The first restoration phase has made the roof watertight. The next aim is to
create a space for himself, his wife, Dr Dinah Streifeneder, and their baby,
Anthony, to move into by next year. He plans to generate an income stream so
that it will be easier when it is Anthony’s turn to inherit.
“There is a change of mindset about how we run these places,” he
says. “Really creative people are doing interesting things with their
historic houses.”
There is a whole new generation of young historic home owners now finding
imaginative answers to age-old problems. Jason and Demetra Lindsay, for
example, took on Hedingham Castle in Essex seven years ago at the age of 35.
Jason’s father had inherited it from a cousin and didn’t want to run it
himself, so he passed it on to Jason.
“There were buckets everywhere, no heating, and the land had been sold
off,” he says. “We had some lovely buildings in the middle of 150
acres.”
The Norman motte-and-bailey castle with a 12th-century stone keep is where the
Earls of Oxford lived for four centuries, and where Matilda (wife of King
Stephen) died in 1152. It has been used as a set for Ivanhoe and for fashion
shoots. There is also the beautiful Queen Anne house in which Jason and
Demetra live.
“Luckily Demetra is strong,” he says. “It took years before we
finished one bedroom and moved into it.”
First they got rid of the buckets, then fixed the dry rot, the electrics, the
rotten windows and most of the roof.
Along the way they have managed three children – Natasha, six, and
four-year-old twins Thomas and Anthony. Another bit of roof and a batch of
bedrooms still remain to be done.
“We gave up our privacy to make it work,” says Jason. “The
castle is open from Easter to October and gets around 25,000 visitors.”
They host medieval jousts, classic car days and around 60 to 70 weddings a
year.
“We try to vanish for picnics in the bluebell woods when weddings are on
because we think people don’t want chocolate-covered children around at
times like that.”
Deals are done with Warner Fabrics to do up rooms in return for promotional
use, and with Channel 4’s Landscape Man to get bits of the garden restored.
They work seven days a week.
“If I can make it work and it is fun and we don’t lose our health, then
it is worthwhile. I absolutely adore the place,” says Jason.
Some 400 of the 1,500 members of the Historic Houses Association open their
houses to the public, and the young turks bring different skills to their
forebears.
Lord Hampden worked in Ecuador and for The Royal Bank of Scotland before he
thought, at the age of 34, that he had better come home and help his father
run the Glynde Estates in Sussex. He worked alongside him for a few years
before his father died in 2008.
Julian Fellowes, the creator of Gosford Park and Downton Abbey, once lived in
a flat here and probably found a plot line or two. Like Mr Crawley in Downton,
Lord Hampden’s father inherited from a distant cousin.
This is a landmark summer for Lord Hampden as he is closing the house for two
years to carry out massive restoration work. Two roofs need overhauling, and
the south elevation of fragile chalk and flint needs strengthening.
“One night we thought we heard a roll of thunder and found part of the
ceiling had collapsed and large cracks had opened up,” he says.
“On my wife Caroline’s birthday last October she had to put out 24 towels
to staunch the stone mullion windows which leak when the wind is in the
south west.” Caroline works as a GP and lost half a stone when they
moved in.
They have no public funding. A picture has been sold to raise money, the
property portfolio brings an income and they have established the Glynde
Food and English Wine Festival, which runs in July (www.glyndefoodfestival.co.uk).
“Our aim is to make the house into a proper family home for the next
generation. A friend once described it as a bit like a flat over a museum.”
His eldest son, Lucian, is just five, so he has years ahead in which to make
it an easier place to inherit.
If you can’t inherit an estate, then buy one
1 Blair Estate, Ayrshire, is one of the oldest continually inhabited great
historic mansions in Scotland. The Grade A listed castle with 14 bedrooms,
four-bedroom east wing, plus more than 1,000 acres, 12 cottages and
farmhouses, became a five-star Exclusive Use Venue last year. £8m through
Savills (0131 247 3720)
2 Edwardstone Estate, Suffolk, is for sale for the first time in over 200
years, with a six-bedroom hall, farmhouse, six cottages and 855 acres. £9m
through Strutt Parker (020 7629 7282) and Summers Wykes-Sneyd (01449
761861)
3 Randolphs Farm, West Sussex, is a charming Grade II listed farmhouse dating
from the 1400s with seven bedrooms, dairy, farm buildings and 184 acres. It
has never before been on the open market. £3.5m through Savills (01444
446064)