STONOR HOUSE

found it was helpful to meet up with friends or do some exercise to wind down from the

work day.

Lasting Impressions

There were a lot of valuable aspects of the internship for me: first, it was very useful to gain

a deeper knowledge of climate change adaptation by reading, editing and uploading articles.

Another useful aspect was to gain an insight into social media management, which I had

never done before. More generally, I found it really interesting to see how the whole team

worked together to keep the platform running and maximise its utility, gaining a lot of

knowledge about knowledge management. Finally, it was valuable for me to meet a wide

range of team members as I hope to be able to continue working at SEI after university so

these are valuable connections to have made.

I think the best parts of the internship included being able to meet and work with a wide

range of people within the organization to really get to know everyone and really

understand how a large platform like weADAPT can run.

I also think the fact that I was able to carry out so many different tasks was beneficial as it

made the experience more interesting and gave me an insight into all the different aspects

of knowledge management. This internship has definitely confirmed to me that I want to

continue working in this field, as I find it both interesting and impactful.

Georgie Cutmore, Balliol College, First Year Undergraduate, BA History and Modern Languages (Spanish), In-person internship

Work Projects

I completed a six-week internship with

Stonor Enterprises at Stonor Park, a historic

country house near Henley-on-Thames.

There wasn’t a quiet day at Stonor, which is

exactly what I liked most about it. I was

involved in three projects: I helped to plan,

market and execute the first ever Summer

Festival for children in Stonor’s fantasy adventure playground, Tumblestone Hollow; I

created an educational attraction in the onsite Second World War air raid shelter; I helped

with initial plans for the Parks upcoming Halloween Trail.

I was also involved in the day-to-day administration of the Park and business - this included

taking calls, interacting with the general public, managing social media handles and

completing various ad-hoc marketing tasks. I am most proud of the work I did on the air raid

shelter. I was given the opportunity by the team at Stonor to research local history and

design a wartime educational attraction based on consideration of intended audience and

purpose. This allowed me to pursue my academic interests as well as to gain first-hand

experience of planning and executing an attraction from a defined budget.

I also enjoyed learning more about marketing processes through editing a press release,

designing promotional materials and writing dual FAQ documents for public and internal

consumption. The team at Stonor were supportive all the way through and catered my

internship around what I was interested in and what I wanted more experience in. They

always made sure I had enough to do and helped me to settle in quickly. I learnt a lot from

them and I am grateful to Stonor Park and the Oxford Careers Service for the opportunity.

Daily Life

I worked weekdays from 9.00am - 5.30pm in the office on-site, with roughly 45 minutes for

lunch, and I drove to and from work. It was great to have some structure to my summer

vacation and I liked the balance between a fulfilled working life and socialising in the evenings/on the weekend. I was based in the office but, depending on my work on a given

day, I was often outside in the air raid shelter, Visitor Centre, adventure playground, or the

House itself.

The team at Stonor were incredibly friendly and hardworking, and I developed good working

relationships with all members. They helped me to settle in very quickly and were always

happy to answer my questions and offer advice. They also gave me space to make the

projects my own, for which I am grateful. A typical day involved independent work,

collaboration and planning with colleagues, and often, meetings. I presented updates on my

work at several meetings throughout the six weeks. Mark, the General Manager, was a great

mentor in this - I learnt that presentation is just as crucial as content, and that a concise,

cost-focussed approach is often best.

Lasting Impressions

I thoroughly enjoyed my internship. I

came away with the knowledge that I had

contributed in both short and long term

ways to Stonor. In the short term, I helped

with administrative processes. In the long

term, I have added an air raid educational

experience to the tour of the House,

which should attract new and old customers; the Summer Festival for children on which I

worked to innovate the playground and add new attractions has exceeded expected

revenue and brought new customers to Stonor.

I have also made some new business contacts for the Park, which will make it easier to re-

create events next summer and in years to come. I really liked the people with whom I

worked and this made the internship all the more fun and enjoyable. I gained a better

understanding of how small businesses operate and how work is delegated and managed in

very small teams.

Stonor is quite a unique place due to the wide-ranging scope of what goes on there, and due

to the fact that it is first and foremost a family home, with the owners and custodians of the

Park heavily involved in the business. I applied for the internship because of the uniqueness

of the Park and the breadth of the brief and I think that this was an accurate depiction of

the experience I had. Since I am not yet sure what career would suit me best, this

experience was useful as it allowed me to observe and learn about the full range of roles

within a small business. It has been helpful to guide my thoughts about my career.