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00:02The green, rolling landscapes of Great Britain are home to the jewels in the country's rich heritage.
00:13Our country houses.
00:19Celebrated across the world for their design and decoration.
00:27Their crowns and gardens.
00:33And their centuries of history.
00:40There was a time when owning a grand country house meant a great deal.
00:45These estates were the keys to fortune and power.
00:50But today's country house owners live in a very different world.
00:54The sound of petrol!
00:56No, no, no, wrong way!
00:58These houses are still the grandest in the land.
01:02This is Oliver Cromwell's room.
01:03But the challenge of keeping them in one piece has never been greater.
01:07Spiral of decay, I don't like the sound of that.
01:10Ballpark figures, 350,000.
01:12Gulp.
01:13Gotta get these lights fixed.
01:14Today's owners are becoming ever more imaginative.
01:18Bon appetit.
01:19We're finding ways.
01:21I'm literally ankle deep right now.
01:23To keep the money coming in.
01:25These estates aren't designed to make money, they're designed to eat money.
01:29To keep the ceiling from falling down.
01:31And I turn the corner into here.
01:34Oh my goodness.
01:35We are collecting leaks, as you can see.
01:37And stop their fears becoming a reality.
01:40I think of all the ancestors going back 900 years.
01:44If we fail, it's on our watch.
01:47Of course, being to the manor born has always been a privilege.
01:51But today's owners face challenges as never before.
01:55So, they're rolling up their sleeves and putting their heart and soul into brave new ventures.
02:01The question is, how do you save a country house and see it prosper in the modern world?
02:09.
02:09Another good night.וא�
02:36It's
02:38it's just going to be more than just one last year.
02:38season but this is just one moment in the long timeline of our historic houses and an insight
02:45into the projects restorations innovations and hard work going on just so happens that this summer
02:52has been one of the hottest and driest on record although as i know only too well we gardeners are
02:58rather keen on some rain amidst the sunshine but timing is everything
03:06close to the south coast in dorset we're paying a final visit to mapperton house
03:15it's now the start of autumn but there's a perfect dawn to welcome an important day
03:20in mapperton's calendar we're used to early don't worry if we're used to early early and full-on
03:27by 6am the mapperton events team are already on the ground oh still embarrassing that's embarrassing
03:34they're led by events manager holly who's overseeing the arrival of dozens of stall holders
03:41so we have our autumn plant and garden fair and hoping the weather stays good for us all
03:48but yeah we'll wait and see but it's going to be a really good event hopefully today
03:53morning today's event is welcoming many professional nursery growers from across the region
03:58who have all booked a sales pitch at this end of season fair and you can see some people are
04:06still
04:06just setting up we're close to opening in hosting the plant fair mapperton owner julie montague and her
04:16husband luke are carrying on a more than 30-year tradition caroline it just looks sensational it looks
04:24all right it looks so good the fair has become a useful earner for the estate too
04:32events really matter at mapperton and julie actually has done a brilliant job of building them up and
04:37making them more profitable than they've ever been thank you it's all right yeah i like events
04:44julie and luke are hoping for a thousand strong turnout of shoppers today which should lead to a healthy
04:52profit it's five pounds to come to the plant fair um part of it goes to charity we want people
04:59to
04:59come and obviously buy plants but we want them to stay for the day or for at least a few
05:04hours and we
05:05realized in the past that people were just coming in buying their plants and then leaving and we want
05:11them to make a day out of it so enjoy tea coffee cakes sausage rolls quiches inside or outside so
05:18just
05:18make a day of it rather than just in and out grab a plant and go but there are a
05:23few nerves for all
05:24concerned it's been a very hard year we've had so little rain since march but it'd be nice if it
05:31didn't
05:31rain today and in spite of the perfect dawn the forecast is far from good
05:43it's the calm before the storm super calm because this week we have been on tenterhooks because storm
05:49amy is on its way and there is some uncertainty as to when it's going to hit we've looked at
05:55every single weather 80 mile an hour winds there's going to be pouring rain 80 and we have been through
06:01this at mapperton before we had to cancel half the christmas fair last year we had to cancel the plant
06:06fair the year before yep and we are just praying that it doesn't happen again so hopefully people will
06:10arrive early get their plants and get a sausage roll or a cage cafe yeah before the storm hits
06:20with wet weather predicted chef christine massingham is preparing for what could be
06:26the busiest day of the year my first day doing a plant fair i'm stressed at the moment this is
06:34me
06:35stressed because i've got a lot to do this is me winging it meanwhile christine's array of delicious food
06:43is a social media opportunity for julie who knows how to tempt her followers
06:50look at this roasted tomato and cheddar quiches all in-house sweet potato harissa and feta rolls
06:59and i just gotta post that good morning the social media can work two ways it can work reaching this
07:05digital audience at least for us it can in a historic house that's open to the public and it
07:10can reach that physical audience so that they're coming here they're able to explore what they've just
07:17seen on social media and sort of like stepping into it saying wow i'm here at mapperton and i've only
07:24seen it on the screen but now here it is in the flesh by half past 10 the car park
07:31is filling up
07:33the public are flocking in and the plant fair is well underway even mother nature looks friendly
07:43that is the sun i mean two two day there were like meetings going on there was like so many
07:51emails
07:51going back and forth are we going to cancel i mean look at this this is a lovely day
07:59at the moment we are extremely lucky and i really hope this stays but it's looking yeah
08:08for the time being at least all is well and as expected the mapperton cafe is bustling
08:16hi thank you for waiting becky antram works here during her university holidays
08:23it's always the highlight of the season these events it really gets people through the door
08:27a lot of local people as well which is really nice fingers crossed it'll be a good money maker for
08:31us
08:32today everything is all homemade none of it's i just thought i'd throw that out there yeah
08:39and today marks an important day in the season for becky as well that's 10 40. so it's actually my
08:47last day at mapperton in the cafe today i'm back to uni tomorrow but i am gonna miss it the
08:52team is
08:53just lovely like christine in the kitchen lisa they're like kind of like my work mom as the morning wears
08:59on it appears people have heeded luke and julie's advice to get here early thank you overspend as
09:06usual both visitors and stallholders alike have had a good couple of hours yeah it's been positive day
09:14so the fair bit so more than half of it at the moment considering what the weather forecast was and
09:20we might not have had anyone at all or we might have had pouring rain hasn't been bad at all
09:24but storm amy is still threatening to make an appearance
09:31i felt a few little drops of rain but i the r word is a swear word on a an
09:37event day
09:38we don't like to say the r word because we don't like it to
09:44it's gonna slow down now i suppose as lunchtime approaches the rain sets in and the storm is moving
09:52closer we've done almost three and a half hours of trading and everybody seems really happy so few
10:00but in truth it may not be the rain that poses the greatest threat
10:08it's um it's the wind wind is the worrying clock
10:12shoot let everybody know they should start to pack up it is the storm amy is coming
10:18i think we've got five minutes before the wind hits mappetan
10:31just inland from dorset's jurassic coast mappetan house has been hosting its annual end of season plant
10:39fair but as lunchtime arrives so too does the full force of autumn in the form of storm
10:48amy oh now the wind's gonna blow
10:53this may be an important event in mappetan's calendar but the montagues don't want to take any risks
11:02we're about to get hit by all of this okay it's literally got this little pocket okay well let's
11:07put let's put these down it's the wind i don't mind rain it's the wind that causes look it's the
11:11wind
11:11just blows everything over because it's too tall it's gonna hit in a minute so i'm encouraging people
11:17to um think about packing up actually
11:27with no choice but to call an end to the fair everyone beats a hasty retreat to the cafe
11:34but after several hours of successful trading luke and the team are unlikely to let the weather dampen
11:41their spirits one has to realize with these places that they aren't simply a family home
11:48they are the center of a community you can just see how much fun people are having and i find
11:55it
11:55really satisfying when people come and tell me what a wonderful time they've had
12:03and after another year as custodian of this wonderful estate julie is more determined than
12:10ever to preserve the history of this small corner of dorset for future generations
12:17i've become very attached to this place and i never thought i would ever
12:24if this place was was gone or had to be sold and owned by somebody who didn't want to open
12:31up to the
12:31public if you lose that you've really lost the stories that come with a visit to this house okay one
12:43two
12:44three cheese cheese oh my god that's so cute one more
12:51i'm so pleased that at least half the mappittum plant fair proceeded storm free of course in years
12:59to come it may prove more memorable because of the awful weather at another of our houses rain is not
13:06threatening a particular event it is however revealing some maintenance issues and this in a house where
13:14the current generation are making a real effort to get the building in better shape for the next generation
13:23midway between birmingham and manchester our destination is the 1500 acre estate of whitmore hall
13:34it may be a beautiful morning in staffordshire but last night's weather has led to something all
13:41homeowners fear a dripping ceiling well sit wrap is we have a small leak in that corner fortunately for
13:52whitmore's owner edward cavanagh mannering it's only the small ceiling of the hall's single-story porch
14:00right i'm gonna go ahead and maintenance chief simon chafe has arrived with a ladder to investigate
14:07well i know in the summer we had some work done on the stonework so possibly
14:10there's debris from the debris from the work that was done oh it's completely flooded yeah
14:24it's the fun part of running a grade one house this drains sewers
14:32the rain was that heavy potentially it's washed some moss off the issue is the drain hole is about that
14:38big
14:40and it doesn't take much to block it up
14:44as expected the small drain holes are blocked with with moss and a bit of debris from when they
14:49have the work done on the porch okay use the trusty garden cane method
15:03it's literally taken a garden cane to clear the hole and it's draining now oh here we go
15:11a couple hundred meters there it shows you how easily damage is done to buildings
15:18well that's a quick one easily solved this may be one small problem dealt with but the long-term
15:26well-being of whitmore hall remains edward's big concern so to help pay for future restoration work
15:34he's opening up more and more of the estate to health and leisure activities
15:40the 80 acres of whitmore lakes was created with fishing in mind but several of the pools are now
15:48reserved for taking a dip with friends or swimming coaching
15:56and one other attraction people love the fact that you can sauna and have a view
16:03it's a very spiritual place you reconnect water fire air it's wonderful
16:17edward's wife heather has been a driving force in setting up whitmore's wellness offering
16:23she and edward are now looking to maximize the business potential of heron lake
16:29we had it as a paddleboard lake and it was successful but um not really big enough so we had
16:36the idea to
16:37expand our saunas we've got five sauna bases but we're going to put five porter saunas on top of the
16:45bases however they now need to retrofit one element of the project what we forgot to do irritatingly was put
16:55the astroturf in which runs from the back here right the way through to the water's edge
17:04and then so many meters out into the water and so you haven't got mud underfoot
17:09until you you go into swimming depth okay get your waders on
17:16this is all a long way from how heather first met the 34th manoring to run the whitmore estate
17:23uh oh look at that they feel good actually good fit he came to try a car when i was
17:30selling cars
17:30so i had to take him out on a on a test drive in the car he was interested in
17:36and apparently i said that i thought his farmer's arms were i recognized them as being farmer's arms
17:44because my father was a farmer yeah let's take it to the wet point instead of buying the car he
17:50said
17:50do you fancy going for a drink sometime and so that was it okay four meters yeah
17:58so he never bought the car from me i did later you did but not from me so yeah it
18:04was a persian 306.
18:05no i didn't get a commission but after nearly 30 years together i'm sure heather has forgiven him
18:13you just want to go out and swim all this and cool off yeah
18:23with the astroturf measured edward heads off to see the 35th generation of the family
18:31second in command of mopping is my daughter adelaide who's hiding addy 17 year old adelaide
18:40is in an unusual position as edward's sister fleur and mother christine are well aware
18:47the line of inheritance father to son father to son for 900 odd years and in that time we've had
18:57three i think three female heirs and then we're on to the next one and that is adelaide and she
19:05will
19:05inherit from edward won't you so she will be hurrah for a bit of feminism uh she will be the
19:11the fourth
19:13female heir in a thousand years but for now adelaide is helping her mother set up for tonight's yoga class
19:21we've got 14 clients tonight and we're just going to set up the hall
19:30i've been helping mostly this year um working in the summer overall just when i'm not in sixth form
19:37but it's really nice it's really nice and calm and chill and um yeah it's definitely a nice job to
19:44be
19:44able to have out of all the sort of ones i could have at my age it's really nice
19:50the challenge her parents and aunt have set themselves
19:53is to ensure they hand over a house in reasonable condition
19:59we're making absolutely certain that this building is fit for purpose for the next generation
20:08and making certain that we're not giving her a nightmare so today fleur has arranged for heritage
20:17consultant tony hannah to pay a visit and make a thorough tour of the property this is nice
20:23yes it's like the equivalent of bringing a doctor in because if we leave it too long the the financial
20:30costs would be enormous without even breathing you're probably looking at well over a million pounds
20:37we need to look at the sellers that'll allow us to understand how to look after the building but
20:42what we really hope is that nothing needs to be done
20:58whitmore hall in stavitcher has been in the hands of one family for over 900 years
21:06edward kavanagh mannering and his sister fleur are keen to preserve the history of their home
21:12and hand it over to the next generation in the best state possible
21:16all right yeah good show
21:25none of the lights work put your phone light on watch out for the dead mice
21:32today they've invited heritage consultant tony hannah to explore the many layers of history in the
21:38hall and assess how the building is holding up he believes the evidence of whitmore's earliest origins
21:46will be found in the cellar this here these vaults here yeah i think this has been added so this
21:54goes goes
21:54down further you think there might have been another layer yeah oh my god this was probably added
22:01this stone flag for um when they built the 17th century facade the vault in there you can see that
22:11that's brick see that stress stone there can you see how it's been been marked i couldn't say what date
22:18but i would say it's definitely medieval dressed that's amazing the stone was chiseled so it could bond
22:24easier with the other stones it's not clean straight wall that's that's that's medieval stone
22:31and that's what i hope to find out here straight away we're already seeing that this house
22:35goes back to the medieval period i feel like an archaeologist now
22:40tony suspects the origins of whitmore hall match those of the nearby 12th century church
22:48since then a timber framed manor was developed in tudor times with a further brick facade added
22:55in the late 17th century you've got air vents here that keeps it dry god the whole house is
23:00littered with you you think about it how clever they were six because they realized they weren't
23:06going to build directly onto the timber frame building there's a gap there's got to be a gap and
23:10to keep that air flowing that gap and that will keep the brick dry and the wood dry also act
23:16as
23:16insulation whilst tony's here there's one important outbuilding on the estate that fleur and edward would
23:24love to get his opinion on supposedly one of the oldest stables in the country
23:32walk into it and it's just got such a sense of history that has real history
23:37well the stable they've got a wonderful atmosphere about them they've there's something very special
23:42about them we've had parties there a lot of very good parties flower had a very good we had a
23:48medieval
23:49feast there didn't we darling just watch the cobbles okay yes they got a bit out of a hand i
23:57think
23:58but for many years now the condition of the stables has become another headache for fleur and edward
24:04so these are the stables that we know well we know that existed in 1600 and considered some of the
24:10oldest with the columns and and that side of it so we think that this building's always been here it's
24:17a lot
24:17older than any of us have ever thought and it got converted into stables in the 1600s like a gate
24:23house i mean who knows whatever the original purpose of the building this is now a very rare
24:30example of a tudor stable block with horses housed on the ground floor and their grooms on the floor above
24:38wow this is really well built you've got really good west midland vernacular here you've got box timber
24:45framing this would have been made uh prefabricated so this would have been put together on the grind
24:52and then lifted up with a winch and then the cross beams with the purlings going and that's how it
25:00would
25:00have been constructed since then one other intriguing detail has been added all these marks here those are
25:10what called ritual burn marks they're actually indented they've burnt their way and feel feel across
25:15oh god how do you feel they've burnt tells me it's a red hot poke or something very hot
25:22they're sometimes called witch burn marks but that's not correct because what they're meant to do is
25:27they're meant to bring you good fortune the mark and the wood would have been almost like a blessing
25:32yeah so the scorching would have said we're marking this with goodness yeah and there would have been
25:38a priest who would have there to witness that and blessed it yeah for a stables it's it's really well
25:44built and it's in really good condition that's really good news i've studied west midlands architecture
25:52for for years and just seeing it here and all the elements are here in this building just adds to
25:59this
25:59exceptional rarity it's relief to hear good news about the condition of the stables but how is the
26:08hall itself faring you spent a lot of time looking the building from the outside in the inside what is
26:18your well take on the current condition i mean would you call it average good poor i i wouldn't say
26:25it's
26:26poor i wouldn't say it's good i would say it's in the middle middle i think if if i was
26:32going to give
26:33it marks out of 10 i think it'd probably be around six tony will now compile a full report on
26:40what he
26:41thinks the maintenance and renovation priorities should be in the years ahead a lot of the stuff
26:47that they can do to to rectify any structural deficiencies in the house can be done fairly easy
26:55so i'm really pleased to to be involved with such a beautiful house such a beautiful setting
27:05and for owners who are feeling the weight of history and responsibility
27:09this is a welcome boost i just go and i see problems i see maintenance i see bills you don't
27:18see the building i don't see the building but he loves the building he was helping me fall back in
27:27love with the building and its specialness having followed our house owners for a whole summer
27:44i think we're already seeing them feel the results and rewards of their hard work
27:49often this is work that stands to benefit the house for generations to come
27:54and in some cases it will enable more people to share in the history and beauty of these important
28:01buildings one shining example this summer has been in northamptonshire where a key historic
28:10attraction is about to open to the public for the first time in decades here at ashby manor house
28:18so we've got 35 ladies from um the leamington smart arts club i think it is and they are coming
28:30for a
28:31private tour of the house and garden ashby's owner nova guest has just completed a summer of costly
28:39renovation work on the estate's tudor gatehouse where plans for the gunpowder plot were once hatched
28:47at the end i want to take them into the plot room and then back into the house for tea
28:51and coffee
28:52and cake private tours like this have been only a small part of ashby's recent past but with the
28:59famous gatehouse now open they could become a regular fixture in the future so i think we've only done
29:07about four private tours um but i think i feel like it's getting more uh known about so i'm hoping
29:15it's
29:15something that we can you know do half a dozen of a year that would be perfect it's so lovely
29:21to get
29:22the house ready for anyone coming in filling it with flowers it's what it's made for to be filled
29:27with people that house to keep costs to a minimum and give visitors the personal touch for now nova is
29:35leading the tours herself yeah i always think golly am i going to run out of things to say but
29:41then
29:41i'm in the moment and it sort of seems to go on we shall see but maybe the more i
29:47do these tours the
29:48more i'm practiced today's guests will be at ashby for two and a half hours whilst private tours are
29:55a short and simple earner for the estate it's not all plain sailing a bit of excitement and dread that
30:02we are generating income oh we need to get the kettle out maybe both the kettles and plug them in
30:10with 90 minutes until the guests arrive housekeeper maureen is helping nova to set up
30:17they're going to come in the main gate and then we'll get the coat stick and then if they've got
30:24coats we can hang them here this is the center the long-term success of these tours will require
30:30plenty of five-star reviews 35 today okay i believe 35 yeah by 2 p.m all is set
30:39the guests are welcomed in and nova kicks off with some insight into the mastermind behind ashby's design
30:48so this is now the the stone hall which lutchens always like to incorporate a stone hall into his
30:56houses and this is very new 1906. we're going to make our way out the back door
31:06next stop ashby's rather quirky architectural import so you will have noticed this tudor building which uh
31:15was originally a shop on carr street in ipswich my husband's uh great grandfather bought it and much
31:25to lutchens's horror uh he was asked to incorporate it into the design so here's the statue garden and the
31:34statues have been here for 400 years or so and we host weddings and events here
31:43and the guests seem extremely pleased with their experience so far
31:51very impressive and it's been wonderful to be feel really feel welcomed it's just so beautiful and
31:59the amount of work that has been done in 10 years astonishing come on through
32:03but of course the highlight of today's tour is nova's passion project the reimagined plot room
32:15so this is the room where the robert catesby and the conspirators gathered to hatch plans
32:23actually a bit smoky i've opened the window we're trying to finish it i found a table which is 17th
32:32century after years spent locked up and neglected this small but significant room can now look forward
32:38to many more visitors but what did today's first group of visitors make of the plot room this is uh
32:45seems
32:46more compact and they're perhaps more secret and uh than we expected but it certainly has the atmosphere
32:53so yes the art shiver up the spine these are the first set of visitors we've had in here for
33:03a very long
33:04time such a lovely thing to add on to a tour and gives it sort of another whole different perspective
33:12with the tour complete it's back to the house for tea and cake
33:20that is definitely maureen i've only done and maureen makes the most amazing fruit cake
33:24that's my ridiculous um banana cake
33:29within days of adding some furnishing to the renovated gatehouse
33:34nova has already seen her work pay dividends for the estate
33:39well i think the tour did go well and i would love to do more of them actually because
33:45it's the middle of the week
33:47it's a large group so it's you know it's it's a good amount of money
33:51it's relatively easy in terms of you know impact on the house i think it would be clever to to
33:58try and
33:59do more of them
34:00and with fresh historic appeal on offer the future looks bright for this stunning country house
34:07oh that's a pleasure have a safe trip home
34:11thank you take care everyone thank you okay bye
34:17well i think that was quite good
34:31we're nearly at the end of our summer following nine country houses and we're finishing right back where we started
34:41chavenage house in the wonderful cotswolds
34:45what was it that attracted you to james
34:49well obviously the big house wasn't it
34:52it was wasn't it it must have been
34:55there you go james leslie williams inherited this 2 000 acre estate from his grandfather
35:02two years ago but is still getting to grips with what he and wife emma have taken on
35:09we did actually count we got 25 bathrooms
35:12no fireplaces 25 fireplaces we don't actually know how many bathrooms we've got
35:17this is all ours babe can we believe it it can be quite overwhelming
35:23having married james just last year emma's been rather thrown into a new life of saving a country house
35:30but this gung-ho couple have embraced the challenge by kick-starting a host of projects
35:41last one down they are all aimed at transforming chavenage's earnings
35:47right now it's power tool time james we're determined to add revenues and generate an income
35:53so that the next generation can can have a slightly easier life than we've had
35:57but having prioritized the business plan james and emma haven't had time to start turning the
36:03elizabethan manor house into their own home it's a prospect that emma is finding mildly alarming
36:12we haven't started the renovation yet so this is how it was done up sort of 70 years ago and
36:18it
36:18hasn't really been touched since this has been the family seat of the lowesley williams for six
36:24generations and every corner of it needs a good clear out before the couple can restore it
36:32so upstairs it's a lot of brown carpet
36:36you know on the surface it looks worse than it is there is stuff everywhere
36:44every drawer is full one too many railway magazines that we need to keep i think
36:50there's also a stuffed bird here i'm not sure anyone needs this amount of chairs lamps so many lamps
36:59don't don't know why it's gonna be great but dealing with all that is for the future
37:06because the priority now is to complete a project that's been taking shape all summer
37:11as we've seen at whitmore hall in staffordshire james and emma are investing in the well-being
37:18trend in the form of a luxury sauna with james's homemade changing rooms
37:26with autumn now here the venture is ready to launch right sauna
37:35what do you think a few finishing touches yeah i need to do some cleaning having committed 10 000
37:42pounds to this venture already james and emma are determined to make it a success
37:48oh it does look good it does look good a little damp the old rug rained so much in the
37:56night i've added
37:57the fire pit i've also added like a log pile just need to get open get going get some good
38:04feedback
38:04hopefully um and see what people think and i think that's the only way that we're going to tell
38:10if it's going to work on them but before the public let in the couple are unveiling it to the
38:16toughest
38:16crowd they know dad george and aunt caroline are you going to clean the window and i'll clean the deck
38:26it needs to look spick and span for the family they're hard not to crack
38:31the family don't really get it not sure the family puts a little bit of pressure on it i'm not
38:38sure the family think it's a very good idea at the moment i do slightly worry about how much we've
38:44put on our plate well em's actually quite nervous i'm actually really excited can i just say the thing
38:50is we've rented this sauna so we're paying for it and it hasn't gone live yet isn't ideal because
38:56we are essentially losing money month on month james doesn't like it if i'm ever negative about
39:02anything i'm a glass half full kind of guy we've started two new businesses together in a really
39:08short amount of time and got married and so we haven't had any practice we're literally learning on
39:12the job and some things prop up and crop up and we're like oh my god we had like neither
39:17of us have
39:18any experience of dealing with it and if all that wasn't enough to cope with the couple have one more
39:26responsibility on the horizon we have got some news we are bringing a new life in yeah why don't
39:39just there's nothing quite to show yet but no emma is pregnant and uh it's really exciting which
39:47actually makes us feel slightly slightly less daunting about moving into a manor house seeing
39:54as there's going to be a few more of us yeah i think well just one more at the moment
39:59just one more
40:00oh it's not tones no this afternoon though it's the older generation that james and emma are
40:10expecting they're on their way the family are coming caroline looks like the queen
40:17also coming along for a ride is big al who helped james build the sauna site i feel like it's
40:24kind of a
40:24royal visit this is a big inspection of what you've been up to i just don't think it's their cup
40:31of tea
40:31i think dad might come around caroline's going to be hard enough to crack caroline have you seen
40:36anything like it no the idea is that we've tried to make it as private as possible um so why
40:47have you
40:47put in the most public field we've got because this is the only field we got we got planning oh
40:51i see
40:53well the younger generation have really thrown themselves into it and i really approve of their
41:00enthusiasm um and i think if the amount of enthusiasm that goes into it pays off that would be great
41:07come and show us in come in it is it is very much a royal visit here first up on
41:12the inspection
41:13are the changing rooms built by james and big al oh it's nice isn't it she's nicer in here than
41:19is that my carpet it's actually my carpet is it yeah it's a rather wet looking carpet it looks like
41:27loos no they're not loos it's just changing rooms so you can bring your bag yeah bring your cosi
41:34your trunks a lovely view from here not a building in sight or a road or anything no that's it
41:40yeah
41:43on a beautiful evening with the sun low in the sky everyone agrees that the setting is perfect
41:51the joy of a sauna on the other hand isn't as clear to all people come yeah they take all
41:59their
41:59clothes off yeah they go and get hot and sweaty yes they then stand and get freezing cold on the
42:05shower
42:05yes then they come into here to an ice bath yeah yeah and then go back and then go back
42:09in and do
42:09it and you're expecting to pay for it yeah that is the plan i would pay not to me it's
42:16like spanish
42:17torture but anyway i've heard some people say to me oh i hate being hot i love being hot but
42:23i just
42:24don't think they're spa goers for me personally to pay for misery um the idea of getting hot sweaty and
42:31then cold and nice bath and naked it doesn't actually fill me with the greatest sort of joy
42:36but i'm not on trend and this could be fantastic we're going to find out see because you're coming
42:45in yeah yeah we're coming in i'm so not taking my clothes off let's have a look inside all right
42:50come
42:51in with the sauna on and becoming really rather toasty oh it's on did you switch it off
42:57did i take my shoes off no i don't worry it's time to take a test
43:03what about flora flora's gonna get too hot oh so far this is the best bit
43:14what happens now you just talk to each other like well so now we just kind of sweat and how
43:19long do you sweat for so it's basically like doing doing 30 minutes of exercise
43:25i'm quite warm now oh fresh air
43:32it's a very fine sauna and beautiful views to sit and watch the evening roll in
43:38what's this it's not june it's not june that's not the soup ladle what's this one
43:46as you put it on there and then it steams it
43:54of course we've been brought up but it was virtually like an ice bath in our own bathrooms at
44:00shavenage so and we didn't have to pay for that so it for the people with really nice warm houses
44:06it
44:06could be terrific with the family mostly won over and the sauna set to open the lowesley williams
44:14clan members are feeling optimistic about the future of shavenage well done you boys you have
44:20done well and emma your style is just fantastic i think trialing these new things potentially it
44:27could pay off yeah i also think you know this field wasn't making us any money you know if we
44:31can try and make something out of something out of nothing then it's another dripping tap isn't it
44:37yeah give it a go i think the future's great i think um emma announcing her pregnancies
44:42is a kind of boost for everything yeah because we can see the next generation starting to grow
44:47and i think that's what we're all aiming for is to keep the lowesley williams family here
44:52as long as possible no pressure
44:59thank you so much thank you thank you for our royal visit okay we'll see yeah we will see won't
45:05we
45:06fingers crossed
45:12what a wonderful array of places and projects we've seen up and down the land at our nine country houses
45:19well seven houses and two castles but for me it's been the people who've shown the brightest
45:28the work of running a very large very old home never stops and the passion for that work has been
45:34so
45:35clear to see so how do you save a country house
45:44it's sounding like quite an expensive job it clearly takes hard work oh golly i think we place it
45:52good ideas 201 years old and here i am jimming it with a crowbar
45:59bold entrepreneurship all right come here you freshly laundered good as new and a strong team
46:05come on come on up and maybe the most interesting thing is that they are planning for a future
46:13not just for themselves but to be open to visitors like you and me for many years ahead
46:20that is why our country houses are worth not just saving but cherishing
46:28so
46:39so
46:59Transcription by CastingWords
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