understanding of the creative industries and the long memory of the place — helping keep the estate welcoming, grounded and connected to its history
COLIN BELL
Film Operations & Commercial Negotiation
Production operations · Negotiation · Logistics
Colin brings extensive commercial experience from a successful career in property consultancy, business transformation and complex commercial negotiation, including the management and redevelopment of major retail and commercial assets.
At From Stone To Sky, he applies that experience to the film side of the estate, working across production logistics, commercial negotiation and the practical requirements of bringing productions onto site.
MARC BELL
Health, Safety & Site Operations
Risk · Emergency planning · Site security · Production safety
Marc brings experience from careers in both the British military and Fire & Rescue Service to health, safety and security across the estate. His background in emergency response, operational planning and risk management informs everything from production safety and site security to emergency planning and operational resilience.
Film, photography and sound are not simply ways of promoting From Stone To Sky. They are among the ways the estate is being observed, interpreted and remembered.
From the Scout Reel to the Living Score and the evolving archive, creative work sits alongside ecological observation as part of the record of the place.
Creative practice is part of the landscape.
FILM · SOUND · STORY
FOREST OF DEAN · WYE VALLEY
Rooted here.
From Stone To Sky sits within the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley National Landscape in Gloucestershire — a landscape of woodland, river valleys, farmland, historic settlement and a distinctive borderland character.
A place to care for. A future to shape.
