How This Medieval Hall Evolved Into A Modern Grand Mansion | American Viscountess | Real Royalty

I have arrived not just at the spectacular Dean Park here but with my overnight bag because lucky me I get to spend the night Dean Park is one of England's most fantastic historic houses it has roots from the medieval period and then it evolved over the tutor and Georgian periods as well to what we see today it's been in the brudel family since 1514 but it really did evolve over these six centuries I'm here to meet and of course to stay with Charlotte and Robert brudel who are the custodians of wonderful Dean Park and I can't wait to share all the history with you and what's going on here on the [Music] estate when I married into the British aristocracy it was the start of a wonderfully exciting Journey but it was also a little daunting I became a VI Countess and for an American girl from a small town outside Chicago that was quite a shock I live with my husband Luke heir to the Earl of Sandwich and our family at mapperton house in Dorset living in a place like this is a joy but also a challenge and every day we're aware that we're preserving a very special part of Britain's [Music] Heritage Matt Brittain has opened up an extraordinary new world for me and I can't wait to share it with you all so if you love castles and manners and stately homes as much as I do please join this American VI Countess as I journey into the British Countryside in search of some of Britain's finest historic [Music] houses well I'm hoping this is the right entrance cuz the doors are open so I must be in the right place but look at this fantastic Courtyard I definitely have a lot of questions but I am spotting actually a lot of heraldry so a lot of coat of arms hello welcome I love the kner welcome welcome oh lovely to see you so lovely to see you hello Robert how are you um lovely to see you now I have some questions about the courtyard can we start there first let's go and have a look okay this has history doesn't it indeed first mentioned in the Doomsday Book 1086 so going back a very long way right and then it belonged to the Sea of Westminster and it gradually got added and built to so this section over here was added in about 1630s also when I was walking in I noticed heraldry code of arms I and I did There's Coronet there's you've got a we've got the El's Coronet up there yes in the in the hot the top of it because we had seven ales of Cardigan who lived here okay Thomas brudel was made the first ale of Cardigan in 1660 right and he built this Tower up there so we've got more heraldry up there yes you do and with the flag behind it in your [Music] honor oh my goodness okay where where are we walking into right now we're walking into the Great Hall which we've just had redecorated two years ago and it's got a fantastic ceiling which um is made out of sweet Chestnut and we were always told that the little evils wouldn't eat into it but unfortunately they have so we've just had it restored and we've repainted the Great Hall in what would have been actually the original color beautiful it's one of the last great Halls that were built before they went out of fashion we know it was built in 1571 because it says so on the mantle piece over there and it was um it was rebuilt because Queen Elizabeth came stay here for the night and Edmund bruden all thought actually if she came back for more than one night in the future perhaps she better have a bigger Great Hall so he built this Great Hall but sadly she never came back by 1600 these great Halls were out of fashion and quite a lot of the houses split into two levels I'm just going to throw this out there because as you mentioned the mantle I did spot some montue lozenges there certainly is a montue connection here okay should we save that for later we will Charlotte and Robert open a selection of rooms to the public on certain days in the year but we will venture behind the scenes to Glimpse how Dean Park is still very much a cherished family home night turn left com through here okay oh my my goodness I think I need to stay for a whole week Charlotte we've got a lot of books for you to read and we're putting you in the bom oh my goodness oh my gosh this is Splendid okay first of all I love the colors um it's enormous did you do this you said exactly the right things this is the one bedroom in the high that I have recently done up and uh it was a germine pink faded wallpaper and raspberry carpets which were shredded uh and it's quite a it's quite a a difficult thing to know you've got to De decorate a room for the next 60 years the other thing I did was I took all the books out of the bookcase and and and put my collection of c-port China in there which is rather pretty so you did this all yourself yeah I suppose I did darling didn't I yes I didn't what do you think of it Robert I didn't have a say in it I'm sure I just sign sign it off but then you've also got up the stairs this is very important a bathroom which has got the best view in the world no you're right this is the best view in the world the bridge I just walked over and then look at these magnificent Gardens down [Music] below thank you thank you thank you both of you this is it is really a treat so thank you shall we leave you to sort yourself out here and then come downstairs and have a drink I did not expect this when Charlotte and Robert asked me to stay of course said yes but oh my goodness this is I mean she's done just a brilliant job here and this is what's so wonderful about these historic houses is the way that each homeowner as they you know take over if you like um for their their period of time they put their mark on it or they redecorate or they add something and this is exactly what Charlotte's done in this bedroom you know she's put in such lovely bright happy colors here but then kept the horse hair uh mattress so I think that's what we're always trying to do as homeowners is we're trying to make sure that of course we put our touches um on it and but at the same time preserving the [Music] past the connection between the brudel and the montue families reaches back to the 18th century when George brudel the fourth Earl of Cardigan married Lady Mary montigue what I love best of all is the map in the corner that shows that um my husband and my son are all descended from from God right and as I point out as we all are we all are you'll probably find a loeng or three I know I maybe yep I already spotted it right there so when was this created well it's I think the bottom one is the third Earl of Cardigan so it must have been early 1700s so it would have been early 1700s incredible well you can see down through here and this is what I love you can see the three lozes up there monu's and here is Sydney montigue and guess what Charlotte right below Earl of Sandwich y y right there there you go and so he's got his um garter there and jamaa the first count and off they go Edward monsu the Earl of Sandwich gosh you've got a lot here look at this Edward monsu Lord henching Brook goodness me I mean wow we've really again another Earl of Sandwich that would have been the third one so no that would have been the fourth so that would have been the the one who invented the sandwich anyway not taking it away from Charlotte here but we're related is what it is we're related anyway all I I'm happy about is that we're [Music] related and look at who's here to greet us M Mina now I briefly walked through here on my way up to my gorgeous bedroom as I walked in of course me and my Eagle Eye I spotted those mue lenes there's Center there right there and I'm I'm learning a lot about the heraldry so you know because we have to remember that during that period if you were a grand aristocratic or Noble person you have to marry somebody from a grand aristocratic family so when you did your coat of arms would be impaled with the the wife um the wife's family coat of arms is that correct absolutely you'll find in the middle there that they've got so many quarterings it's grandparents great grandparents great great grandparents right it was very a very important part of the um 16th century yes and we've got we've got them also on the on on the stained glass wind we've got here and the interesting story about this was that oh my goodness on I early December in in in 1943 we had an American Air Base of three and a half thousand Americans just up up on the hill there and they were flying B17 Fortress bombers and one of them early in the morning had ice on the wings and it tipped over and was about to explode and they managed to go into the local Village and say get up get up out out out boom up it went no and it broke all the stained glass here and Robert's grandparents stored glass on top of each other which you don't do because the weight cracks it even more and then after the war um during the 1950s my parents-in-law got a grant to restore it and with the grant came you have to open to the public and that's why we're open to the public oh my goodness yeah just like bu and so many English historic houses Dean park opened its doors to to the public for the first time in the 1950s and the Great Hall is still a highlight of the tours today and this is the original paneling here that is the paneling the original paneling from when it was built in 1571 now I see we've got some polishing going on over here Julie's very kindly helping us and I think you you might join her might you yeah I would love to so what are you using using to polish it a wax just a wax just a wax yeah put it on very very lightly always go with the always go with the grain yeah yeah and little you know like and you can feel it almost go you know it suddenly goes smooth yeah you try that bit okay and um with the grain yeah just go up and down just and then just keep going and then you can feel it suddenly go smooth you can yeah oh my goodness it's wonderful to be polishing something that's you know tutor period absolutely isn't it just yeah you you think about the people that made it people po it before you think how many other hands were on this exactly it's wonderful so do you want me to do all of it you you're a week thank you what a really really special place and also knowing that this is one of the last great Halls that was built gives it even more you know meaning to it you you when you walk in here you just think how wonderful thank you we love it we use it we love it discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and AdFree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all from history hit watch them on your smart TV or on the- go with your mobile device download the app now to explore everything from the wonders of ancient Pompei and the Mystery of the princes in the tower to the life of Anne Balin and D-Day sign up via the link in the description so this is the moment I know I've been waiting for and hopefully you have as well and that's really the history of Dean Park it's been here for a millennium really and but it's been again a part of the Brunel family since 1514 is that right indeed this is the star of the tour and this is the billiard room um originally in the medieval days it would have been a parlor to the Great Hall but I'm going to go back right to the very very beginning and that is that it's first mentioned in the Doomsday Book in 1086 and uh so we know that it was here in it was a monastic Retreat the um sea of Westminster the bishop of Westminster owned a lot of land around here and he would come up and stay here to survey his land yes it was a small monastic cell a little square Courtyard house ah and it remained as such until the church realized that actually perhaps they could rent it out to families who would uh let them him come and stay twice a year and right right so in 1514 so Robert brudo took over the lease because it was a lease then it this is the first room that our visitors come to so we try to give them a little brief about it it's terribly important because it is the one part of the house where we have just one item of medieval and that is in the far corner there's a little Arch there was there was an archway that went into a Catholic chapel and then the other important thing in this room is we've got we've got the charter which is right there that creates Thomas brudel the first Earl of Cardigan during the Civil War King Charles the first was trying to raise money yes and Charles the first um asked him and the son said here's £1,000 for your fighting fund when things come good could you honor my father and his heirs he was very canny in 1660 when Charles II came to the stain he said Could you hurry up and honor the debt to my father because he's he's 81 right so we need that quite quickly yeah we need that title so three weeks before his coronation he was created the first ear of Cardigan as we explore the wealth of rooms here at Dean Park there are a few surprises along the way oh my goodness this is actually a very modern Chapel it was only done in the 1980s because the Parish church had it's a huge church and it had five members of the congregation all called brudel right and they froze to death in there so my mother-in-law thought well why don't we um make our own little chapel and this was the billiard room and we've just seen the billiard table which moved into the smoking room because nobody smokes y um and so she turned it into this beautiful Chapel it's wonderful and do you use the chapel we do Christen here we're having a service next on Sunday week um and we have a lovely little tradition here which you can bring in when you live in a house like this yes which is that um having gone to the um the Royal Chelsea the hospital in Chelsea every service they have there whether it's a funeral or a wedding or whatever they sing the national anthem we sing the national anthem here at the end of every service no Charlotte this is incredible nuts this is the tapestry room room oh my goodness and Once Upon a Time it had tapestries all the way around it okay what about this ceiling here the ceiling is dated 1597 and we do have some rooms above it which we hardly ever go into because we don't want to bang and make too much noise on it this oh my goodness I mean can I just ask then because would this be considered a pendant ceiling yes yeah you can see the the med cuz we have one at Matton in the great chamber again tutor probably 1550 um but fit this be but this is extraordinary I mean unbelievable oh my goodness it's a lovely room spectacular and so when you arrived Dean had this been sort of done to what were seeing sa by your mother-in-law she had and actually it was it was um after I'd married Robert it was beige this room and my mother-in-law painted it this extraordinarily tealy greeny blue color which I think is magnificent sets off her collection of chrisan art we've got a whole lot of Christian art and do you know what the Great Joy with these pictures in here is uh I use them for doing Christmas cards do you mm this one in particular yes I think this piece of furniture is the very oldest piece of furniture I think it dates from the early 1500s wow incredible obviously was used in the kitchen CU it's got lots of chopping marks on it y yep yep do you think we're rather bored of listening to us Mt is ready to go into the Next Room this is King Henry's room this is the room that King Henry iith would have stayed in on the way up to visit his mother Margaret bord right who lived about 8 miles north okay and she was the reason that Sir Robert broodal took on the leas here because he was her Finance adviser and her executive King Henry I 7th King Henry the 7th his mother mother his mother we've got a picture of her here Margaret bord Queen Elizabeth would have slept in this room when she came for her one night no uh I would love to tell you that she slept in that bed but she came in 1565 and if I'm a purist that bed is dated 1580 so it was not that bed but she would have slept in this room which would have been appropriate because this is where her grandfather would have slept right and this paneling that I'm seeing here rather original unique single linen fold paneling yes yeah and and so when Queen Elizabeth was here it would in this room this would have been here here coat of arms absolutely absolutely been here and then there was paneling at this window and then as we are blessed in this house to have these little corner turrets we have a bathroom using the paneling no oh my gosh this is wonderful but of course this wouldn't have been a bathroom when Queen Elizabeth was here would have been a powder room but in powder room right Powder Room beautiful it's absolutely beautiful so I'm in that turret right now yes I love being in turrets there there's one room which sums up perfectly how historic houses like Dean Park and maon are layered in history as each generation leaves their Mark but what does this date back to I'm all about dates oh we're getting back to about the the 15 late 1500s jackan time so this is original yes oh oh my goodness yes this is original wow 18th century we've got a bit of Georgian paneling right and then we' got 19th century windows 20th century ceiling because this ceiling is a work of art on its own and was done by Robert's parents in 1997 we've even got 21st century my husband and I went to Jerusalem about four years ago right and we bought this in the market so this is a real wonderful hodge podge of centuries yes it is yeah I love it what I love best of all in the room are the two pictures hanging on the georan paneling Dean Park is full of portraits of brudel he was the steward and he was born in the village educated by the third Earl came back and was the steward at Dean running running it all and these pictures were given by the third ear as a wedding present oh and noted the blue silk she's much prettier yes and it passed down the Ean family line and came up for sale so I said that it was incredibly important that we had hanging on the walls people who lived here yes yes not called broodal right so he's come back and hooray hooray come on in this is this is my study the oak parlor lovely we've got a portrait of King Charles I second there who was the one who created Thomas Lord brudel the far style of Cardigan right three weeks before his coronation three weeks because it was a debt that was owed by King Charles I first his father who was yeah and then he said to him is that right he honored honored he honored the deal from the the money was given for his fighting fund right uh and so he was made the first of carigan and his one of his Mistresses was the Dutchess of Port Portsmouth L de caroway and they had um their son became the Duke of Richmond oh and the reason we have him here is because he married um the first ear of cardan's granddaughter who was called lady Anne brudel and we've got a picture of her here right well at least the um their illegitimate child became a Duke they were all made Dukes yes Fitz Fitzroy that's where the name Fitzroy comes from okay yes because Roy is King and Fitz means um it legis Sun I didn't know that no that's a fun fact I could win that at a quiz night kunai I could win that as a quiz KN okay thank you Charlotte now what I'd love to show you is the work of art that I would take with me if there was a fire I would grab the dog first then the husband and then I'd come back and I'd get this m map which is from 1746 done by braia and it's a map layout of what Dean looked like then and I cannot tell you as a work of reference how much we have managed to understand from it there was a river they added a canal they merged them together and then they um built this huge Bridge here and they made an enormous Lake here cuz those were the fish ponds from from from the medieval days this is wonderful so this is what you would take I would take this absolutely it's [Music] fantastic look at M hello good come on M let's go MAA must get a lot of steps in this house she needs it have you seen how Stout she [Music] is I mean stunning the antile beautiful it is beautiful the anti Hall and it's because it's off the Great Hall it's off the Great Hall I think probably in in medieval days it would have been a buttery and a dairy and a story right yes but now it's been made into our little little dining room yeah well it's it's rather Grand I love it but we've got two lovely items in here which I really want to show to you one is the exercise chair in the corner okay do you know what an exercise would you like to no is it is it 18th century I think no it might be 19th century basically without biffing your head sit on it okay so I can stand on this stand on that y okay sit on it mhm and you go up and down up this is what they did what to work their core yep okay yeah we used to say to our son push down lunch make room for pudding oh my gosh what do they think that they just didn't get enough steps around these big houses well you're not doing any steps no but just working something else it's working the core yeah it's an that is so crazy and the second thing I wanted to show you this was a gift to me and I have put around it all the most famous people who have been to De either for tea or for lunch or stayed or for dinner and we've got um obviously Queen Elizabeth the first she stayed here for her one night uh we have Prince philli because he came here for the um 1954 anniversary of The Charge of the Light Brigade dinner and we've got Prince Michael of Kent um I put ER of Cardigan but that's rather generic isn't it because there were seven of them yeah um we also had a visit from her majesty Queen Mary Queen Mary came for tea here in 1937 did she take anything no she didn't she did point out that uh she had something that we had and my husband's Greek grandmother said oh we'd quite like it back um but that's apocryphal what she did do is she went around went around the house and um she sort of saw all the shredded walls and said um amazing family that's been here for so many years such a shame there's no money I thought this is brilliant this I love this though this sort of on plasma that is it's very clever for dinner parties yeah for dinner parties how spectacular Dean Park is I met up with Charlotte and Robert for drinks in another beautiful room can you just tell me a little bit about this glorious room and the shape I think is rather Splendid because you've got sort of it the square edges there and then it has the the bow which is why it's called the bow room right so in this room we have probably one of our prize possessions which is the broodal tresum library and it is a very important late 16th century Library where we have books that are written in Spanish French Latin Greek English it's a collection that belonged to S Thomas tram right and Sir Thomas tresham's youngest daughter married Sir Thomas brudel who was also an antiquarian so a lot of the books were his and I reckon that it was her wedding diary this wonderful library was confiscated by the Parliamentary troops in 1643 when they came to raid Dean and the uh erl of Cardigan who was then Sir Thomas Lord brudel he escaped and they took his Library away and he had quite an adventure which I won't go into but when he was let out of the Tower of London he had to buy his Library bag no and the library uh was uh brought back except for some of the books which are now in an Oxford library right but he was able to get the majority of or he Furious he had to pay them so I think it was more of a fine than a than a repurchase good this is 16th century most of these books and beginning of 17th centur beginning yeah in this Library here are do you have a few favorites would you say I have one very special book here right one very special book here and I know where it is because it's all under lock and key yes yes and this is the almanac the Diary of Sir Edmond brudel on August the 12th in 1565 it has got Regina apod Dean so we have the absolute proof that Queen Elizabeth the first came here for the night of August the 12th and August the 13th oh my goodness so when people say oh she never came to Northampton sh she did she did she did and she stayed here for one night for one night you have this proof absolutely we have this proof see that's what's pretty spectacular that you have this in writing so cheers to that absolutely cheers to Queen Elizabeth the first absolutely and her one night day she never came back thank [Music] heavens today I'm ready to get stuck in on a lot of the the future projects that are happening here at Dean Park I mean Dean Park is vast it's beautiful historic house but of course we're always as homeowners trying to think of ways that we can incorporate more income to help to preserve this part of England's Heritage good morning this is this is heaven it's all heaven isn't it y good morning can I just say I slept I was going to ask you but do you think it's the horse hair matress I'm just going to shut that it's also it's also cuz you're you're you're here you're staying under somebody else's roof so your um worries also go slightly it's very very tranquil here yeah yes you do hear the traffic but you know it's the bustle of life outside yes it was beautiful but I yeah I slept like a log oh well done do you do coffee Charlotte absolutely I don't speak until I've had a cup of coffee I know sitting in here the stained glass is extraordinary was this always here not at all no we're looking at the remnants of a ballroom that was built after The Charge of the Light Brigade to commemorate the great Victory or not Victory and there is um a sort of Gap there was a a Regency aryad that came through and the ballroom went right outside and was designed by chce it was very high Victorian right I think the color of the stone was was slightly yellower I remember yeah certainly but it the stone color of the stone was slightly different to the rest of the house so you remember it was here it was here it was taken down in the in the ' 80s I remember we we had a school here was in the late 60s early 70s and we used to play badmington in here and uh lateer of course when my parents opened the house to the public we had uh we had teas in there and we had our 21st party in in the boardroom and so this was so this doorway here that I'm looking at that door there I mean for parties there were three big rooms B where were the night last night then you open up the twin doors behind in the in the B room into the drawing room and then these doors open and then you came into the boardroom and this was a double height room in here it was the there was a m Gallery upstairs up from steps and then downstairs was like it is now and then you walked through uh when you when you went straight into the bo I can't I don't think there were double doors here like there are now right but then you had the ballom right to the far end and the turret of the end was doubl height than it is now my pents ped down the floor level was the same and they had underground heating they had um underground so this floor here went straight out went straight out one of the things of course I love to do when I come and visit magical places like Dean Park is just to be able to get on onto the estate because I think especially for me the American when I first moved here and I would see these grand houses these palaces these Manor Homes I just thought that was it you've got the the house and the history of the house then you've got the surrounding land and and there's a lot going on we need the land all around it because that is what supports the house every tile on the roof needs needs some funding somehow right um and we are very blessed here because we've got a whole lot of of um different ways of diversification I think is generating income generating income yeah so today you're going to hopefully go and have a look at some of the things we've got some of the building works that we're doing which we will be able to um have commercial lets with and um and then see what we're doing with the ground with re regeneration in in terms of reing and the bees we're very fond of our bees and and some of Robert's cattle when you took over you know N9 years ago did you feel when you stepped in there was still a lot for you to do I mean what was your biggest concern 9 years ago um my personal one was being absolutely scared rigid I quite honestly ly say that I was I didn't like Dean I didn't know how it worked I didn't know how it ran there was this sort of feeling that it's got to carry on as it was and financially we couldn't do that I felt really the Newbie and I was treading on eggshells everywhere uh it was a very horrible horrible time but you learn yeah and everybody's very helpful uh and of course my love for Dean is is unquantifiable now we have had a lot to do here at Dean in the last nine years we had to R roof most of the house we had to put in central re roof yes but we did I think a half of the house and a point I always loved saying when we do that um the scaffolding took six weeks to put up the scaffolding put six week six weeks we couldn't get a lry close enough so I had to walk it through and also roses at the front flowers at the front uh roses do not like iron do not like scaffolding and therefore we had to be very careful but if we damage those Roses uh they would knock the Regeneration of those Roes out for for well a good 10 15 years 10 years the scaffolding went twice the height of this house can I rewind slightly on it because most people put a roof on first and then they deal with the central heating right we did actually the other way around we had a lovely lovely expert who came to look at our books our wonderful library books uh and sure enough there was white mold on them so we had to get specialists in to come and unmold the books in particularly in the in the BM library and at the end of it they said that's perfect but you do realize that after another cold winter the mold will be back and and you and you'll see us again next year so we then realized we had to sort out the the heating and we've put in a um a mammoth wood chip boiler a mammoth one which is incredibly noisy and I love it in January but not in June yes and um so we put in the central heating in first and then we moved onto the roof and then you moved on to the roof but those are two big projects because you know at Matton luckily my inlaw had done the roof and that I mean that is I don't think that I know I didn't realize this until I had moved into a historic house you don't have a house without the roof and the big your biggest expense is the roof and that is so that was your huge Pro I mean one of two huge projects because then heating Dean Park and getting that biomass boiler in would have been an enormous expense it was and it was yes we are caretakers of the house so everything that is done on the estate within the house is all for the good of the house it's so that we can hand it over to the next Generations so that so that history continues so that history continues that's exactly right well I'm excited to get stuck in today and to see more of the estate but gosh I really did sleep Fant I texted my husband first thing this morning I was like I think we need to get some few more horsehair mattresses at M because I I didn't know if you can you still get them I don't know if you can oh there's still horses around so you must be able to must be able to sure after a glorious breakfast I'm heading out with Mark kums the estate manager of the brudel Estates who is masterminding plans for the future here at Dean Park so Mark we're heading off on the estate but I have just noticed obviously big wedding Happening Here y um there's so much going on we have to diversify the business in order to generate enough cash to really keep the estate going you know put lead on the roof as we say and to be able to reinvest back into the estate so one of our diversifications is is weddings we've actually got three sites that we do weddings Estates are far more than simply Agriculture and Forestry you have land and that is an asset and and that asset has to be used wisely both for I guess the continuing running of these Estates but as importantly there's also a a responsibility in in terms of good quality stewardship and management for The Wider community and other stakeholders it's lovely long grass that's right I love this yeah it's beautiful isn't it it's so beautiful this is all part of uh a Parkland restoration scheme so we've stopped putting fertilizer on here about two years ago fantastic anything like that and you can see the well the butterflies all the all the bi biodiversity and vertebrate life is really is really it's beautiful um yeah we really so this will get bailed off at some point in August and then we'll actually have a music festival on here oh you are so you can do both you can kind exactly right yeah it's brilliant okay so where am I standing because I do I thought when we were driving that the house there so the house is just there just through the trees and you see St peters's Church there in the village of of of Dean just here so where we are now is really in the the sort of the core of the estate so this is a 500 acre Parkland okay um it's all part of The Brood states of which there are 10,000 acres yes um and there's 3 and a half th000 acres here and a further 6 and a half thousand acres just in the Wellen Valley in in leers okay so um yeah so this is all part of part as you can see this is all part part of part of our Parkland we've converted 200 Acres of former arable land back into Parkland oh you have okay and we planted we plant probably a couple of hundred Parkland trees as well over over a period of time right we're now in this period where it's trying to find that balance between food production of course and of course rewilding and what are you using your land for and making it work for everybody and that's tough yeah it's quite balance to balance I mean you're never you're never going to be absolutely popular with everyone but I mean it's a fool who tries to do that I I think what we do is we we have a 10year plan so true we have a 10year plan and um that's a fairly broad plan if if you like we know where we want to be and then that's more detailed within a threeyear window so we're quite clear where we are with our sort of development targets where we are with our internal businesses where we want to be with our stewardship Etc it's lovely to go out onto the state and start seeing uh you know this it's abely lovely it is really lovely you know and and you do start to notice all of a sudden more butterflies or moths or the inverte coming back okay I'd like to introduce you to to some of our cattle we got some native breeds who help us manage all of this and they're lovely Placid beautifully calm uh short ons yeah so um many people know that I have a fear of cows that's fine so you couldn't meet a nice bunch of girls they're absolutely lovely you heard it here first before I face my fears with the herd we stop off to see some of the building projects Mark is overseeing well this is one of the sweetest Cottages I've ever seen it's beautiful isn't it it's beautiful so this was the old kenan's uh Cottage okay so that years ago they would have had their own pounds here right and so this was built for for that individual and behind us over there is the that would have been where the kennel boy would have lived oh my God and the plan here J is to well you can see we're restoring this so we replaced the the colly Western roof beautiful turning it into a three bed uh Cottage the plan is is that we're going to have this as a holiday Cottage there the first one we will have done on the estate but it will support our wedding and events business so we've got a new venue for our Woodland weddings nearby but we actually discovered that we had bats up in the rofes there right so we've stopped yes consulted Natural England um we put in mitigating bat boxes around around the place right uh and we we're just about to start so the windows we're making new windows which are ready now for fitting okay as soon as the windows are done and the gutters we can drop the scaffolding move into the building and start renovating renovating inside fantastic so three bedroom here three bedroom here and then what are you going to do with this so that's going to be a single bedroom oh wow and so the idea there is that you if you have a small wedding party yes bride and green can stay in the it's called the dog house so we're calling it The Dog House I don't know if that's good or bad but no I'm sure briding fine they like that but that's the plan there so again we're doing a little uh Timber extension at the back that and obviously I know that you do I've seen the Marquee setting that's been set up that has that backdrop of the house traditionally that's what people wanted that's what we do at mton but you're telling me that there's now another place that people can have their weddings which is more in the Woodlands correct because that's becoming very popular people want to be in nature so we we can give them a little bit more [Music] choice this is this is our our Woodland clearing for our Woodland weddings we've done nothing here other than mow it but through there through the trees we have added some some wild flowers Etc so the whole idea is that we've got a really light footprint in what we're doing here yes the intention is that you know the Marquee goes up for that for that specific event but it's a super U light sort of touch and also from from an estate point of view we've not spent lots and lots of money on this exactly you know Nature's kind of done it all for us but the meows the meadow is absolutely beautiful we've cut some CS through there if you want to have a but it's lovely so so we only put the well flower mix in in the Autumn um last year okay but that what we'll do here J is we'll we'll cut this off once it's all seeded we'll cut it and bail it and remove it and keep taking the energy out of the grass okay and you'll find the wild flow mixes get stronger and stronger and stronger yeah so you know if you come up here in the evenings it's absolutely full of Ms and what have you it's really it's it's lovely in fact I come up in the evenings It's Not Unusual to see a deer or two here or the hair or or that sort of thing but you can see the paths they're sort of rudimentary a little bit at the moment but you get the idea of what we're trying to this is trying to do brilliant it's beautiful isn't it it is beautiful and you know then again you just see butterflies all around absolutely so youve got the creeping thistles in here you've got um parsley oxide daisies yes there's a few poppies there's um there's thing called kidney vetch down there absolutely brilliant for for you can see the bees you know buzzing so this is interesting isn't it you might be able to give me a view on this slightly so uh our Gard say should we be pulling these out these thistles no no well there's the answer look look at if AR and it's quite pretty isn't it it's so pretty you don't pull out the thistles because look at the wildlife that's well look at the the you know invertebr that every B seen so far is it's there they are they're absolutely full of it they're full of it and you know then they pollinate and go on and on and on this is this is this is what you want to look at them this is year one so within two or three years we'll have to I can't wait to come yeah everywhere I go Mark everybody wants to introduce me to their cattle somehow it's it's gotten around that I have a fear of cows okay well these are probably the nicest bunch of cows you're going to meet the these are our little herd of um tradition beef short on cattle right okay so they're a native breed yes and the reason we have them here is because uh it's it's part of the our Agri environmental scheme so we wanted to reintroduce these grazers back into the estate ah and so we have we have a little little herd of 20 we've had them for a couple of years okay and we've got a lovely bull called Poseidon who's not heree he was due to come in today and we thought that might just be too exciting for everyone so he's he's in tomorrow okay okay but as you can see they come in lots of sort of different um colors and what Happ beautiful aren't they beautiful yeah they're really they really are so this is part of our Parkland restoration we we've introduced a a a new Avenue here uh as you can see some lime trees yes cleared some trees at the other end so you get a Vista all the way up through there yeah beautiful as you come in to into into the estate so this is part of the 500 acre restoration program what you've got in front of you this lovely cow that is the classic beef shorton cow yes and you can see Isn't She Lovely and friendly she's she is lovely and friendly I mean they are all looking at me though so I'm a bit like yeah no no no but they're good carves and there's some there's some lovely carves in [Music] here then Mark introduces me to some renovation projects taking place across the estate all right Mark I love a good kit so thank you for the hard hat and the hive is we've got a range of of of disused uh agricultural building builds here right they're they're listed so they there are complications uh with that yes but yes they are they're totally underutilized y but what we're doing is converting these to form little business units um the plan originally was to do very small little workshops but we're actually going to go for offices for offices y so we we've got planning so we're stripping the roofs off and we'll start to re-roofing it Etc but there's a lot of stone work to do but this one here was totally gone so we that off and it's been battened and and then we'll put the col the col Western slate back on there back on there so their scheduled come at the beginning of the month so you can see it's a it's a it's a classic sort of Courtyard U but we we can we're going to create roughly 19 little business units out okay and what we're proposing to do is heat them through geothermal rods yes so 10 rods at 150 M so 1 and a half kilm if you if you like right and a little plant room and that would distribute heat and hot water for all of the business un so hopefully we can ride the sort of the Peaks and troughs of of energ cost and so on and so forth and and I'm just going to ask with this roof up here so that you you're having to literally rebuild the joiners will come and start replacing the Timbers that need to be replaced okay uh and our guys uh just pointing up the walls Etc in advance of them right the rest of it now you know me I never miss an opportunity to get involved and I'm joining Ned Cole and Adam mccrone up on the scaffold so here um where cuz the building's at all where the wall plates moved and pushed the stone work it's all come loose y so basically what we're got to do up here both sides is replace the loose Stones okay wow me and AD and then repoint yes and then repoint right so me and Adam we did after last week and this week with helped from Brandon doing this side right which is all pointed up and ready for the roofer to replace the roof all right right so this side's ready this side's ready and then what about on the other side on the other side there's a plenty of work to do that's she's still right okay should we have a little look at that [Music] yep okay wow this is this is your next big project is the project now this side so yeah so basically what I'll get Adam to do now is where're here instead of it being Lim some lime water it's cement oh my gosh so what we got to do is either well we've got to try and get it out and then re repoint it with lime cement which we've been using all this is cement yes you can't you're not supposed to use cement because then it well it doesn't work well with the environment it's not breathable so all the moisture gets yeah cut in yes trapped trapped in yes all right so what are you and I going to do while Adam has this super fun job he's super excited so while Adam's doing that we what we'll do as you can see um already prepared we've took this is where all the loose Stone was okay so what we've done is we took took it off and then all we're doing is as you can see we've put it so this is your top course and that's to go on next yeah so what we'll do is we'll just lay these Stones onto the wall without no with with the lime cement with the lime cement yes okay so then basically what we're doing is just rebuilding it back up to this height okay so when the roof has come it's not loose it's not loose it's all solid again okay do you want to start this process yep so cuz I have zero so what we' got to do because obviously ly when we clean them there's still some cement left on oh my gosh so just chip that off if you got rubbish and dirt still there your cement's not going to stick not going to stick so what you got to do from there oh my goodness again different Brick Layers and stone layers they they have their own way of putting joints on some put it on the one that got in the hand and some put it on there and then basically what you got to do is fight your way back in ah that mean that's looking sort of right yeah so again when you've done that okay so I'm going to try to do one so going take this and I'm going to plunk it on correct spread it about places in and go far back n how far back should I go more more more yep and back yep okay what do we think more no that's fine you sure that's fine that's good okay and then what you got to do there is so your stone to stick you need a joint either on this stone or that stone oh right okay so what I would do I would put it on there mhm so then you can control the stone with your hand beautiful okay okay how's that that's fine okay now so now what you got to do is pick your stone up uhuh without any dirt on it yeah keep 10 mil Gap is there uhhuh and then tap it when you sort of levish yeah you there I'm there I did it yeah I did one and then you go on to your next one you go to the next one and then you you just carry on and then you just carry and you've got all to do all down there so there's lots to do lots to do gosh I'm going to have to come back here and visit this oh yes that is for sure [Music] so you're really seeing behind the scenes here really this is not many people hardly any people get to see this um so what we've got here it's an extraordinary building I think it's one of the only of its type of its uh in the UK so it's a brick it's brickbuilt listed riding school guess it's mid mid 19th century 1840 or right so it was built by the ear of Cardigan to train his horses oh my goodness so can you imagine training your horses undercover here and the walls if you look at the bottom of the walls can you see that they they slope away slightly yes they do that's so the hores it's going right in its peripheral vision can see that and just keeps you and the rider it keeps the rider Off the Wall doesn't so you can go around here at quite high speed and of course Very cleverly built obv very cleverly built yes and as you can see it's it's in need of of restoration some of the Timbers have rotten and we got Acro props keeping it up we got a little Grant from the historic houses Foundation oh did you well done y so the idea is that we will strip all these roofs reset all the timber rebuild the walls where they're bowing out yes um and then re we're going to reuse this so the idea what our kind of vision is here is to have markets in here at least monthly so CHR maybe a Christmas Market a flower fair an antique fair oh my gosh so so we could run electric around the outside it'd be good wouldn't it yeah goodness have a good explore it's a lovely set of building this is definitely I will definitely it's unusual isn't it it's really unusual and it's beautiful it is actually really beautiful good I've just had a brilliant day out I've learned so much about really the detail it takes to run an estate like Dean Park and it you know it always brings me back that of course these Estates have these wonderful magical historical homes that that visitors want to come and see but it's a running estate there's old farm buildings that need to be repurposes yet they're listed so you have to do them the right way this is a perfect example right here of um you know an old sort of training riding school if you like and it is listed so it needs to be repaired in the right way and yes there are grants available but the grants only go so far and you have to work out how you can commercially use these spaces in order to generate income that goes back into the [Music] estate today is the big day it's the wedding here at Dean Park so I've put my dress back on to look the part but I'm first going to check out the gardens because like so many historic houses there are usually magnificent Gardens attached to them and Dean Park certainly has some Sensational Gardens to look at [Music] right now you you are known for your Gardens aren't you we are yes and we have we have in the last nine years uh produced a few more gardens this is the Golden Garden because they all flowers later in the year so when the long board is are over yes you can then actually have color we've grown sort of local things we haven't had a designer in we're just growing things that we know are going to work and survive here beautiful but this is one of how many uh well five different color theme Gardens that we've got it all right where are we off to next right on we go beautiful well this is lovely I mean do you come out here as often every day every day with the dog you should do we're going now into the White garden okay and um the white Garden was built in it was there before but we revamped the entrance right and it's done in memory of Robert's parents so everything here is white and there's a little n tucked in there given by the guides and then Robert's father's got one there given by his tenants it's so lovely in Fond memory of Edmund brudo given by the farm tenants August 25 it's lovely and then the other one is for mother mother-in-law Maran yes beautiful everything here is white except at the end of April when we have forget me knots Galore right and they were white forget me knots but they've turned back to being blue blue right and I did say to Andrew hang on a minute it's a white garden and his answer was well being called forget me not it's the right name yeah this is beautiful this is like an Avenue of heaven right it's called The Long borders and originally it was part part of the um wall Garden that was built in about 1720 the gardens here at Dean were obviously during the second world war they were all put to Grass okay and Robert's parents started to formalize the Garden back as it was and these wonderful borders here were half a size and they took advice and they doubled them in size which is why they're so luscious and rich and full of color and but everything we do here as a garden is that it's an adjunct to the house it's not a separate Garden that's you know beautifully designed and on it grows with the house so everything that we have here and we do only have two gardeners is self-seeding and they go along and weed obviously they they keep it going and replant how wonderful it's absolutely [Music] beautiful this is enormous it is enormous and we Chang all the flowers within it and the flowers that we're planting now it seem to be be changing much more into sort of warmer hotter plants 10 years ago and you'd never have put a banana plant out there but now it thrives it's certainly does so where we are now is called what Garden it's called The Four Seasons Garden okay I think this was here originally but it wasn't planted out with with these this wonderful Beach hedge that we have um and the coloring in here is a sort of mixture of white and and blue and red that rather rather a Royal Garden actually is rather a Royal Garden it's fantastic and this would have been a huge kitchen Garden so right we've got records in the 1850s where they had 18 Gardens just in the vegetable gardens I just want to show you this building here it was built by um the seventh L of Cardigan and it's where he entertained his lady friends yes there you there some stairs at the back that go up to what was his bedroom yes oh my so he built that as his Escape as his little away yes there we go right and now we're going to head up here okay let's head up here fantastic okay so I'm standing on where people will get married this is your third location this is the very first of the three loc first okay right so this location came first and you decided to put this in people can get married here yes yes yeah weather dependent yes yes yeah of course and then what chairs would come out here chairs be put out there and then they go straight straight into the Marquee behind but to have three wedding venues is incredible on an estate and they're all different and that's what's so wonderful you've got the lakes and then this one you called the wall Garden the wall Garden Marquee the lakes and then the Woodland and this traditionally has been the most popular and and we're sold out here for next year because of licenses we can only hold a certain amount so right 2023 booked so originally though this would have been Again part of the Walled Garden the thir the third ear of Cardigan when he came back to Dean eventually uh discovered that fruit and vegetables had to be brought in from the neighboring estate at lawick and he was so shamed by that he started at a brick Kil and they built these seven walled Gardens no and it's just incredible that they're still standing these walls which are all listed and then and then at some stage they were used for growing Christmas trees and breeding pheasants and I believe there was a tennis court here once upon a time well it's brilliant it's abs absolutely fantastic come on M is come on M come on M each generation adapts the gardens to the tastes and needs of their time Robert has joined us to explore the Jewel and the crown here at Dean Park well this is Glory right here tell me about it this is the main best bit showing off of Dean Park Gardens this is called the part A that Robert's parents put in in the 1980s and they got David Hicks to design it and it's based on the CIO design which we have throughout the house of a square and a circle and a square right uh and the whole theme of this Garden is purple now Charlotte I want to just point out something a little bit further along something to do with lenes I'm guessing it's just something as I was staying here that and I was walking around and I was like I spotted that coat of arms all on its own that is the montue one because there's nothing brutal at of exactly I know yes so that was done in honor of of Mary Mary yeah montue very go incredible yeah I know so I like I said we're family indeed indeed wow well that was a real treat and I can see now well you know it's all these layers that Dean Park has you know you've got the history of the house but it's then you've got the living history your own stories but attached to that and part of the fabric really of the building are these extraordinary Gardens and then you've got the wider estate it's wonderful though wonderful one more Garden to show you yes around the corner which is a rather special oh okay okay okay okay let's go to that let's go to that this is the East front of the house which I think architectur is the most interesting side of the house this is this is Robert's pink rose garden which I have put in as as my gift to Dean my legacy to Dean and it's pink because because there are too many men in our house and I love pink uh and it was designed particularly because originally once upon a time there was a chapel that stuck out that was the monastic Chapel the medieval Chapel that you saw the arch coming through to yes and to the right of it was a not Garden of herb a herb garden in the shape of a cross okay so that's what we've done here as a shape of a cross you've done yes and what we did here was we've put pink lavender you put pink lavender and the colors of the Roses grayed out from dark pink to pale pink and they're all chosen because they're named after people we love oh they are so rosam Mundy for godmother Rosie right Sophie spending for godmother Sophie and this as you can see is a Haven of bees and butterflies I can see them yeah obviously I see a lot of coat of arms here it's it's um the carvings are beautiful lots of broodals Rock which is the tresum right Tres for three yes so this side is pre Prem montigue I'm afraid well this is wonderful and I love that we've sort of done this fantastic Garden Tour but we've ended with you We've Ended with your I'm clashing terribly with my great I love it you stand out Charlotte you stand out so these historic houses rely on of course visitor income the tours the events but weddings are a huge part of income for these historic houses in order for them to restore to repair and to preserve this part of England's Heritage and Dean Park is no different I'm really excited The Marquees right here I'm going to get stuck in and see all that goes on in preparing for this huge wedding that's happening here tomorrow all right this is the big Marquee right here I'm about to meet Georgina wedding coordinator here so they're getting prepped for this enormous wedding it's all very exciting this is a fantastic Marquee by the way whoa and it's a huge hello hi lovely to meet you so nice to meet you thank you so much for letting this is enormous huge isn't it I can come in and see what's happening but I'm sorry that's right don't be sorry I'm all about kidding out and making sure that this floor stays squeaky clean go until tomorrow come in great so this is an enormous Marquee is huge this is the biggest we've had at Dean Park so far we are one a week at the very most so we can give our couples the full week's attention for the buildup as you can see that's oh my goodness I know weddings are a big business for historic houses I mean we have a wedding business as well and it's big for us and it's it's because it's a way to generate income that can then go back into preserving the estate AB we keep it very exclusive so we can give our couples the time that they deserve in the planning of their weddings and the setup but with the other two sites now coming along we'll be able to take a few more weddings on because the Woodland site is so far away it's a it's a self-contained venue in its own right so um will growing isn't it mag you see the wild flowers oh yeah so Prett we saw I was with Mark we saw so many bees on the thistles and it was it was incredible and butterflies tomorrow um the DJ will be setting up we've got a big screen going behind the dance floor with the DJ booth and all the lights on the stage here in the front so it will change a bit tomorrow um Crystal group are in at the moment setting up all the decor so they're setting up all the the VIP tables in the middle here and all the scent pieces okay so these These are the family tables right and then this is all this all the guest now these centerpieces are rather extraordinary aren't they beautiful we're final touches today so this is Daisy from fuse mares hello hello she's steaming the um the all the drapes today to take all the creases out so you've got to go all the way around yes the details right oh my goodness I know what is it can I just have a little go it's quite fun isn't it it's quite fun isn't it but H look at that there something about a steamer do you know what I mean it just sort of makes you proud because you're like oh my gosh but you how's your arm going to be after this all right to be honest well I'm well you're well practiced and steaming I mean it does take some T you know this is so have you just started here yes yeah it's okay Daisy has a long way to go this you can do this occasionally right give yourself a nice little facial there The Next Step so tablecloths have gone on centerpieces will go in place then they'll dress the um VIP tables in the middle then that's the decor team done and make that sound really quick and easy they'll be here all [Music] day so with the preparations for the wedding well underway it's time to head inside to help get ready for our dinner party this evening all right I have to be honest Lynn that I have been waiting all day for this you know when I've gone to dinner parties before I've always been impressed with the napkins I've tried it many many times myself and I haven't been able to do it so I've been told to come and find you because you know what to do that is the napkin ring I'll show you how to make yes how do you start so You' got the napkin here so you get the napkin wa we start yeah and then iron it all out fold it in half right spray it again okay you fold and iron it yeah and then another one another one iron iron flip it over two two flip over flip it over again okay and then you just roll okay you made that way too easy so it's like a fold in half and then two little Folds yeah and then it fold in half and a roll yeah okay all right should I have a little go I think you should that so I'm just going to start on like a clean slate here okay now fold in half fold in half spray again spray again okay okay one fold and iron just iron just iron okay one and then another one yeah okay okay and then I do that mhm and I'm going to flip it over yeah okay so should I go yeah like that whoops whoops okay okay fold up here then I'm going to roll and then I roll up okay roll and there you have your napkin ring perfect Lynn is kindly doing a birds appar ice napkin just for me in my honor all right here we go iron it all up and you fill it in half okay spray and you fold it into a square okay you fold each ah thing up and then you iron iron spray yeah iron then you fold and IR in okay then you fold that over and then you just do that right and then you take each little oh my gosh and now I see why you had to starch them yeah in yeah in in between each of the folding yeah crease that is beautiful okay I love that one that was brilliant so exciting um that I was able to do that and I can definitely take that yeah back home I'm going to remember that fold and half fold fold folds in half yeah roll yeah and that's nice at Christmas as well cuz you can put a little bit of Ivy yeah or Hol or Holly in there in there or even mistletoe if you have some yeah thank you Lynn next up polishing the silver so can I lend a hand that would be marvelous one of the things I do like to do is polish silver so you like polish one of these this must be Bruno family silver here I believe a wedding present this is BR yeah a pair you see oh yes are these just really more like features yes Fe the C phant sits up by Mr brudel and and the and the female by Mrs brudel Right I think it's brilliant by the way I'm polishing this maybe you should one maybe I should I was just thinking I don't know if I'm get well I just I kind of want to you know I'm all about being kitted out there's something quite meditative about this yes there is yeah it's part of our deep cleaning regime as well it probably takes us a good you know week to um polish all silver in the house yeah and how often are you polishing just once a year just once a year that's yeah that's about what we do as well yeah what do you guys think I think you've done a marvelous job great job is that all right okay I mean you can you can definitely tell a difference of the shine [Music] all right ladies are we finished it's rather fun isn't it then the big test for me setting the [Music] table anytime I do get left to set the table without my husband he does come around and check it in fact we just had a son's 21st birthday and I set the table for that but it all looks so beautiful when it's said and done so I'm going around and I'm just making sure there sort of one thumb distance um so that when you sort of look down here and this is how I always when I do Market when I look down at the one end of the table all the way down I want to see like a perfect line I think there's one I might have to move up here just like a tiny bit that's bothering [Music] me thing about formalities is that if we don't keep them up they will get lost and it's not that we're doing this all of the time um but it's about carrying on these traditions and Times of course have changed and luckily they have and many of us just have lovely suppers in our kitchen but I think you know every once in a while being able to set the table properly I think it's a real art and I think it's a thing of beauty and I think it's wonderful just to be able to be in such a beautiful setting around you know friends or new acquaintances and having a really proper dinner [Music] party so it's my last night here at Dean Park and we've set up for a dinner party the dinner is in the dining room I cannot wait to eat in there but it's just been an extraordinary time here at Dean Park and this is the wonderful thing about these historic houses yes they're open to the public and we love opening them to the public uh having visitors come in and Tour all the rooms but of course they also need to be lived in this is really living history so I'm really excited to be able to dine with Charlotte and Robert and have a dinner party in the dining room and use the rooms uh occasionally and put new energy and life in them so I feel like I'm going off to a ball I'm not but I feel like I am cuz let's face it I'm in a castle and I have a turret there for my [Music] bathroom oh my goodness there's something about drawing rooms for like no other rooms in the world this oh my goodness they're really called withdrawing rooms and they're where the ladies withdrew to when men were carrying on drinking pork around the table and having cigars so that's why they're always cigars they're always so exquisitely beautiful so tell me about this drawing room well this drawing originally it had silk hangings and we've got a small Remnant left in the corner over there right and then Robert's parents found this Exquisite American wallpaper It's Not Silk it's wallpaper and they put the filaments over it so it looks like it's silk this room being a withdrawing room has got portraits really mostly of women we've got Anna Mariah and then we have Mary Mary trees and Mary broodal the first count of Cardigan my absolute fave Rave she was the one who held the for during the Civil War when everything was taken the books the pictures the furniture and everybody scadd and she was left here being fine four fifths of her income oh my goodness do you feel that she kind of saved the place she really kept the home fires burning I love that you said that this is where you you know the drawing room is because this is where the women used to withdraw but you have really made it you know women sort of empowering women around here well I'd love to say I made it but in fact it was Robert's mother who made it what is the most beautiful thing in the room these portraits we've got which are painted by Paul Van s and they're known as The Brood or Tres portraits has nothing to do with the tresum I think they're all sisters so you want to find out who they are and so this is another project it is my exploration phase yes it's one big research project isn't it and it's such fun because you know interior decorating changes the whole time research becomes more and more easy to do I've just looked up something and found that there's a book I can read online for what I want the information for and and so as as information progresses we learn more and sometimes things change yes and what you think is written in ink is is H yes not the person you thought they were right and you have to change the narrative and the storytelling but um and that's what's so fascinating I mean it is utterly beautiful it's an elegant room isn't it it it really is and here is our good health to you for coming all the way from beautiful beautiful Dorset know D up to northamptonshire which we absolutely now love y um and thank you for taking the time to come and see us thank you this has been and to understand and to share our joy of Dean I love I mean I'm I'm in love I'm in love with Dean okay let's just say that and um it's brilliant so thank you both and um cheers Chin Chin Chin Chin and so Robert Charlotte and I reflected on my visit over dinner and raised our glasses once more thank you both so much it is so much our pleasure to have you you lighten up our life and we just think it's fabulous that that you appreciate Dean which we so appreciate yeah I appreciate it and I I appreciated it before because I am you know a lover if you like of historic houses but I appreciate it now more than ever because coming here you get to really see how it all works together and it is in one sense a big jigsaw puzzle but you have the team in place and the team so looks up to you and you have the two of you who just immerse yourself into making sure that the pieces are in the right place and that this carries on for well I'd just like to make tribute now to the fact of our three wonderful trustees because they let us go out on on on little adventures and and there are they are so supportive it's amazing and um thank you we could not survive without them so I would like to pay tribute to them yeah you and you must because trustees are so important especially in this in where in where we are today with historic houses so cheers should I cheers thank you for a really truly spectacular time and the following day before I head home there's time to take a peek at the wedding celebrations it's so exciting the bride and the groom have just arrived and they're here to do some of their photos of course with Dean Park as their backdrop so far so good with the weather and I got a sneak peek of her and she's absolutely [Music] beautiful [Music]

Channel: Real Royalty

Views: 65,126

Keywords: real royalty, real royalty channel, british royalty, royalty around the world, royal history

Id: CnHyw13LWnM

Length: 79min 50sec (4790 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 24 2023