Join Julie Montagu on her journey of exploring British aristocracy. After marrying into the Hitchenbrook family Julie claimed the title of Viscountess. Follow her through the historic Iford Manor and its flower gardens, Pentllie Castle and its rich history, and the iconic Rockingham Castle.
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Nestled in a secluded Valley on the Wiltshire Somerset Border in Southwest England eord Manor boasts one of Britain’s most beautiful historic Gardens during my visit I’ll be in deep water with the head Gardener Troy is there a snake in here yeah what what getting artistic in the kitchen with
Head chef Jack get that and enjoying the Glorious British summer weather with William I’m coming back this is Crazy 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 maon house IND dors it 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 Heritage mton 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 B Countess as I journey into the British Countryside in search of some of Britain’s Finest historic Houses I’m here at eord Manor today and I’m visiting our great friends William and MaryAnn I’ve been to the house before but I’ve never properly explored the gardens so that is what I’m about to Do hello hello how are you good so nice to see you yeah now am I just about to walk under the eord Wisteria well certainly one of them but it’s the earliest this is um about 1820s Wisteria only came to the UK in 1815 so this is definitely one of those very early
Plants and it has an amazing scent and it produces amazing flowers and it’s very happy on the south face of the bath stone I me so I’m just trying to do my maths here so basically this is 200 years old you know the American me I need to
Date everything I need to find out if it’s older than my country or not I mean but 200 years old incredible it’s an awesome PL anyway I’m going to remember this moment let’s go get your coffee okay Great well you’ve picked A really lovely day for me to come thank you it’s um lovely to see you thank you thank you for bringing me here when the sun is shining so tell me a little bit more about why your Gardens are so special well they’ve got a very rich history I
They go back to Medieval Times when this was a rich Factory owner’s house with uh a factory at the other end it was two buildings and then it was really the Georgians who did the terror forming so all The Terraces you see behind us and up into the hills those are Georgian
Terraces we’re talking between 1730 I suppose and 1820 that sort of period and the Georgians were the Great Builders weren’t they they they didn’t think twice about just cutting in and building something new and then it’s haralo who comes in 1899 down the hill over there on his bicycle and he’s looking for
Somewhere to settle down looking for the perfect house and here he finds this Jewel of a little sort of smart Georgian Villa the bottom of a steeply wooded Hill facing south and with a little stream a river in front and I think when you look out that way you kind of sense
Maybe he felt he was on the North shore of Lake KO or maybe Lake Gard somewhere like that he was in the sort of villa belagio looking out over his beautiful glistening Lakeside but crucially setting it in England his beloved England because he was an Edwardian Englishman so he’s really the creator of
This of these Gardens yes he’s the augmentor right he’s the augment a Georgian garden and plays with it and turns it into something else he’s not a capability brand sweeping everything away to create something new he is somebody who augments who builds another layer of history for another one to come
On top of him that’s us and another one on top of us and it’s that extraordinary Rich sort of sandwich I suppose you would say well I like that word of course um but you know that extraordinary sandwich The Filling is getting bigger and I suppose the failure
Is when you’re the one who puts the top on the sandwich because you can you’re not continuing you’re not you’re wrapping it up yep exactly well my husband wanted me to mention to you that we do have a connection and I don’t know if you’re aware of this I know
But my father-in-law sandwich speaking of sandwich so the 11th Earl of Sandwich my father father-in-law’s mother was Rosemary Pito how extraordinary yeah so her great uncle was Harold I’ve always wondered whether Harold Pito had an influence or vice versa or knew maon exactly I’ve always wondered that because matin’s Italian Gardens were
Created by athul Basher and they were created over 7 years from 1920 to 1927 so haral Peter was still around right he was definitely around he died in 1933 he would have been I would have think by that stage in his career advising yes rather than doing he was in
His 60s and early 70s but I bet he want to visit I bet he went there these Gardens are 20 years prior so this is 1900 to 1910 the Closter which we’ll see later is 1914 right um pretending to be 125 because nothing you see in this Garden
Is quite as it seems don’t trust anything my best advice of this Gard the Gardens at eer May largely be the brainchild of one man but it’s William’s parents Elizabeth and on cartright higit who have lovingly kept Harold P’s Vision alive for the past 50 years my mother
Came to iord in 1965 she bought iord um from a nephew of haral Pito and she basically spent 50 years restoring iord I mean she picked it up as a 25-year-old single woman what which is kind of um in the 60s is kind of crazy so your mother
Bought iord aged 25 Y and took over the running of it that’s right I mean she was moving her family from enormous house called ano Park beautiful moved down here um bit of a downsizing if you can call it that um still um downsizing nevertheless and so
She moved in she married my father in 1979 I think was probably one of the best things that happened to iord in the last 50 years cuz he then poured his energies into this Garden for 40 years and restored the buildings and the structures so that now we’re in a
Position to take it on for the next 50 years exactly so you grew up here you up here watching your parents run this this is you know not only is this a lot to take on of course but the gardens so the gardens are what people come and see and
I actually haven’t seen them yet so what I want to do right now is go and explore these maybe get my hands a little bit dirty too absolutely Great I think that’s an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription Required Harold Pito called these Gardens paradise and I can see why I’m having a little wander and there’s just so much to see I mean this Garden is is you know terraced on so many different levels and when you go from one level to the next it completely
Changes the gardens are planted over 2 and 1/2 acres and are attended by a team of gardeners and volunteers who keep them in full Bloom it is incredible it’s just magical and there’s so many places dotted around the gardens that you can just find a spot sort of contemplate because it’s so peaceful it’s Serene the smells are incredible and again it’s just an opportunity to find a spot sit down and just be
I’m heading up to see Troy the head Gardener Troy is obviously an expert here at iord I kind of don’t know where I’m going but I’m going to head up The Path right here hi hello oh my goodness I found you I’m now in the Japanese garden is that
Right Japanese or Oriental Garden Oriental there’s so many different layers of this Garden I mean and I don’t just mean by the way that it’s built up it’s there are so many different sort of compartments I guess like what I find fascinating here is you literally walk
Six yards behind you and you’ve traveled like 6,000 mil to Europe that’s that’s like the Roman appan way and here we are in in Japan right that’s where I just was so why is it that there are so many what was it with Harold Pito he he
Purposely did this to create these sort of different elements throughout it was a genius I think you know because there’s these moments but it doesn’t try to separate them they’re very very much linked but it feels still effortless you know it doesn’t feel awkward moving from
One space to the other I don’t know how he manages to achieve that because it’s one of the most difficult aspects of garden design if you like the transitions but I mean he went to all these places so he traveled to Japan I think in about 1895 very early on really
He spent a few weeks there and brought back obviously the ideas and some of the things that he saw there right so this is kind of like a little Grand Tour do you know what I mean absolutely that’s what it kind of feels like when I walk
Around so Troy tell me how long have you been here as head Gardener so I was uh I’ve been here just about two years as head Gardener but I mean I knew I’ve known ier for a long time it’s um the way it Nestles in the landscape so
Beautifully it was the first thing that struck me I used to walk along the river um about 25 years ago oh my goodness it’s lovely to be here now in the garden in the garden okay so I you probably get asked this all the time but I’m going to
Ask it anyway um what is your do you have a favorite part of the garden I think it is probably here oh I think I think there’s something different about this this this space you know it’s not about the obvious right it’s about the orchestration of the greens the dappled
Light the sound of the water there the coolness the temperature changes dramatically you know just stepping into this this space so yeah I think here is one of my favorite it’s got It’s got all those elements so what can I do to help you well yeah well today I’m I’m you’re
Going to let me I’m cutting these irises down today these uh right a lovely Japanese water Iris but I think I’m okay continuing with that okay what would be really useful if you don’t mind getting into the PO into the water I love water
I love doing I mean like how far do you want me to go well it would be really nice to I’ve got a net uh we can skim off all of this kind of floating floating leaves which would be lovely Fant well I okay well did you lay these
Out for me I did I thought you I have to have waiters on I’m so excited so I’m going to put these on now I’ll grab the next great okay fantastic so I’m just going to put these on there we go how do I look all right Troy I’m ready so those
Wle those ones okay but I’m going I am going in going in I’m stepping into the unknown okay that’s a bit mm okay I’m stepping in mhm okay okay there we go me and water where we do like each other yeah it’s mhm watch the um the Deep bit where’s the
Deep okay okay so I’m just all this yes please okay okay all this okay super just like of surface skim surface surface so a little bit higher up yeah and probably the net a bit more horizontal so that’s it yeah and just kind of drop in and then so so it’s not
Over the edge I think that was my issue okay that’s not a very good job do you want me really okay so now where do I put it swivel round and flick it onto the edge I’m just curious these they don’t have any holes in them do they it’s feeling a
Bit see it’s feeling a bit cold okay so slap so it’s like a pancake right yeah okay on here yeah thank you one two three okay and you just carry on and then I can just I don’t have to flip it back around okay so I’m gonna go under here okay
Great okay so am I how fast do you normally do this well we like to do it every week and probably about two hours so it’s it’s quite a commitment but I think that surface the clarity of the water is quite important and because we’re in there we are stirring it up but
That all settles that that all settles this the Stirrup okay yeah wow wow okay so I’m going to be here Troy for like two hours so we’ve got the weeds the leaves here but also some of that blanket weed as well which okay so I am trying to get
The leaves in yes yes okay I see a dragonfly there oh so much Wildlife it’s great in here this year we’ve seen so many things there’s frogs turds NES snakes wait I I’m sorry say that again wait are there no no I’m fine with frogs I’m fine with toads fine with noes swim
With them snakes I have an issue are there snakes in here we’ve seen snakes swimming in here okay they’re safe ones they’re only grass snakes they’re just grass I didn’t know grass snakes could you think sure you’re you’re putting me into snakes I have a I have I do have a
Fear of snakes and cows but they they’re not like going to attack me right you just might scoop one up in your neck yeah there’s one what what shut up is there a snake in here oh my gosh I I think Stephen did you really see a snake
You did oh my gosh I mean I’m really bad at this sorry Troy I’m visiting ifred Manor known for its beautiful historic Gardens I’m meeting head Gardener Troy Scott Smith and lending a helping hand in the Japanese garden Troy hello again so what are you planting here these a wonderful
Little plant look at that it’s called Rosa it’s a Japanese plant oh Rosa orula lovely open purple trumpets so we’re just going to just put these around here so fantastic and you do these every year they’re perennial no they’re last last over time oh they’re last oh wow okay
Okay so um yeah just in case of digging that hole where where you are that be that be great my mother-in-law has This brilliant line that she says people come to visit a house once but they come to visit the gardens four times a year through the seasons and do you feel that
As well here yeah I mean iids I think is a bit special because it doesn’t necessarily rely on the Horticulture right so you know it’s for setting so Winter’s beautiful and I really like the um the play of light in Winter on the structure on the soft bath stone we have
Here um and then in spring and summer of course you know you get all the all the loveliness from the from the blossom so I mean you love winter and then as spring arrives you love spring and then summer and you love summer true this is
The draw people come to iord for the gardens and you as head Gardener why do you think that is it has got something unique I think but I think it is that sense of arrival when you arrive it’s unexpected you come down these steep-sided valleys it’s nestled in the
In the valley floor the river fast flowing river running just by its doorstep and I think all that adds to that somehow the drama and then you come into the garden and this very unexpected sense of the Tuscan Hillside the Italian Garden the Oriental Garden all nestled
In this vernacular and it is something about that which is which I think is is the special sense of I later I’ll be heading over to the kitchen to help prepare afternoon tea but first I need to pick some rather special flowers which apparently are tasty
Too well we’ve got you know lots of flowers here particularly this part of iord but what we’ve got over here is actually some pots which um are probably perfect for you and all sorts of things in let me show you those yeah because I want to make sure
Obviously I think we’re going to top them onto some cakes well these would be fun wouldn’t they yeah beautiful and the colors these are a little Violet called trick little VI okay so here’s the thing when I just need to pick it from the top is that right well I think probably for
For the for eating you would but for the garden if you can pinch it right down yeah okay that’s what I was going to ask you so and then you can just take the top I don’t suppose you want to eat the store but yeah so actually these you can
Eat as well what these these Dees they they can you can eat them you’re kidding whether you whether you’d be brave enough but you can eat them seriously so have you eaten them before no okay but you can I’m not I wouldn’t joke about such a serious thing really so yeah
These or the buds would be lovely you can eat the buds should we try now I think we should try one right now we it seems a shame to this is it to take the flower there we go okay okay it is a shame to take the FL okay just go for it
All right I’m the count of three one two three actually okay really nice not bad it tastes like something I really didn’t know what to expect these are really nice there’s do that again yeah that fantastic oh my goodness they can help yourself to all of us yeah I mean
Basically you’re going to come back tomorrow and all of these are going to be gone I’ll leave you to it then okay great thanks Troy so much thank you so much oh my gosh that was delicious I might have to have another one yeah he’s gone okay I’ll pick like
This really small one here so it goes un noticed is actually really delicious I have to get that if there’s a flavor that’s coming through and I can’t quite get it it’ll come to me later right right now I’ve got to pick so see that’s why I asked
That question to Troy like so I knew that obviously edible flowers it’s just the flower but see from a Gardener’s point of view he was like no You’ got to pick it from you know the stem all the way down so so that you don’t ruin the
Plant right I think this will be enough for the kitchen also just remember that you need to be with somebody who knows about What flowering plants are edible so I trusted Troy he’s a head Gardener He’s an expert and he knows what’s edible definitely don’t just pick up a flower and eat it
Know for sure if it’s Edible after a glorious morning in the garden this Happened traditional British summer weather made a dramatic appearance and so it rained and rained okay are we going to go for it are we going to go no are you really of the Garden in this I’m coming back I’m this is crazy get back get back oh my
God okay so that was a good Garden to so glad you enjoyed that oh my goodness armed with Williams meteorological optimism as well as umbrellas we set off okay right now in the context of English weather this is not raining okay but this is it is raining it is not raining
William it’s raining imagine it is not raining imagine the Azure sky that Mr Pito saw when he arrived at iord it is it is not raining come on you got to Broly wait so I I’m not going you don’t want me to put this up I’m not wearing
Okay all right all right oh my goodness Wellington Boots are all you need and you oh here’s busy look she hasn’t has she got an umbrella no she has no um she doesn’t lovely Georgian Terraces upgraded by Harold Peter so they were Georgian because they needed a g for
Recreation invite the rec around get your friends around you know the rest of it they wanted to show off the valley and they wanted to show then ah cuz they’re all about showing off right absolutely so then here is this lovely Conservatory Terrace where they are integrating the conservatory of the
House with the garden very much a grand tour idea look at byy right here she’s so she is happily her garden right it’s her garden right so these these all these little Terraces constricting our space giving us a shooting glance and then up to the main Garden above through
This set of steps and then at the top you come through this Arch yes and you see this a Cathedral of space above this amazing plain tree I mean look up there isn’t that spectacular 1779 that was planted to commemorate uh the our independence nearly the birth of Thomas
Gayford but nevertheless um it’s close 1776 perfectly reasonable guess um Thomas gayford ended up as a dean of Christ Church Oxford he lived here he was uh a great Greek scholar the regious professor at 31 brigh cookie um and he lived here he wrote his sermons on the
Great Terrace he he was a great one for the grand tour so he brought cypresses in here even as early as the Georgian period this was known for its Cypress walks and then as we round this wonderful corner is sort of you know you can’t really see where you’re going and
Then you arrive at this representation of effectively a Tuscan Hillside so here if you look up you’ve got this wonderful tree form of juniper the cypresses you’ve got rosemaries old rosemaries with their Woody stems really rolent of trips to the Mediterranean and the thing about this Garden is that it
Is essentially a series of memories but they’re not Mr peto’s memories although they were they’re actually your memories they’re my memories they’re things which trigger a memory in us and we get oh that’s a bit like when I went to insert holiday that you had when you were nine
Or whatever and that’s point of these fragments of Masonry and then if you look at this end to this little patio which is I think rolent of those cordan and civilian patios you know when you see down a corridor and there’s a pool of light at the end yes sort of the coolness of that
Central patio in a house um in amid the chaos of the city and this is that cool safe quiet space yes it is planted up with Lush foliage scented plants you smell that I absolutely well what am I smelling here am I smelling you’re smelling I suppose the south of Spain
Tuscany sages you’ve got um geraniums you’ve got all of those lovely scented plants and crucially the sound of water yeah which leads you on you hear it before you see it it draws you through a garden and that’s the genius of Pito to place water in places that makes you
Want to find out where it came from where it came from I love his little F too wonderful the fern is fantastic hairstyle yeah it is it is a little bit Medusa yeah a little bit maybe maybe it’s better when it’s earlier it’s just coming out so essentially Pito is
Creating a garden an international Garden but he’s not doing it in the sense that here’s the French bit here’s the Italian Renaissance bit here’s the Roma bit here he’s intermingling everything if you drew a ven diagram of all of the world’s cultures all of the kind of the bits that they all thought
Were beautiful this is the intersection of that beauty how wonderful and and then you come into this little pool with a little garden perhaps pompan the sort of thing you see at the back of a house in Pompei absolutely yes little bit of water kick the kids out go and play Ludo or
Whatever they played abacus for the back of their house in Pompei and so this is and now I’m just seeing I mean we’ve only been through just a fraction of the garden but there is water everywhere yeah absolutely it’s a crucial element of the garden because
It it really creates life in a garden space doesn’t it that sound of water is constant it’s always there it’s ever moving it creates a sense of energy and as we look up there’s this little Quirk here which I rather like Pito hated asymmetry he took the false Wing off the
Mana because he didn’t you know because the Georgians had of course had to have a symmetrical house and Pito hated symmetry so he takes the wing off but here he has 15 of these beautiful terracotta tiles and he places them five six and four I don’t know a single
Designer who would ever do that it shouldn’t work and yet it does and what it does is it creates an ability for him to create an asymmetrical space beneath you wouldn’t know it but the walls aren’t Square nothing lines up because nothing ever lines up at iord it’s all a
Bit of a fudge that’s the key and this is his magnificent Terrace this is incredible this is the wow moment right here it kind of is This Is It is this is what I think he wanted you to just stop and take in my good this is just magical this is a
Representation of the appan way coming out of Pompei on this way out you know with the cart tracks and all of that passing monuments and sarcophagus isn’t or and I mean I’m actually forgetting that I’m in England right now I honestly am that’s literally what I was thinking
Okay so then you’ve got lovely English roses up the columns which gives the sort of Whimsy you’ve got Romulus and remas which is the last uh copy taken from the capital line so that’s very much the the influence of Rome right at the heart of the garden but then look
Out through the colonades you get this incredible setting of the landscape and it is the borrowed landscape Shak he learned this in Japan when he was there in 18 Shak what does that mean Shak is the borrowed landscape it is setting your garden in the context of its
Surroundings so it’s the opposite of what Roman Theory does which should build a forum in the safe space and everyone looks in yes the Japanese are building something to look out much more of an outward looking gardening style and as a result you’re constantly with this balance of the the the for ground
And space that you’re in it’s like a basilica isn’t it with a absolutely it is and then the outward View and there’s another out of the countryside fantastic everything is always in balance and the internationalism is the other key here which is that he wasn’t going out in a
Sort of 18th century British Empire we and saying you know we really ought to be more British should be more British you’ll appreciate it you’ll love it um he wasn’t doing that he was going out to see what everyone else could teach him this was an this was a magpie for ideas
He wanted to learn he went to Japan for 10 weeks to learn Keana to you flower arranging to learn about the placement of objects to learn about Shak all of these amazing Concepts were completely alien to learn and then bring them back here and then to use for his clients right
Incredible the love and respect which William and his family have for Herald peto’s Vision here is so inspiring and clear to see as we arrive at the Japanese garden where thankfully the water has settled after my waiting efforts Originally Pito wanted a Japanese garden here so this is not Pito not fully no I mean originally he had so he built his his shelter step up onto here a lovely view he built his shelter he’ bought his Pagoda and his lanterns and he had found with his Workman the rather wonderful
Rock at the far side which is of course representative of Mount Fuji Mount Fuji fantastic you are so it’s that representation of the really important things that you know the Japanese hold dear to them M Fuji’s revered yeah of course and and so he created that and
Then sadly 1933 arrived and that was the end of Mr peto’s tenure on Earth so he moved on and in 84 my father 1984 uh yes okay quite often the wrong Century appears I appreciate that in 1984 my father decided to finish the job
As he puts it so this is truly a John higit Garden and I’m really proud of what he’s achieved here we’re still working on it it’s 40 years in um there are views being created there it’s one of the things about Japanese Gardens is that they take three generations to
Mature at least you want all of this Moss you see it’s all self Z and you don’t plant it it just occurs interestingly enough here in this Japanese garden I am spotting two native orchids pamal orchids absolutely self Zone like so many things in this Garden
The the box is very much where it falls it lies and then you manage it from there and of course it’s on a rock which is you know 10 tons of rock which was taken across on on rollers in the Roman fashion um pulled by a digger by my
Father from um some some yards away 100 yards away yes he placed that there so that is his Island and then the whole of the idea of this Garden is really based around that sort of Chinese cosmological idea of the north and south east and the
West these Stones you see the scales of the Dragon is these two of the Dragons coming down to drink and and to to to steal the pearls which are under the Temple and so it’s all the stories are in there W but in a subtle way okay it’s
Just stunning and beautiful but I have to say it’s something about those two orchids there I’m going to tell you what I’m thinking right now those are your parents cuz they’re English right there here they are the englishness at the heart of the Japanese the Japanese garden and there are your parents who
Really took the son and still do of course my father’s still driving his Digger exactly as his retirement project as it was his profession as a professional amate Gardener as he calls himself it’s wonderful you know it is lovely and he’s still here every evening you know moving the Rocks around sorting
Things out sort of working out watch M leave and the rest of it of course the thing about this Garden is it so different to everything else isn’t it it’s cooler it’s damper and I think it’s more peaceful in many ways it’s very peaceful I’m spending the day visiting the
Stunning grade one listed Gardens at eord Manor in Southwest England The Gardens have developed over the past 100 years from the vision of Harold Pito who lived here in the early 20th century and in 2016 our dear friends William and Maryanne were handed the Reigns to lead eord into the future
One of the gifts that I think my mother gave us was um and bear in mind she took over iord 50 years prior um was to say essentially to leave a spinning chair in the office she sort of pretty much just went and she said to me I remember very
Vividly she said to me I know I’m going to hate a number of things that you do but do it anyway because you need to run at it you need to go at it just as I did and I think that was an amazing gift it meant that Marian and I could really
Start to make the changes that we felt were necessary eord has been welcoming visitors since 1910 when Harold Pito was in the midst of transforming the Georgian Gardens into a glorious celebration of all the places he had visited and now with the completion of one of William and Marianne’s first
Projects visitors can enjoy the wonderful food in the new restaurant and Cafe which is is run by amazing head chef Jack Brewer hello hello oh look little posie of pansies yeah because I hear we’re making sort of cakes and maybe some tea sandwiches but I thought we could put
Some edible flowers on them is that it yeah wonderful thank you so much is that enough no but we can I I’ve bought some in as well so we can make we’ll we’ll use these I promise you I’ve never made a proper afternoon tea before have you not
Okay well here we go okay great okay so let’s go through and I’ll wash hands yeah let’s do that okay here we go I mean you know we all know how to wash our hands really well now this is where your station’s going to be oh great and we’re making a little
Nod to the Japanese garden of the Pito Garden so there’s some Yuzu in here which is a lovely tropical juice um um so I’ve mixed up some Yuzu and cucumber and cider vinegar and then chive butter oh my goodness and then we’ve got this spread on on here on very plain white
Bread the cheapest bread you can buy it’s true but it’s the make they make the best sandwiches they really then you’re folding this over and then we’re going to cut them beautifully so we’re going to be cutting um just into three samples like this and putting onto the
Plate here okay that’s your brief that that’s my brief oneand this is like quite an extravagant beautiful aren’t they cheese sandwich here I’m I can’t wait to taste it I’m going to just tell William and marann that I made the whole thing no I’m just kidding no no no and then we’ll
Dress them with edible flowers so I’m going to fold it over fold it over and then you’re cutting off the the okay don’t know whether our parents would be very happy with us doing this cutting off the crusts it meant to be good for you all the crusts all the crust really
Neatly and the whole thing about afternoon tea in my opinion is it’s really precision beautiful beautiful food Jack I don’t know if you know this but the family that I married into actually invented the sandwich y so they’ll be so proud of you today here’s the thing you’d think that
I would know how to make tea sandwiches but the sandwich that the fourth THL was well invented and it was named after him was actually you know in one sense you know roast beef between two pieces of bread and it became the sandwich the lunchtime sandwich that we all know not
Not not this no this is something completely different yeah it is and it’s it’s such a treat to go out for afternoon tea every American I’m certain that has visited you know Britain has come here to have their afternoon tea we just don’t have the same wonderful you
Know tradition top cutting there yeah wonderful now turn it around again okay super and then cut it into three so you’ve got equal sizes okay equal sizes I mean I have no known chefs to measure oh I know it’s that it’s that much of an art SK okay what you think that’s that’s
Good we go with that perfect all right yeah so if we just then if you just kind of turn them up on this side so that they F so that you can actually see the ah F this one I have to just do a quick yeah don’t tell anybody okay so turn
Them up like this that’s super oh my goodness see how beautiful that looks y I’m going to turn just going to you’re just going to drape the tendrils the little peo tendrils over my gosh it’s beautiful okay I’m just making sure it’s that’s top work absolutely wonderful
Well done this one’s okay okay there we go well done beautiful like this yes well done oh my gosh well I’m learning from the best so that is True right now we’re going to decorate some cakes okay this exciting with my with my edible flowers with your edible flowers let’s do it so here we are in the bakery now and uh this is a chance to go crazy I’ve made a clementine and almond syrup cake with it’s so before it
Was um ganached I made um like a a drizzle for it right lemon and orange and sugar okay which when the cake came out of the oven I just washed it over kept washing it over so it filtrated into the the cake so it’s like it makes
It not heavy it’s a very light cake but it makes it so delicious I mean and moist okay I’m just going to ask you this question because obviously I’m not a baker I’m not a chef but ganached great word isn’t it I know what gach mean ganach means so you melt chocolate
Dark kachow and butter together then you add some honey and cognac in there cheeky um and then it gives it the most beautiful glaze which is really Lov that’s a gach so it’s been ganach ganach this has been ganach already for you JY brilliant it’s my new
Favorite word we move to the flowers so we have your lovely bunch and this is where you knock yourself out these are beautiful they’re gorgeous aren’t they so we we’ve got another little surprise which we’re going to be using the pink palette which I was talking to you about how wonderful how
Wonderful you match thank you great isn’t it and then the Orange is going to go beautifully with the the cake here so I think it’s over to you okay so I’m going to pick you want to get a little bit of kind of height in there and ah
And facing out exactly that looks amazing I’ve got some little nerian flowers uh sorry leaves that you could actually pop on if you want so would you would you put it on top do you see how I just put it on top there or no would yeah no definitely that’s too big
Anything goes anything goes okay like that I think that’s stunning really I think you’ve done a fantastic job well thank you all right what’s up next an angel cake oh my which is just the lightest thing you’ll ever eat in the middle of the cake you’ve got raspberries and blueberries so when you
Cut into it they tumble out or they should do oh my goodness that’s the plan I’m sure growing up in America angel cake right it’s the thing it’s that’s why I did oh my gosh it’s an American recipe I’m sure America we’d have angel cakes so you did it on behalf
Of I did the token American it’s it’s a showstopper it really is a showstopper beautiful in a nod to what you’re wearing which I didn’t actually know and The Raspberries Etc not Stu out with the I’m going to go pink Vibes right definitely I definitely think pink is
The way he okay and just sort of like you put it anywhere you like I mean it’s not quite nice to have a sort of a bit of a sweet dress you know just dress the cake okay but avoid the raspberries look at I really need like guidance I mean
There are raspberries inside if you want to take them off I just put them on yeah I love it I love it okay I’m going to kind of like go like that maybe I don’t know fix it Jack you need to fix what I’m you know
What I’m doing here look at that I feel like this Leaf yeah it might yes you see what you can also do what I just just pick off the petals seems a bit of an ouch moment but they look really pretty just drizzling over the top just I mean
Beautiful it’s just beautiful it’s such a lovely color anyway it is beautiful could have planned your outfit better as well so Dar Som how new look at this there you go okay there you see I think a work of art I do Too the cloy built in 1914 in the early medieval Romanesque style is a grade 2 listed building being here you feel like you’re stepping back in time to the sundrenched hills of Tuscany it’s a building which represents a number of things but essentially as we came in
There was this inscription The Haunt of ancient peace it’s from a poem by Alfred Lord Tennison uh the Palace of art it’s well worth a read it’s um it’s all about creating a space that’s very sacred to you personally and this is this Sacred Space for haral Pito he creates it and
Places in it his objects that he Treasures the most that mean the most to him and also it creates a sense of peacefulness ancient peace interesting set of words it is interesting ancient piece is this idea that it’s been here longer than we have that we are just
Newcomers that this is the the the standard status here is peacefulness we’re the kind of aggressor into that we’re trampling on that potentially so so beware traveler that you need to respect the awesome ancient peace that exists and and this is that space just a couple of years after
William and Maryanne took on eord they were faced with an unbelievably daunting problem the spectacular building was in grave danger of Disappearing into dust one problem we had in this building is that as with all these buildings that Pito put up he didn’t put a foundation
Under it so we have a 100 mm 4 in foundation on pounded full as Earth full as Earth is a really expandable clay so in the dry weather we didn’t have rain here for 6 months in 2018 so it collapsed the clay layer and the building was nearly lost oh my goodness
So it was quite a challenge we took out everything from this all the way around to the far Corner over there and it was um it was quite a job yeah pretty much so everything below the Arches and it was pinned with Steels to hold the roof up everything was taken away numbered
You know Stone by Stone and then we dug down by hand no Machinery in here of course you can’t get in no no no of course and took out the full as Earth replaced it with a concrete foundation built it back numbered Stones replaced the columns in the right orientation
Resized ET oh my goodness and then of course we we um took the scaffold away and that was the terrifying moment the engineer just came and did it on a Sunday evening without anyone knowing and hopefully that gives it a sense of continuity for the future which is of
Course the sustainable approach that we’re all trying to come up with for our heritage absolutely but you know I know that you also won the historic houses restoration award we did it was very generous of them in 2020 because how long did this take this well this was an
Eight-month project we finished in March of 20 but of course the judges couldn’t visit right during Co so so that award was made this year it was very generous of them to give it to us I’m sure the the other projects were magnificent but I think this was so technical so
Challenging for people to understand how to deal with a fully arched structure there’s no lentils in this building at all it’s entirely arches so if you move something everything else moves and that was the great challenge so so I think the engineers should really get the credit for this the Workman the
Craftsman they always give the prize the wrong people don’t they you know the guy just commissions the work but but ultimately this is about the amazing work of people who built it absolutely and and definitely welld deserved I mean absolutely because you’re right it is that technical it’s not like anything’s
Change as far as the restoration but we also have to remember that restoration doesn’t just mean you know stripping things back revealing something else it means making sure that this stays standing for future Generations absolutely and that is the whole point of creating the restaurant and the cafe
That you’ve seen when you were with Jack of creating all of those spaces to create some sort of Revenue that will enable the garden to survive into the Future these places shouldn’t be parasites of a community or the people who live in them they should be living and breathing in engaged with their
Community and that’s what we seek to do over the next 10 20 30 years so that htio hopefully or his brother or sister or whatever can want to inherit this and see it as a real positive benefit to their lives it seems like such a silly
Thing to say when you live in such a beautiful place but actually you can wake up in the morning you know this you wake up in the morning and you think oh which trees fallen over today which leak right which leak am to with today actually it’s it’s about creating an
Environment where there is the funds available where there are the funds available to fix the leaks to sort the trees out to make it sustainable for the long-term future that’s really the point of conservation Heritage now of course you round the corner and then suddenly you have this view to the valley beneath
And I think this is the reserved secret right for the end of the visit that Harold Pito wants you to see do you see the wear on the river yeah absolutely it’s the The Source I think of that ancient peace that sense that this has been continuously flowing it’s never
Quiet in the iord valley no you always hear this white noise and white noise attenuates other things in the distance it makes things calmer you know you put white white noise to get your kids to sleep absolutely it’s all of that and it’s that sense of positive energy of
The movement of water and I think that’s at the heart of what the is absolutely wonderful how spectacular and now it’s time fa te I 100% agree let’s go I’m certain Harold P would be overjoyed that his Gardens have been revived and nurtured by the cartright
Hiits and soon a new baby will join William’s family to enjoy growing up in this magical place we’ve got the whole family here very exciting very and I’m sure your Bump is going to want some oh I would think sugar is always popular in pumps isn’t it I cannot believe this spread
But I do love egg mayonnaise which I would say the American way I’m afraid is egg salad um yeah we say egg salad I cannot resist the chocolate theow I to into that the whole point of an angel cake is that it should tumble forth a PA
Entry is it worth finding a knife I think okay and I feel Julie should do it I feel so she dressed it so beautifully gosh I’m very nervous all right jack I’m gonna good luck I’m going to make a dent number one oh my goodness this I hope I’ve done
Justice to American I I oh my you’re right what’s inside it’s so like I’m just going to make sure I get my nice little corner here fantastic ITI let’s get that on the plate wow look at that look at that ooh and there’s some cascading berries you’re right where the
Center hole was so I’m just going to sneak these on look at that look at that isn’t that fun wow I’ve never seen an angel cake before have you had an angel cake I’ve never seen never beheld one in my vision this that is so exciting fantastic
Should we do it yeah we should do you want the icy end or the I’ll take the icy end I’ll take the IC end okay dive in go are we yeah we’re totally doing that okay Cheers Cheers thank you to everybody for such a wonderful time here
At eer all of you um for really spending your time with me but also just for me to be able to experience you know what ancient peace really means well cheers to that cheers to that per perfect htio that’s amazing isn’t it it’s light who knew Americans make cakes you now
Know the most brilliant day out here at ifred Manor and Gardens I mean it’s it’s more than I could have ever expected so I’ve come here really to visit the gardens and of course meet this one too so sweet and to visit the gardens but I learned
So much more not just about how special these Gardens were but really what they meant to Harold Pito who of course designed them and really put such incredible thought into making sure that the synergies around the world were brought together but of course with Jack learning how to make the perfect tea
Sandwiches and Troy guiding me in the Japanese garden so it’s just been a wonderful incredible day out the architecture the landscape but of course the ancient Peace this time on American VI Countess I visit pen Tilly Castle historic home to the cortin family and exclusive wedding and private hire venue during my stay at the castle I’ll be helping out with a a high powerered cleanup operation I know I mean this is going to
Be a new for me we need to try and start this if this starts winner winner if not we’ll be shouting for some support and help hang on I feel like a transformer in This oh my goodness I’ll step into another world out on the estate uh we found that there’s a a vault underneath here which is completely sealed about here there’s the remains of a chair with a a body no yeah he’s just sitting there waiting what you saw him he’s just there What and I’ll take a bracing early morning dip 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 Air to the Earl of Sandwich and our family at maon house in dors it 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 Heritage mat brittin 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 B Countess as I journey into the British Countryside in search of some of Britain’s Finest historic Houses pentil Castle stands gloriously on the banks of the river Tamar in the southwest of Britain inherited in 2007 by Ted and Sarah cortin and their family it is now managed by Daughter Sammy as an exclusive wedding and private hire home from home it’s the first time I
Visited penelli and I can’t wait to see Sammy Again all right something is going on here there are chairs okay wow oh that is not what I expected to see I was like where’s where’s Sammy and then all of a su I see this machine hi hi welcome how I meet my leaf blower sorry
I’m not the expert but um all hands to the pump today to okay so tell me what is happening here because there’s very tidy but you’re tidying up we are tidying up so there’s been a wedding this weekend so yeah there’s chairs needing to go in and out turn the house
Around basically ready for guest tonight oh my oh my goodness well okay this is spectacular this is good the drive was fantastic and you brought Boo for weather so you can come again anytime you like yeah I will absolutely I will um but okay so you’re Tiding up for a
Wedding so you’re obviously busy yeah come and help me I will come and help you yeah like leaf blower for you Judy I’m going to leave the leaf blower in your very capable hands need it for confetti in a minute come on through wonderful I’m walking into a castle a
Little one I know still a castle absolutely do you want to drop your bags there that would be amazing perfect she’s totally taking liberties with guests arriving like this I love it she’s not normally allowed in the house so well I love her at least the hoovering hasn’t happened quite
Whoops in this room wedding parties celebrate under the sparkle of the Waterford crystal chandeliers and the watchful eye of the first happy couple of pen Tilly we’ve got Sir James Tilly and Elizabeth his wife right so s James C built the house in 1698 so very important man for us very important man
Is that who I that’s I pass met him on his tat at the front that’s what I thought okay so he built the house 16 98 yeah 320 something years ago mass is yeah yeah yeah so he built the house in 1698 and yeah he chose I think a pretty good
Spot look at this view what do you think um I hello England hello that’s England and the weather and the weather and this that’s England this is cornal but this is what you know every American thinks and everybody around the world when you come to England this is the view that
You think Pleasant land yes you put it perfectly and the the big lawn for cro match or whatever and that’s right the Tidy Up begins here confetti needs to be cleared up and hello this is Chrissy our wedding coordinator Julie so you are the wedding
C well this is fantastic I mean I kind of wish I had gotten married here how many wedding things do you do a year uh around about 25 to 30 right that’s a lot different sizes yeah um from Diddy tiny ones with just two which is so lovely
You can feel the emotion in the rooms they are absolutely spectacular right the way through to weddings with 200 people down here on the on the lawn with a marquee incredible every single one is different they are they’re all memorable for their own right reasons it’s lovely
And I love it that you’re in your heels they’re fantastic that’s right loves to he I on the other hand to no you’re same with me but Sammy how long have you been having weddings here because that’s a big part of your business here at pantelli right yeah it
Is actually so since before we opened so 2008 was the first one right so so that’s going for a good 13 years now abolutely I mean if you count you know the year that didn’t exist but it’s a big it’s a big part of your business
Here it is weddings and and private hire so families come and they stay for the for the whole weekend don’t they chrisy they take over the castle for do two or 3 days yeah or even a week what can I do to help well we need to get the get the
Confetti cleared so um this is quite tedious isn’t it this natural pretel confetti though that we make here from from the flower bed do you know what so much for this I’m going to get that leaf blower junor you can have a go with the
Leaf blower can I have a go yeah oh my gosh I was hoping you were going to ask me that I need to try out that leaf blow are you ready are you ready I don’t think I am what what you like glasses I don’t bother with the glasses I’ll give
Them to you once you got this one it’s quite heavy okay it looks very heavy okay come on the okay oh my gosh oh my gosh Sammy I did not expect this when I was coming for a visit this is heavy okay should the glasses put the glasses
On looks so fun I know I mean this is going to be a new look for me no we need to try and start this if this starts WI a winner if not we’ll be shouting for some support and help hang on I feel like a transformer in this R away oh oh
My go oh my go this might never St okay keep going was ear pumping a bit I’m going to try to here we go okay pump it in okay come on chy you’re the detect this it will start it will I oh my goodness me Chrissy enthusiastically steps
In ready yeah yep then producer Victoria gets all fired up okay now can this go in the behind the scenes please but when girl power falters Sammy calls in reinforcements and with Ted Samy’s father triumphant its Full Throttle Ahead Okay this is amazing oh my Goodness I love It oh my gosh amazing so that was way quicker definitely that was so fun that was I did I felt like you know a Ghostbuster yeah to you know what I mean oh my God it was so exhilarating but it’s like the vibration I’m a bit sort of
Like right now amazing well thank you Nory anytime this is what I love to do I mean I pop in for an overnight stay put me hard to work well the Le but it’s it’s Autumn isn’t it so the leaves will be coming off the trees anytime so yeah
Come back in about a month and dare I say that it’s like warm here in England I know War corn you say it’s corn isn’t it it’s Cornwall Summer Sunshine so yeah thanks to bringing the southern CH and everything but we’re done so that’s good we’re done we’re done SED so glad I
Could help out thank you yeah I’m going to have to like glass of water yeah glass of water right should I bring this back oh my goodness it’s like a monster I’ve got it got we’re friends now we’re friends now we’re friends now I grab one
Side okay yeah maybe okay wait hold on this right it’s a bit of a beast is it it is a big of a beast but it works it gets the I’ve Done so come on through very the but through there but we’ll show you all of this later come on through if you don’t mind shoes off of course ridiculous beige carpet whose idea was that we have the same rule we have the same rule shoes off is always good can I
Take this for you no i’ I’ve got it I promise you I promise you all right so how many bedrooms are there here uh we have 11 bedrooms so one downstairs on the ground floor eight double on suweet bedrooms on this level and then two up
In the turrets the castle turret in the turet they must be very popular I mean I want to sleep in a turret you’re very welcome but instead I’m giving you the chus and V this is one of my favorites oh and you’ve given me such great views it’s good look at
This yeah down over the river incredible you know you are running this now yes yes quite daunting right and sometimes brilliantly but I’ve only been here for like dreadfully but I’ve only been here for like a nanc and you’re on the go all the time is this what it’s like most days
Yes but I think it’s probably the same for you guys isn’t it there’s always there’s always there’s always something there’s always so it’s always you you have a plan for the day I try and have a plan for the week and quite often I still haven’t turned my laptop on and
It’s 10 3 and it’s time to going collect the children from school so it’s a bit of a Juggle but I think that’s the same in every house that is isn’t it but lots going on yeah every house but this is a castle a couple of turrets but yeah I’m
Going to throw the sheet at you and let’s get this done and then we can get you a comfort for this evening can you go around the other side yeah yeah yeah I mean are you like an expert at making beds I pretend to be when I need to be
Down there okay what about the corners how are your Corners you any good at hospital corners let’s just do this one first hospital corners you know a hospital corner right so okay I’ll show you so down underneath P it underneath and tight yeah tight tight tight yeah
Now get this bit that’s all drapey down here yeah and go like that okay go like that yeah and then Tu what’s dangling underneath okay that’s it and then bring the bit that was foldy up here yeah down and then you’ve got a nice TI tight Corner since the 19th century nurses
Would use this method to make beds for their patients I think we’re both need practice I haven’t done one for a while so pentil was a maternity hospital in the second world war so we quite like our hospital corners we take it all back to when there was ladies having their
Babies here during the war which is quite fantastic War and why was it why did it become a maternity hospital we’re just 20 minutes from Plymouth so down the river and then the Blitz and the Alexandri Nursing Home in Plymouth was you know one of the places that might be
Might be attack or suffer under a bomb threat so um the penelli and another house the other side of the river in Devon were both requisitioned as maternity hospitals so penti was a maternity War sort of all during the second world war actually we haven’t
Done very well at this end no I haven’t I’m just going to kind of watch you again so under yeah yeah and then bring this bit that’s all dangly so you’ve got some to dangle the side bit yeah oh I don’t know what’s going on there tuck
That bit under the side bits okay yeah and then the side bits okay housekeeping are going to laugh at me they’re going to say oh S no they’re going to look at my side and they’re going to be like she is rubbish well between us we both could
Do a bit more practice could I I mean I could I don’t think you need a bit more practice but this okay I’m happy let’s do that it under hospital I’ll have to bring this back to mton hospital corners there we are that’s quite nice isn’t it
That’s nice I’m happy to I’m very excited to see so that’s dues which always are hilarious we get lost in a du but oh dear no no no you’re good that one okay here with my hand grab and then pull it through yeah okay yeah that’s right genius there we are done
Look such uncomfortable night sleep this is was like really comfy except one side of bed didn’t have any cover my own bed what was amazing when we first came here to pent we invited some babies and some moms to to come and have tea and this
One lady arrived and she had rode here from Plymouth when she was in labor which is quite impressive she rode up the river in labor to get to penil during the war yeah that’s amazing is and she’s and you she came back to visit she came back to visit yeah with her son
Which was wonderful and amazing was that was born here yeah oh my goodness but then the castle was 3/4 bigger I forgot to say that but that was pretty important cuz there’s not that many reason you know eight bedrooms probably isn’t enough for a whole maternity hospital but the castle was three4
Bigger so the courtyard you arrived in was this a central Courtyard and so that there was another Wing out there and another Wing out there but it was all knocked down in the 60s so we’re left with I suppose a third of what was here but you can have that one thank you
Fantastic oh yeah like a little little there we are Over the past 50 years pentil has undergone some dramatic changes but since the family inherited the castle in 2007 they have transformed it into the most magical and tranquil place to stay I met up with Samy’s mother Sarah cortin who explained how much the castle has changed over over the
Years you’ve done a lot to this Castle is that right I think we have done quite a lot to this Castle it was a very sort of Dead Space perfectly livable in right um but it was a very just a dead space very um just needed some life and some
Love but I kind of knew what I wanted if that makes any sense and I sort of knew what I didn’t want wallpapers and all that sort of thing um I just wanted it as plain as possible because actually at that stage we didn’t even know what we
Were going to do with the whole was it going to be a livable Prospect quickly became obvious that it wasn’t um and so then what we going to do if you got the general public in and lots of parties going on is ni One having wallpaper which has got to be
Redone yes after every every wedding and so it was paint and I knew the sort of colors I wanted yeah it’s very it’s it’s it’s it’s a clean welcoming color good yeah so I really like that so you’ve then taken and obviously not here but you’ve taken all of of pretty much kind
Of the the shell of the castle if you like in the Interiors a lot of it and it certainly from from this this this this point on but this is actually one of my most favorite bits right here did do yeah um this is my military war what I call my
Military war because um all Ted’s relations this is Jeffrey Coran who his first cousin who he inherited penti from he was actually the Second Son the first the Elder son was killed in um alamine and then Jeffrey inherited but as the second son and then he came here to um
To run the house and they ran you know had a very lovely life but not a great deal I mean they had they had chefs and cooks and things and they had no children and they then just lived here but it was very sterile is any way I can
Describe it hugely sterile but anyway so we then had to make it a a sort of livable home even if you’re coming here to as a as a paying guest but one of my most favorite things is the the the guests who are not the paying guests who
Are the military veterans who um we have here twice a year and they come and stay for a week they either have um they could do exactly what they want they can have yoga and meditation they can do Clay Pit and shooting they can canoe they can paddle board they can paint
Because they suddenly found that since they become veterans they they’re now able to develop these amazing talents which maybe they didn’t know they had listening to Sarah I’m realizing what a special place penelli is and how much these walls have to tell this is the most amazing bit I think of R penti
Because um it was done by our the plaster who was working on the house and he was in the house only it was it was poppy Day 2008 my son was in Afghanistan as well so it was a pretty poignant day and um when we’ve had our 2-minute
Silence and I came back in here and I found we just slashing this into the raw this because this was all just newly plasted and then tears staming down his face and he was broken he was Absolut B but coming all his Horrors coming back from his service in Bosnia and Croatia
It’s completely marvelous and I said I want that to remain and he said no no no I said yes yes yes he said I didn’t even spell Afghan right I said I just because he was in a moment of of it doesn’t it doesn’t matter and I
Love it I love it and that’s really what it’s what penil is about to me it’s part of the thing that it gives out for sort of healing Sarah takes me across the estate to a very special place which the veterans have uncovered for the first
Time in 70 years on a sunny Hillside the Victorian walled kitchen Garden is being brought back to life in the 1950s it took five gardeners to tend the 2 and A2 acre Garden to produce fruit and vegetables for the castle but today it’s a place where nature is giving so much
More and here you have the beginnings of the great sanctuary of the kitchen garden and all the sort of things that we’ve been doing with the boys is that some of them didn’t want to grow veggies but they were wanted to expose all the the old cobbles which haven’t been
Exposed for for years and years and years cuz all along here was junk and filth and muck and I can’t even call it compost but rubbish that had just been stuck there for well the last 70 years I suppose so they they come here and this
Is just one element within sort of the castle that they and the grounds that they can come to and it’s this is where they are this is safe yeah they’re totally safe um and um when I say they’re so they just feel secure um and uh there’s always somebody with them in
Case there’s a bit of a meltdown that goes on you never know what that sudden peace brings on of course um and uh we’ve just they just do whatever they would like to do whether it’s grow the seeds or whether it’s grow the weeds or learn how to take little cuttings or to
Make it look better as in the sort of potting shed there which you they’ve uncovered wonderful old tools and the swallows in and out in and out and in and out so wonderful so this is really a place that they feel the war hero really
Feel that they can come and just be they can do if they need to do something and they feel they want to but they also can just feel safe they can feel I think the main thing is that they feel safe they haven’t got to worry if somebody’s
Coming behind them or um anything like that and they can have their cup of tea they can weed they can plant they can just sit and um quite we well just the other day we had a a lovely barbecue well hoping to be able to expand it to
Be able to do either more days or definitely more veterans because as you can see it’s needing a lot of hands to hold it under control but they have done an amazing job it was like fighting through a jungle when we when we started no I mean it’s a vast kitchen Garden I
Mean this is vast and I’ve also you know I’ve spotted um a couple peacock oh yes is that right we have got we’ve got seven peacocks and consequently everything’s sort of barricaded against um peacock damage because they’ll eat absolutely everything and we even found them getting in the greenhouse eating
The um The Grapes of the vine but I I suspect that the veterans must like that coming here having a cup of tea and being surrounded by peacocks Peny Castle stands on the banks of the river Tamar in Cornwall it’s been home to the cortin family for over 300 years hidden in a far corner of the estate is a monument to Sir James Tilly who built the castle in the late 17th century and there the M
Li Splendid I mean just extraordinary so this this was built this is a f yes Folly but it didn’t have any real purpose but I think it was built in about 16 1670 1680 right um with Timmy tily anticipating or wanting to come up here and read a book and drink wine and
Get away from a nagging wife right so so he built this he commissioned it yes I think so there’s no record of it before right and so this was his escapism if you like and I I I think so I suspect he was able to look out and be like look at
This what a great man of I I’ve got a little wooden shed in a field over there that I use for the same purpose not quite as Grand or spectacular this so are we allowed to go in yeah yes course we are okay wonderful wasn’t terrible condition that we spent
A certain amount of time restoring it so it’s all held together with stainless steel now Oh my goodness so this is where James Tilly would come and just well the wind there used to be Windows either side and I think there was a originally a flat roof of badier so you could go up and stand on the roof and look at the view and
Then I think the victorians added a butterfly roof over that you can see the V of the roof yes yes yes I can see that so this is him it’s a here he is very fine statue of him I think it must have been made after his death because the sculpture wasn’t
Very complimentary of his figure was he right no he wasn’t but he the reason he’s here is that in his will he said that he wanted to be placed in his favorite chair wired to it so he didn’t fall over dressed in his best clothes
With his books and his Fine Wines uh and to be taken to the building on Mount Ararat and this is Mount Ararat um and to await Resurrection so it must have been quite an arrogant character to think that he was actually going to be resurrected it doesn’t happen often does
It we know well and they and they and The Story Goes that he they brought him up here oh they did they followed his Direction Y and and when we came here the the statue was in a considerable State when Ted and the family took over the running of peni nature had reclaimed
The building this that had fallen out and lying on the floor and and all the leaves had come off and the skull had come off the skull means victory over death oh oh my goodness I didn’t know that no nor did I victory over death so
He really did think he was going to be resurrected well I think so in 2013 a restoration operation began to preserve the monument for the future we got a wonderful conservation firm to take him to pieces and and it was about 180 pieces scattered all over
The place 180 pieces and and they put him together they took him up to a workshop in bath uh and put him together he would he didn’t have any any feet left and his his hands had gone right and his nose was missing and whether that was through the roof collapsing on
The building or the vandalism we don’t know right 300 years after Sir James Tilly died his statue was reborn we could have aged that no but I I wanted to show that it was an intervention it was a recreation exactly and I think absolutely and you’ve kept the graffiti
On I see absolutely wouldn’t it be wonderful to find out who had actually scratched it I know I know are there any dates on here I’m looking no none that we can find none that you can find how and the the chair represents a um a lawyer’s chair because they used to keep
All their papers in it and so when they’re sitting on it no one could get it the papers could get the the private Pap would have had a handle there and one the other the side so his servants could carry it from one place to another during the restoration something quite extraordinary was
Uncovered when we were doing the restoration we found that the there was a a doed vault underneath the builders came rushing down to the castle and said there’s a vault there’s a vault so we came tearing up here and found that there was this dome’s structure with a
Couple of big granits there so we lifted the granits eight steps into a vault into a chamber with a a body no yeah he’s just sitting there waiting what you saw him he’s just say what it appears that the dying wishes of Sir James Tilly had been realized the chairs the back of
It is still propped up against the wall but it’s so fragile you can’t touch it it’s got studs on it which say Sr JT so James silly of course and did was there any hidden treasure no unfortunately not books in New Fine Wine w there were no
Signs of it how fantastic to be able to restore this but also to be able to find 300 years later yes sir James chy lying in the ground or sitting it’s it’s wonderful that people carried out his wishes isn’t it because once you’re dead you’ve got no no influence any longer
Have you right well I feel like we should leave him in peace and you know I think he’s very happy here keep asking me if I want to join him and I don’t think I do really no I think you should just leave him to rest I think
Right where he is this side of the floor exactly this landscape is so beautiful and I’m lucky to be visiting pen Tilly in the Early Autumn just the right time of year to go foraging for slow berries in the hedg r what I didn’t realize was that the hedro are surrounded by
Cows I just want to tell you that I do have a massive fear of cows like massive like I’m tapping right now so I have to like it’s not fake like this is for real like that is frightening makes me want to vomit oh no it’s fine but I’m not
Going to do that I really like this and your Wellies yeah don’t make a mess of your new Wellies come on so um you’re right to have a fear of cows but these are okay we’ve put the dog in the car they are mommies and babies that’s also
A thing to be friend of but they look they’re chilled they’re happy they’ve got over there being super inquisitive we’ve got our Wranglers and we’ll just shout and be bigger than them if they come for lunch is that what you do is you yeah they’re vegetarian too they
Don’t want us okay it’s fine okay we need to pick some SLS we need to pick some slows is that all right I’m here I’ll you run I’m bigger than you okay so these are you familiar with slows so here’s the thing to be perfectly honest and
That’s what I’m all about obviously but you know when I first moved to this country and we would you know we would have the shoots at mattin and or we’d go on a shoot and there’s this thing called lenes right which you know very well and people would always offer slow gin and
Then when they gave me the slow and I was confused cuz it wasn’t clear and I and then I didn’t understand they said no but it’s from slows and I’m like and it makes you quite slow and I was like what are slows I I don’t think we have
Slows in America or I’m you sure black th I don’t know maybe do maybe we don’t think I’m trying to stay in the present moment here what do you think is your mouth peering yeah my it’s like it’s hard to talk now very brave you didn’t
Have to do that well no I I’ve never tasted one before well there you are so I was trusting you it was worth it your face is pretty picture um they’re very tanic so they’re very whatever that you know now you need a glass of water and your lips and are
Going to feel the same but they’re they add they’ve got that great acidity so they make a great a great I don’t know what do you call it a lure I guess so add to a bit of gin or a bit of or V if
You wanted to and some sugar so how many slows do you need to make a bottle of gin slow Jin some some slow some Gin some sugar in the quantities you decide I’m pleased Sammy is here to protect me from the cows but she is also a seasoned forager
For slows you need to know what you’re picking it’s said that slows are best picked after the first Frost when they are slightly softer Southwest Britain is rich in archaeological evidence of ancient settlements Stone circles are believed to have served a ritual and ceremonial Purpose with their position connected to
The alignments of the Sun and Moon here at penil a stone circle dominates this area of the estate Where You Can See For Miles so this must be quite historical this Stone ccle Circle right this like Wizards like Stone hengge sort of it it is the the oldest unadulterated Stone
Circle in Cornwall okay so it’s quite ancient that’s ancient it’s unadulterated because my father built it in 2017 you’re kidding me so it is the oldest unaltered Stone Circle in cornal but not like Minions on bobman which just had Stones fall over and be picked
Up and all the rest of it this one’s unchanged since it was built four years ago oh my good so why did your father build this um is it well because it’s an incredible spot isn’t it yeah that’s what I’m saying a reason to get people
To come up here so when we’ve got guests coming to stay they would walk all around the gardens but there’s no real reason to get them up into into a field full of cows um so we built the stone circle so he built the Stone Circle but also dad’s
Absolutely fascinated with the the history of you know when we’re on dmore or walking on bobman he’s always like oh I wonder who walked here I wonder why they did this I wonder why they what are those tracks in the in the stone why did
They this how did they do that and does does the circle mean have any meaning behind it or he just and with the stones it was just something he’s been contemplating for a while they don’t really represent anything except that these Stones the ones down further out
Kind the leader Stones a to get you up from the garden but also where the sun rises in the height of Summer no winter right hang on summer yes going back that way winter and then there’s one down over there for summer it’s your dad’s
Stone Circle I mean this is just T Stone Circle Ted Stone Circle okay well let’s has anybody done yoga before in the Stone Circle do you know of could we be the first I haven’t I can’t really do very good yoga we can put sort of
Stretchy I know I put mine on too so I put the slows in there we can do some sun salutations good and that will in one sense sort of like you know make these slows produce fantastic slowen you think you think it’ll have like anti- cold properties and all it’s going to
Have tons of antioxid it’s going to have it’s going to boost our IM immune and our energy and Conquer our fear of cows conquer my fear of cows your fearow exactly okay good so we’re just going to stay standing oh yep so we’re going to inhale sweep the arms
Up wear better with the sun setting to do some yoga and I think I need it after being in this field with the cows Hands together exhale Heart Center amazing I feel better I love that thank you much do I look calmer yeah okay okay good good and these are going to be these are going to be the best tasting the best penti has ever made back at the castle I’m happily
Meeting up with Samy’s husband Mark who actually works in the Gin business and has made me a very welcome and refreshing Jinn and tonic he’s just the person to show me how to make some slow Jin all right you can see your wife picked a lot I’m afraid there were cows and so
Sammy learned about my fear cows so I was picking one and then looking and then picking another one and looking but um so this is from your wife really well that’s brilliant you’ve done a a sterling job there so thank you um they look amazing yeah so tell me a little
Bit more because as the American when I first moved over here I had never heard of slows I think we might maybe we call them something else in America okay but and I definitely didn’t know what slow Jin was and in fact the first time somebody handed me some slow Jin I
Didn’t think it was Jin because of the color of it Rina yeah exactly I was like what is this some black currant I asked for a gin and um because that’s what you think you think of it as clear yeah so the concept of slowen is it’s one of the
Things that youve sort of or as a sort of gin Drinker you look forward to in the winter um so they so this is essentially a Black Thorn um Berry um so um uh white flowers in in the spring um and then you get this this sort of surge
Of lovely little berries that you wouldn’t want to eat them they’re really tart Sammy had me try one and I yeah I was just like sure thing and then I was like I couldn’t even you know lick my lips it’s really dry um but it you can
Do lots with it so either what we’re about to do make a a sort of a slow gin it’s more sort of slow gin lure um because we’re going to be adding in um sugar which sort of affects the ABV so what I’ve got um is some uh Supermarket
Jin so okay so you’re it’s fine just to in one sense pick any gin and put it in there to make your slow gin your homemade SL there is something you have to do first though okay there have to eat all those and you you have to prick
Every single one do you yeah cuz you you need to get the um the prick it like prick yeah to release the flavor so I just prick like is that good enough yeah perfect okay it doesn’t need to be like sliced prick okay or there’s a cheat
Okay what’s the cheat you throw it into the freezer beforehand and basically the um the fact that it’s super super cold in there will basically break down the the um skins so it will relase the flavor so I’ve saved you a massive task okay freezing it overnight and then so
So you can do this the Quick Way in one sense well it’s popular here especially for shooting yeah right and so you’re out on your El is and everybody has slow gin that was the my first introduction was it most people will sometimes start when you’re drawing pegs in the
Beginning of the morning they’ll give you a top glass um with your slow Jin in you then have to drink it and at the bottom of your top cup is your peg number so so you start quite early I haven’t been to one of those shoots now
I cheated so I’m going to po pop those in there so yeah you know it’s um there’s people who just enjoy it for what it is but yes it it’s it is synonymous with shooting or field sports or um it’s just one of those sort of things that people really enjoy yes most
People say with slow Jin um it’s a third a third a third okay a third uh fruit um a third sugar and then a third your your gin okay um but I tend to sort of increase my my fruit a little bit and reduce the amount of sugar that I put in
Initially because once you put the put the sugar in and it’s made if you make it too sweet it’s it’s it’s too syrupy and it’s so you can always add add the um add more um sugar to it at at a point in time okay and are you tasting it
While you’re adding that’s that’s a really important aspect of making slow in you have to taste it at least once a week exactly okay okay so don’t look at the label no no no it’s just Jin it’s just it’s just Jin it’s just okay yeah so I’m
Going to pour it in so just pour it in okay I’m make sure oh there we go it okay so this is key G just so I’m pouring the whole thing yeah we’re going to fill it all the way up to the top oh
My goodness I you leave a bit of bit of space um for for some sugar okay oh wow so this is going to make quite a lot of slow gin or not really look it’s already turning the color fantastic so we’re going to get three in here no yeah I would
Possibly oh how wonderful and then how long does this need to stay in so you have to sort of turn it um uh every couple of days so give it a bit of a sort of shake up cuz you want the sugar to um to dissolve um and again it just
Helps to sort of move everything around um so I reckon probably three 3 months and you’re just adding the sugar fantastic this is how you make your own slow Jin so it just means you have to come back you try it I’ve already invited myself I am coming back I mean
Who wouldn’t want to come back here I mean this is brilliant it’s just so magical here how wonderful let me put a little bit more gin in and then we’ll just give it a shake and then you’ve got to put it put it into somewhere sort of dark um a dark
Sort of cupboard so dark cupboard and then you check on it every so give it a shake every every um couple of days um and then taste it after 6 weeks yeah just see how you’re getting on whether you need to I forgot the C but lovely oh it’s rather pretty fantastic
So then this just needs to go into a dark yeah just just we’ll put a c on it and then um and then that’s that done okay great right well should we just sit and drink and watch and watch the the slow slow slowly happening exactly exactly amazing mark thank You pen Tilly Castle has undergone many changes since it was built for Sir James Tilly in the late 17th century but one treasure that has kept ticking since then is up in the tower overlooking the croquet lawn and I’m just in time to give Sammy a hand the Apple named Clock
Tower we’re going up find the clock which happens every Friday wait till I got up here okay you’re much quicker than I I suspect cuz you do this how many times a week oh it’s about to go fantastic ready ready some time just in time this is obviously I mean this is
Quite ancient well older than you and I exactly exactly grayer hairs than me and so what what does it date back to this is 1788 and the bells o i just D my head the bells so which this one is isn’t the one that dongs but we can just dong this one for
That was a bit louder than I so that one’s just if you need to ring a dingdong dingdong but the one on the top they’re both 1705 and there’s a few more down in the cell so James City must have had like an array of bells perhaps yes
The Bell that’s on the roof which is the one that donged at 10 is 1705 17 but the clock itself is 1788 right so it must have had to be repaired EX at some point so you come up here how often once a week once a week Friday mornings
Normally right not always me I confess is sometimes Steve the Garder who’s a legend and comes and keeps us on time um but basically what we’ve got here is two big great big reels with wire on yes and if you look up here so they come out of
Here and then onto a pulley and each one goes down that long tube can you see down down down yes I can and they’ve each got a big weight on the bottom of it they do so to wind it up we get a week’s worth of wind if
We are you ready you can do this actually SL onto there and then wind it and I can never remember which way you wind it not that way this way yeah oh goodness come on Shir okay oh my and then it will tell me when it’s done we’ll look up there we’ll
See the weight come up to the pulley you just don’t want to you do this every Sammy there’s a reason why I have bigger shoulders than you now I’m getting now I’m getting my Gro oh my goodness come on faster faster and now look here it’s coming up
We just want to stop it when it gets about there so where should I stop now stop stop okay there yeah so if it goes further then it gets all clunked up and it’s a then it’s a problem but this is the Hefty weight I don’t actually know
How heavy that is and then there’s the other one down the bottom still that we need to to do this is much easier from here hang on you’re nearly here oh I am I’m much faster on this one done done well done oh my goodness thank you that was um now catch your
Breath quite invigorating actually so there we are the clock is now W for another week so this if you were down below you could just pull that and Dong The Bell if you want to oh I might have to I might have to do that or you can do
It here if you’d like to dong me down the stairs I dong you down the stairs I’ll dong you down the Stairs here we go in the early 19th century the land landscape designer Humphrey Repton developed Grand designs for large country houses and their Estates producing drawings and plans in what were known as red books Ted has kindly agreed to show me the red book produced for pen Tilly in 1810 the
Family had a huge amount of money and they decided to enlarge the house greatly your family had a huge amount of money in 1810 it’s all gone now and and build three extra Wings in the house but one of the things they did was get a a
Guy called Humphrey Repton who was a very famous um landscape um designer to come and advise and he did five houses on the River Tam and one of which is penti and the way he operated was to produce a red book um which could be in this format or they
Could be it could be much smaller but we’re lucky we’ve got a big red book yes and he recorded what was here in a series of drawings okay so this is says that it was it was done so during his period though he was well known I mean
He was he was sought after yes he did he did a total of 230 houses and the red books are sort of collected pieces they should stay with the house but quite a lot of them were sold have gone from the house said they’re worth of yes of course so he’s
Come here and this is what he saw this was a layout of the house in Gray was what was already there of the house um this was the original tar I think on the on the Terrace sheep pasture going down towards the river and these were the the
Out buildings a stable court and a g the Gardens at that stage were very much closer but so he was hired for this yeah but he so he was right so only wealthy families could hire him to produce this R this red book right and the red book
Served the purpose for design drawings design drawings is what it was owner could either say yes let’s do that and use the red book as the the blueprint or they could say you know don’t think we really want to do there just the same as you you employ an architectural
Landscape designer now exactly but I love how he’s just written here this lawn to the east may be fed by sheep as that is to the west or if not deemed too large for a rosary or Flowers Garden he went into a lot of detail about it he
Did it a a couple of paintings that one is as he saw the castle when he arrived got the river here and and he came up with a with an idea um of that good it’s like a flap you lift the flap out of the way and you
Get a much more imposing Castle you certainly and you got battlements on it or cremations and the Parkland these were were fields and the M being up here and he said the fields that just like Fields they don’t look as if they’re the park
Of a of a big house so get rid of the hedges um but leave the trees and you can see these trees in lines and there some of these trees are still there his idea was that a view that’s just a view is is is boring there’s no um space
There no texture there’s no scale to it right and so he says you you need to plant trees so you can look at a view and you planted trees in a in a set way so you had the darker trees closer to the house and the lighter further away
So when you looked in it it framed the house right and when you looked out it the World opened up in front of you because the house was designed to be impressive from the river absolutely because that was the main Thorofare in in 1810 this is how he saw it Y and then
How he wanted it to be seen yep and it’s very similar to that now oh yes it’s very imposing look at that and when he presented his red book to your ancestors when they saw this is this what they had intended to to do in the end um no they didn’t follow Repton
Advice I think they had inspired them and they got a guy called William Wilkins who had um been involved in St Paul’s Cathedral to right to design a house and look you can see again lots more trees many many more trees and it and the house was a lot bigger it had
These three extra wings um going out the front door was now where the drive is and it was a nightm it had 18 bedrooms and one bathroom yeah that’s the mornings weren’t good you needed to be up first exactly no heating the plans for the house the black is
Already there yes or was there and he said leave it um but the gray it was uh what he suggested that should be built should be built fantastic You’ got Mrs Cox his room there I presume that was skullery Lauder Cooks servants all a grand here what a fantastic and you know Wonderful
Reference a real and it’s f with the house yeah it stays with the house because without without the house it has no to I no Val at it’s wonderful that you’ve kept it here and I’ve been been able to look at it fantastic oh thank you Ted how
Special if you can see right behind me that is the moon it’s just made its appearance and it’s just incredible full moon in extraordinary color and really just capping off the most fantastic day here at penelli I’m getting ready for supper I can’t wait to spend the night
In my room but today’s day out has been Sensational so really from just arriving here you know picking up the confetti blowing it away spending time with Sammy that extraordinary Sun salutation uh to help me with my fear of cows and picking the slows making some slowen with Mark I
Mean so much in one day spending time with Samy’s Father Ted at the mosum and of course the um wonderful military wall with Sarah and that lovely walk in the garden and being able to really experience what veterans are able to experience here as well I can’t I I
Couldn’t even even have imagined what today would have been like and it has just exceeded all of my expectations you know Sammy and her family are just one of a kind and to be here at this really loving family environment and around such a supportive community and of
Course that just says it all right there so I’m off to dinner and then I’m going to sleep really well Tonight next morning Sammy and I are up at dawn for a chili swim in the river Tamar it’s a wonderfully exhilarating ending to my visit It’s not it’s not too it’s not too bad what do you think well it’s better than I was expecting I I feel that it is warmer than the air I think right yeah it it is I mean breathe get oxygen in so all of a sudden it’s getting the oxygen
In yeah definitely but this is spectacular and feels what’s the word I’m looking for what does it feel like feel sort of silky does it the water this morning it feels yes it is is it always like supportive no not always sometimes it feels really thin and like
It’s not holding you up other days it feels rather like this you could swim for hours you could oh my I could swim for hours if my legs and arms would allow me to do that should we go to Devon um yes please that’s it that’s but
So the tide is is obviously High yeah so it’s slack water at the moment so we’ve not got too much flow going either way so we can go straight across to Deon right all right um enough yes yes I think I’m ready for a hot bath and a
Coffee oh my goodness this s I’m definitely Wide Awake fun huh it’s just amazing woo trusty Sun doing it’s trusty thing okay amazing this is extraordinary I would be doing this every day I am I am definitely warming up right now which is really really the coffee is helping
The sunshine but I mean what a I have to say spectacular day out for me coming here was just a treat because it was just different because I really got to see you running the castle but doing it so extraordinarily well with the leaf blower but also you know and managing
You know the weddings and the shoots that you have coming up and the guests that you have staying and and still keeping you know pen Tilly working and in the family yeah Tomy let the do agrees Tom agrees she does agree she’s very happy to be here
With all the guest no it’s it’s fun and um yeah there are definitely a good moments I think I think also uh some days I run it better than others but I think that’s the same for everybody for for all of us Deep Breath Right deep
Breaths and and get it back in the river and get back in the river when grounding there’s the dog that’s going to ruin my hair my hair look nice in yeah the dog comes and shakes on regularly just to keep you grounded back in the real world s right well I’d be
I’d be very lucky aren’t we very spoiled well you do an amazing job Sammy so you deserve to be spoiled definitely well it’s nice to The histories of Dean’s Court in wimborne Minster have been woven together for centuries I have never seen anything like this before with its chained Library stained glass and Royal tombs wimbor minster is full of astonishing treasure me the beautifully restored 14th century astronomical clock with its mechanisms
In the Bell Tower and 17th century quarter Jack poised to chime out across the town and there goes the quarter Jack wimbor minster is truly a Wonder to Behold 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 today we’re aware that we’re preserving a very special part of Britain’s Heritage mattin 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 B Countess as I journey into the British Countryside in search of some of Britain’s Finest historic Houses I mean it is beautiful William yeah it is I mean this this was the Beating Heart of really all religious institutions in the south of England but this this is the um Saxon Tower ah because originally the the the Abbey which was founded in 705 with the
Minster was was almost completely wood and there goes the quter Jack and um so when the Danes attacked and destroyed the place in 1015 they burnt the Abbey completely but they didn’t destroy the Stone Tower and the central house at Dean’s Court the the hall house in bued inside Dean’s Court
Those are the only two pieces of sax and wimbor remaining because they’re built a stone because and the Vikings left them alone and the the Vikings left them alone thank goodness okay let’s go and have a look inside for 1300 years people have been visiting a building on this site oh my
Goodness I mean every time I walk into a cathedral or church all across the UK it just takes my breath away yeah you’ve got this amazing sense of space that hits you as soon as you walk in yeah with its Mighty round Norman arches Rising high above and beautiful medieval
Wall paintings it’s a reminder of how vividly decorated churches in Britain once were visiting a building like this is a magical journey into the past let me show you something while we’re here this is um an ancestor of mine Thomas hannam with his wife Margaret um
And he’s got a very fine wall tomb he’s by the way the son of the Thomas Hanam who took did The Voyage to America and came back with the trees oh came back with the trees so that’s his son that’s his son lovely so he’s buried here he’s
Buried here Thomas is also buried here somewhere he used to have a wall tomb somewhere in that corner of the church but it vanished during Victorian Renovations okay we don’t know but he is here well he might be somewhere I do of course have to ask you know
Obviously we saw the Saxon Tower outside but how you know how old are really different elements of this Minster well as with all these buildings is it’s a it’s a mixture of different ages but um the earliest bit is mainly um 12th century and this is pretty much what you
See I believe that these these beautiful arches here are actually earlier than the peers that they stand on but it’s been added to chopped and changed around um throughout its life and of course the Victor victorians did a fair amount I think of changing around as they as they
Always do as they always did with every every Church in the country but even if I if I look above you know and I see these extraordinary but that look beams up here but that looks relatively new yes I think that’s probably a Victorian roof right that’s a Victorian roof right
Yeah but this um you can see there’s a gallery up here which you can access via the little Saxon Tower um oh yes yeah yeah no one’s allowed up there anymore because of health and safety and anyway while we’re here let me show you this is the Hanam family Pew
You have your own Pew yes can I sit in it we can sit in it do you really have your own PE yeah um I have to say this is more of a tradition than a sort of a contemporary thing and it’s a long time since I’ve sat in this Pew myself but
This I remember coming with my parents quite often sitting in this Pew and we’ve got here a little lockable box where we keep our own H books incredible only you have the lockable box that was for the Hanam him books right of course the connection between Dean’s court and this minster is
Especially strong because of the Saxon foundation of the Abbey which stood on this spot beforehand um there was even a rumor that there was a uh a brick tunnel that ran between the Minster and Dean’s Court my father spent years looking for it he never found he found an electric
Cable when he was he used to do dowsing he was so excited when he found he dug down and found an electric cable but um I think the water table was so high there that um you know old s John in the 19th century was reputed to have walked
At every Christmas day but you’re not buying it because of the water level SW yeah the other thing about this spot is so lovely is that you get the best view of this amazing ceiling up there it’s not actually that old depending 1906 we’re not sure what was there
Before it all right so that is relatively I mean still pretty new for 100 years but pretty new for here that’s exactly right it is lovely in the middle of a service to be able to WAND up and have a look at that and in the middle
You’ve got the IHS for Jesus Christ as well and the vine Leaves the church is dedicated to St cbera the royal princess and first abbis here who lived in the Saxon heart of Dean’s Court generations of Williams family have been at the center of life here for the past 500 years so your family really has I mean a massive connection here yeah everywhere
Hundreds of years yes exactly for instance here we’re in what’s called St George’s Chapel but this amazing Al frontal was um made and embroidered by my great great great aunt Amy the Widow the Widow yes who we’ve discussed and she must have spent all of her spare time doing needle work and this
Particular alar piece is signed at one end 1851 when she started it yes signed off 1891 when she finished it so it took her 40 years took her 40 years there’s a huge amount of work in and if I if I remember John her husband was killed in
1861 exactly yeah yeah so she started this 10 years she was 10 years into it when he was killed but she she carried on yeah and she’s incrossed it with semi-precious stones including that huge opal I think something the middle I like to think of her sitting in the green
Drawing room yeah embroidering away and Mak exactly well L is doing the exact same thing I mean fantastic nice something see it is wonderful is it I mean just brilliant At the West end of the building William is Keen to show me a rare treasure which has kept time for centuries so now we’re heading for a really interesting bit of the uh well it’s all fascinating it’s all fascinating but this we’re under the belt are here and you’ll notice this
Amazingly beautiful clock here which is an astronomical clock is extraordinary yeah it’s extraordinary we think that date back to well it was first documented in um 1409 but it may be it may could it could be a century earlier but we don’t know that’s it’s at least
That old but that’s quite unusual isn’t it something like this I mean it’s just so yeah I mean Clocks Were unusual for AAR well exactly I’ve never I I’ve literally never seen a clock like this but also so oh oh there it is there we go wonderful but you know this is you
Know a good well let me do my maths there 800 years old nearly nearly there getting that yeah I mean it’s clocks clocks of this age are very unusual indeed and you often find them in churches I mean Salsbury Cathedral has got one of the oldest clocks in the
World um but this is so interesting because it predates cernus who was the first man to demonstrate that actually the sun was the center of the solar system and the universe and of course before that it was this was a very religious problem because the um the Earth was always considered to be
The center of the universe right and the moon and the planets and the Sun um um were supposed to go around the earth and of course that is represented here where you get the Earth right in the center then you have the moon showing its
Phases as it goes on yes yes and then on the outside is the sun this wonderful piece was restored to its vibrant Beauty in the 1970s however there’s more to this clock than meets the eye let’s head upstairs shall we yeah it’s quite tight it says Bell ringers only am I
Going to ring a bell we’re going to see some Bells here we are wonderful wonderful there is the clock mechanism fantastic this is not what I was expecting to come up that little spiral you know minuscule staircase and all of a sudden to arrive this and this is a
Proper room yeah proper room proper room wonderful this is the mechanism and this is Bruce hi Bruce going to tell oh my goodness so the clock that I’ve Just Seen yes downstairs it’s driven by this this is the mechanism that if you’re like there’s a a Long Rod
That goes into the back of the clock through the floor and it makes the gears turn this is not as old as that clock you saw the astronomical clock this mechanism is from 1743 okay so much more recent right but it also uh drives the the sounding of the quarter Jack which
You may have seen on the outside of the tower uh every 15 minutes uh a mechanism trips and he uh Rings the quarter strike uh on the hour it strikes the bells like Big Ben uh strikes the hour strikes the hour on the hour so as far as repair and
Winding are you w you must be winding well that’s a good question yeah um I love a good wi find it yes um what happened was it oh goodness this the oh my goodness this is the winder that uh we used to use to wind up the
Clock but um in the in the 1990s the chap who who who was employed to do it got was getting a little bit old um so uh we replaced them with these woring electric winders oh I see oh so that okay so so this isn’t even used
Anymore it’s no but we wanted to retain the old technology course because uh in fact I always say this to people we’ve got the maybe 1390s clock downstairs we’ve got 1743 clock here and the 1990s electric winders guess which one keeps breaking down the 1990s that’s that’s exactly right
Everybody gets that right that’s right that’s exactly right you can’t rely on that’s right gosh oh my goodness dramatic it’s lovely 12:00 already wonderful look at these some little lights coming up right on time it’s good we did this at 12:00 and not 1:00 that’s that’s so true but one can never
Tire of you know the sound sound of the Bells they just I I don’t or maybe you do no I love them I love them I do too in 1850 they had to remodel the belfrey to squeeze I think more bells in ah so they had to break the belfrey out
Basically and rebuild it and the wood that they took out which was very beautiful medieval Oak was turned into 12 Gothic chairs each with the beautiful bell carved on top now the minster’s got I think two have you got two of them here but we have one at Dean’s Court
Which was in the library oh yes that one in the corner of course yeah wonderful we got that because it was given uh when the these used to be housed in the grammar school and when the grammar school closed in the 1980s they had to get rid of the chairs so they were
Distributed amongst the Govern the 12 Governors and my ancestor John was one of the governors so we got one of the chairs but they are made from the Bel wonderful from medieval wood mediev very old fantastic old how extraordinary well thank you so much for um really giving
Me a little history lesson here but also it was just really nice to hear it ring so many times just before we leave you you’ll notice all the ropes here we got apparently 13 bells up there all together and what’s so nice for us is
That 10 years ago they added a couple to the collection little bells and about a year after my father died so we donated one in his memory somewhere so he’s up there somewhere ringing away wonderful okay back down the spiral staircase there’s more to discover right so there’s one other
Thing to show you this is actually one of the most special things in the Minster so we’re going to go and have a look now very excited through the V and wonderful Judith who take us up fantastic brilliant okay I just spotted chained Library I have no idea what that
Is I I honest I’ve never heard of a chained Library no I don’t think we have it in America um you know we’re only a few hundred years old we certainly don’t I don’t think have a chained Library I bet your mind is buzzing with it certainly is what on Earth I have never seen anything like this before I mean it really is a I almost thought downstairs when it said chain Library I just thought that there would be just sort of a gate around it but these are literally chains yes on books why is that books were very
Expensive when this library was set up and uh whilst they wanted people in the town to be able to use it they didn’t want them taking books away and forgetting to bring them back again so it was it was a fashion at the time to actually have rooms with books Chained
And what period are we talking about here uh the first books arrived in 1686 okay and it was forly chained 7 years later and it was chained because they found that books were disappearing so so this was their security system really this is their the chains were
Their security system so who would come to the change Library just people from the church or it was set up for the people of the Town yes you had to be a shopkeeper or what they rather snoy called the better cloths of person to be allowed in we think that meant you just
Had to be able to read right because a lot of people couldn’t read no exactly right but the people who could read they would come here they were allowed to come they were allowed to come and so what type of books were they reading virtually all the theological works of
The time yes they would have read perhaps something on gardening oh um something on how to build a house so quite practical a way to to bring themselves out of perhaps poverty and and have a new job um learning new skills um so it was quite a nice
Idea wonderful and do you I mean are do you take these out are you allowed am I allowed you allow we we do on certain occasions but um CU I just would love to get this gentleman’s companion because he’s quite funny he was round about the
Time of Samuel peeps so Samuel PS is a I have to mention is a cousin of um my um husband’s family oh really Edward monu you see he’s got the the statutary wig yes but who is this this is Mr ramsy Right this is Mr Ramsey who wrote this
Book who wrote the book and um he starts off by telling his friends don’t marry a pretty woman because after 5 years of marriage and four children she won’t look anything like she did when you married no so and if she’s too get today no uh after all this she wouldn’t look
Like that and if she was absolutely beautiful one of your friends might well want to take her away from you so it was better to start off with something just quite ordinary just plain just a plain Jane as we would say that is really what
He wrote so I see this was written in 1672 but I just love the title The Gentleman’s companion or a character of true nobility and gentle gentility brilliant well thank you for showing me that H I’m not sure that’s a book I’ll be reading cover to cover this is an
Amazing Place one of the earliest public libraries in the UK so what else do we have here then in these cases cuz this is obviously very protected these are the special pieces yes um probably the Seal of Elizabeth the which would have been on a charter
Like the one over on the wall there this is Charles the’s um seal um this one is made of beeswax so it’s beeswax it’s very fragile it’s been a beeswax and it survived yeah the actual Charter is now in Dorchester Museum because they have special conditions for keeping these
Things of course and they’d like that one as well but we’ve managed to hang on to that so far wonderful and it would hung from a ribbon like yes from the document from the document right it’s carved on both sides she’s on her horse this side and if you could turn it over
Um you would find she’s on the throne of England and she’s got the or sector in her hands to show who she it is actually carved not cast wasn’t cast from a mold I mean gosh it’s just extraordinary Elizabeth the is you know very recognizable here 500 years later
The rough particular um but she’s very recognizable um even without having seen that’s who I would have you know definitely guessed and it would have been a quite a good guess um Elizabeth first it’s just extraordinary especially made from beeswax that it has actually survived because we don’t have you know
This history to me as the American is just so extraordinary and unbelievable that here I’m looking at something you know almost 500 years old you know my country is not even 300 years old that this has still been preserved really in in such the wonderful state that it is so thank You this has been an absolutely glorious visit although I have a feeling I’ve only skimmed the surface of the rich history Here
10 Comments
If only MM could have the amount of class and respect this lady does. Beautiful, thank you!
Such beautiful places!
Love Julie and her enthusiasm
American already had an American princess.. .meg is a fraud…this woman is the real deal .❤
Julie! He is the best garden tour guide ever! Thank you for taking us along. Keep up the great work
You are a gluten for punishment.But very entertaining!!!😂😂😂😂
The happiest of new years to you Dan. Amazing achievement this year. Make sure you have a really lovely rest. Thanks for sharing this increadable journey. Have fun with family and friends. Xx
And know what has bend sprayed on plants before eating them too
Whenever you see a dragonfly, you have a snake nearby. They're called "snake doctors" in Kentucky.
Pentilly Hall is my favorite home of all you've shown, ever. It's tastefully done up, and the tribute to the warriors is touching.