Charles Berkeley - Current High Sheriff

I was born in Bristol in 1968 and grew up with my brother Henry between Worcestershire and Gloucestershire where my Father had two country estates. We spent a lot of time on the M5 between the two properties.

Prep school ignited my love of cricket and then followed Ampleforth, a Benedictine school in North Yorkshire. I loved the Yorkshire countryside with its moorland and attractive villages and friendly people. The Abbey was spectacular, a highlight being the Sunday mass there with all the monks walking through from the Cloisters into the Abbey - a powerful memory. I played cricket there but was never good enough for rugby, for which it had a fearsome reputation!

At 18 I left for Australia and worked on outback farms in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales. Here I learnt the value of independence and a certain amount of hard work on these huge farms, that seemed to extend for ever and were as big as some of our smaller counties! I managed to earn enough money to backpack up the Queensland coast to Darwin, Northern Territory and across to Perth before running out of money!

I returned and worked on farms both at home and in other parts of the country for 2 years before attending the Royal Agricultural University for a year, having done my college project whilst in Australia.

Then it was on to London where I worked with both Sothebys and Christies in various departments. I was involved in a sale of one of the rarest sundials in the world whilst at Christies. Little did I know when I was holding it at auction that the final price it sold for was going to be a world record! I continued with my History of Art studies at Fullerton, Southern California where I also enjoyed the Californian outdoor lifestyle!

I came back in my early 30s to help my Father run the Berkeley Estate and started doing historical family tours that for me focussed on Art and History. We welcome many groups and individuals from all over the world and have some wonderful guides that tell the story of 800 years of history in the Severn Vale. I work with our Director of Estates and our team at the Castle and am involved in all aspects of Estate and Castle. No day is the same and it gives me a lot of pleasure to see interested and happy people and children having a great day out.

I married my wife Daisy in 2009 and our daughter Mary was born in 2011.We live on the Berkeley Estate with our horses and dogs. My wife is an event rider who has competed successfully for over 20 years.

My interests are walking, cricket, tennis, reading, history and visiting historic properties whenever I can.

A record of some of the events of Charles' year can be found here.