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Two years ago, Boris Johnson visited Howletts Wild Animal Park where he was introduced to cheetahs Saba and Nairo. In a newspaper article praising the zoo and its proprietor, the gambling tycoon and conservationist Damian Aspinall, our future Prime Minister waxed lyrical about how the animals had decided to ‘nibble my beanie hat’. ‘Damian’s plan … Read more
The Duchess of Rutland has insisted running a stately home is not ‘all glamour’ and isn’t ‘for the faint-hearted’ ahead of the release of her new podcast. Emma Manners, 57, alongside her daughter Lady Violet, 27, is aiming to explore the reality of aristocratic life in 21st century Britain in her new podcast series called … Read more
Bridgerton and The Crown are reportedly ‘competing’ for the same stately homes to film their next seasons in. The two Netflix hits have both seen huge success and have already used the same locations, including Somerley Estate in Hampshire and Wilton House in Wiltshire. However a source has now told The Sun that scheduling for the upcoming … Read more
A couple who found themselves living alone in a stately manor during the pandemic have used the time to revitalise its historic interior. Neil Watt, 36, moved into the top floor of the Castle Ward mansion in County Down with his partner Kris Reid, 29, in March after being appointed collections and house manager of … Read more
Noel Coward may have sung ‘The stately homes of England, how beautiful they stand, to prove the upper classes have still the upper hand’ – but that was in 1938, and today they are yet another casualty of coronavirus. While the landed owners of such magnificent historic piles might not receive – nor expect – … Read more
Fans of The Crown can get a little taste of the on-screen grandeur by renting out one of the stunning stately homes that served as a filming location for the fourth series of the hit Netflix show. Hedsor House, in Buckinghamshire, was used as a stand-in for Margaret Thatcher’s (Gillian Anderson) Downing Street and for … Read more
A property believed to be the smallest detached house in Britain which measures just 10ft by 8ft has gone on sale for £250,000. The gatehouse, that stands at the entrance to a grand stately home near Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, has a tiny lounge, kitchen area and bathroom in the sunken basement below the surface that … Read more
The National Trust has been criticised for its country houses in recent days, but there are hundreds of others still in private ownership whose families are eager to welcome visitors in the wake of the pandemic. Photographer Dylan Thomas and I have visited a fine selection for our book Old Homes, New Life: The Resurgence … Read more
Over the past few days, I’ve thought often of the opening scene in an episode of Telegoons, the BBC’s less than wholly successful 1960s TV adaptation of the young Prince Charles’s favourite radio programme, The Goon Show. The scene in question begins as night falls with Henry Crun, a puppet voiced by Peter Sellers, lighting the … Read more
Hidden evidence of an English family’s hidden Catholic worship that could have condemned them to death has been discovered in a National Trust property. More than two thousand artefacts owned by the historic Bedingfeld family have been uncovered under the attic floorboards at Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk. Books, manuscripts and musical scores that appear to … Read more