The significant cost of managing and preserving Burghley House and Burghley Park is met by revenue generated by the Burghley Estate. The original estate was accumulated by Richard Cecil, father of the first Lord Burghley, who benefited from the dissolution of the monasteries and his marriage to the heiress Jane Heckington of Bourne. The land and associated wealth was consolidated and considerably augmented by William Cecil 1st Lord Burghley in the 16th Century and his subsequent heirs.

The Estate in its current form was endowed to Burghley House Preservation Trust by the 6th Marquess of Exeter in 1987 and is made up of some 8,500 acres of farmland, 700 acres of woodland, over 150 residential properties, 60 commercial properties (including hotels, pubs, offices and workshops), as well as quarries, sporting rights, gardens and allotments.

The estate is centred in the beautiful market town of Stamford in Lincolnshire and spreads to the outlying villages of Pilsgate, Barnack, Collyweston, Easton, Barrowden and Wakerley.

Revenue is generated through letting property and other investments. The work of the estate also includes the maintenance and restoration of Burghley House and the many interesting and historic buildings that the Trust owns. The estate also puts great emphasis on Countryside management.