Maintaining A Magnificent Elizabethan Manor House | American Viscountess | Real Royalty

Athelhampton House is a Tudor manor house in Dorset in southwest England. In 2019 Giles Keating became its new owner and one of his first restoration projects was to return the kitchen back to its Elizabethan origins. Give it a good stir and then 10-15 minutes hopefully we can try it. And then it's lovely and thick. Looking for ways to live in a more sustainable and cost-efficient way in an historic house is a challenge. But at Athelhampton this challenge has been met in a new and revolutionary way. You would never guess that these were here. I couldn't see them from anywhere in the garden. 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 bicontest and for an American girl from a small town outside Chicago that was quite a shock. I live with my husband Luke heir to the Earl of Sandwich and our family at Mapperton House in Dorset. Living in a place like this is a joy but also a challenge and every day we're aware that we're preserving a very special part of Britain's heritage. This 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 manors and stately homes as much as I do please join this American bicontest as I journey into the British countryside in search of some of Britain's finest historic houses. Welcome to the drawing room here at Mapperton. And this is really the Tudor wing of the house. It was built in 1540s and in this episode I'm actually visiting a rather similar and wonderful grade one listed 15th century gem of a Tudor manor house and it's located in the heart of Dorset. Atholhampton is about 30 minutes from Mapperton and do you know what's crazy is that I have actually never visited Atholhampton. So I'm really excited to see it because it is an extraordinary Tudor building and if you're like me and you love the history of these buildings well you're going to love this house. But what is even more fascinating is that the owner Giles actually bought Atholhampton in 2019 so it's not one of these houses that's been in the family for hundreds of years. So I'm really excited to see what he's done with Atholhampton and personally I feel that these new historic house homeowners bring their own inspiration and they inject new energy and ideas into these houses. But first of course I am really keen to hear more about the history of Atholhampton. History Hit is a streaming platform that is just for history fans with fantastic documentaries covering fascinating figures and moments in history from all over the world. We've got unrivaled access to the world's leading historians with hundreds of documentaries featuring everything from Boudicca to the British royal family. We're committed to bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts that you cannot find anywhere else. Sign up now for a free trial and real royalty fans get 50% off their first three months. Just be sure to use code REALROYALTY at checkout. Hello, great to see you. So nice to see you. I've finally made it after all these years. It's so good that you're here, I know. It's brilliant. So I was just walking up, of course I've seen Atholhampton, photographed all that, but now I'm here in the flesh. I'd love for you to just tell me a little bit about the fabric of the building. It would be a pleasure. I know it's cold so we won't stay out too long. Let's come and do it. Let's go for it. So here we are. It's beautiful. Yep. Now the way I always like to describe this is this part here is the older part, 1485. So the end of the Wars of the Roses, Henry VII, the first Tudor. Oh my goodness. And then over there you've got what I call the modern extension, built about six years later, the start of Queen Elizabeth I's reign. Right. They got a bit of money from knocking down some of the abbeys locally and that was what they built. And that was it, and that was what they built. But what are the men perched on top? So this is the Martin VIII. So the Martins were the family who built this. And the ape is their family symbol. And you'll find it all over the house. Yes. Well, if you're into medieval fables, you'll know there's the fox, Raynard the Fox. Yes. And one of the characters in that is Martin's ape, who is actually the kind of the good guy. And here, look, you can see you've got the ape at the top of the tower. And on the other side, that's the unicorn. The poor thing has lost its horn, but because the very first Martins who built this married into the Farringdon family, and the unicorn was their family symbol. So it's the marriage of the ape and the unicorn. All right. Well, this is fascinating, Giles, because I think it's always really interesting, of course, when you come to these houses and to first look outside. Yeah. Because, you know, there's, of course, there's so much going on on the inside, but looking at the fabric of the building and the carvings that were done. So beautiful. And the stone is all local stone and so on. Yeah. It's just wonderful. Brilliant. Well, I can't wait to see what's inside. Come along in, out of the cold, come on. Isn't that fascinating? I mean, it really was the most perfect day to see Athelhampton for my very first time. And once I was inside, Giles was really keen to show me one of his first, and might I say, very big projects. So Julie, here we are in the Elizabethan kitchen. Oh my goodness. And then what you see here, this amazing big brick arch. So this is where the cooking range. Right. And we've got a spit there for turning and roasting things on. And it's, it's. It's incredible. But can I ask Giles, when, you know, you, you came here in 2019, is that right? That's right. And was this one of your first big restoration projects? Absolutely. It was. I mean, I think when I first arrived, you know, this was all covered. The bricks were covered in thick layers of paint. We had 1950s kitchen units right the way across. An old auger that didn't really work very well in the middle. And indeed, underneath the arch was all bricked in. Ah, was it? Yes. You broke through here. Broke through all of that. And there was some quite complicated engineering to hold it all up. So you've restored it back to, of course, the Elizabethan kitchen, what it obviously would have been. And it smells amazing, but it also looks like it was. I'm smelling something that's being made. Well, I was going to say, let me introduce you to Gemma, our head chef. So Gemma, Julie. Hi, so nice to meet you. So now what are you making here? It smells absolutely amazing. So I'm making Tudor Potage. Right, Tudor Potage. So tell me a little bit about that recipe. Obviously, it's Tudor, but it was popular. Yeah, so it's popular. It is made out of vegetables. It's a vegetable stew based on a French recipe, I think, originally. OK, so tell me what vegetables are in this recipe. Traditionally, the main recipe that we've sort of grown towards, because it's the most popular one, it has turnips, onions, parsnips, sweet carrots, which I don't think would have been orange then. But they are now, obviously. And lots of herbs and spices come from pepper and things like that, really. And it's thickened with pearl barley or oats. You know, in the Elizabethan time here, we were in this big kitchen. You know, what was happening in this was sort of the heart of the house for all day long. It was being used all day long. I think that's absolutely spot on. I mean, obviously, this is, if you like, below stairs. Yes. But you can imagine maybe the lady of the house would come in from time to time, see what's going on, chat with the head chef. Right. So I think always a hive of activity, certainly from very early in the morning until late at night, the fire burning away. Right. And of course, over there, you've got what I think of as like a hob where you have little fires that would keep things brewing away over there. Yes, yes, you've got, you always are having a pot on. Something is happening all the time because you're feeding households, guests and, you know, breakfast, lunch and dinner. So it's ongoing. Right. So listen, Gemma, I always ask, can I lend a helping hand? Absolutely, yeah, always. Yeah, what would you like me to do? We are getting to the stage now where we need to put the pearl barley in. It does take a long time to cook, so. OK. We need about a cup full of pearl barley popped into the pan. All right, do you want me to just guess my cup full? Yeah, I mean. Yeah. OK. Between a normal cup full. I mean, there's a cup full of onions, carrots and swede in there right now. So you can give them a bit of a guess of. Of about a cup. I mean, they didn't have a cup. No, of course they didn't. So we can do whatever you fancy. Are we happy with that? Yeah, I think that looks good. Perfect. I do love pearl barley. And then give it. Give it a good stir. And then we'll give it 10 minutes and then we'll add the things that don't need cooking so long, like the leeks, the mushrooms. So prepping here, this would have been busy hustle bustle. Yeah. Finish the meal and then what's the next step? Well, we would serve it through our lovely serving hatches. So I think we can perhaps have a look at these. We've got essentially here an in-hatch to put the empty plates in and then you load them all up along this kind of table here, which they actually called a dresser in Elizabethan times. And then it goes out through the other hatch to be taken, to be served, to be carried through and served in the great hall to the family. Right. So I now understand that is the incoming. Yep. Dirty plates. And that's the outgoing, plated. But when you were restoring the Elizabethan kitchen, were these two hatches, I mean, they were here originally, but could you see them? So the inbound hatch, yes, that had been used in Victorian times. The outbound, the one that was bricked up and, you know, we could just about see the outline, but it was bricked. Right, right. But from your research, of course, you knew that there would have been an in and an out. Exactly, yes. We knew there had to be in and out. That was the way it happened in Tudor times and a bit like the way in a modern kitchen. Yeah, no, no, of course, of course. So this is your first big restoration project here at Applehampton. Yes. And it's wonderful and the public can come in. As I said, I've already passed many members of the public wanting to come in here. But do you have other restoration projects? You know, you've been here since 2019. So, you know, you're relatively new. No, well, I mean, obviously, in a grade one listed house, you don't have that many. But we have got one other big, exciting one going on at the moment. And that is a window in the Great Hall, which has been blocked up for hundreds of years. And we are now opening that up. Yes. Brilliant. Well, I'd love to see that. Well, I'm sure Gemma needs your hand a little bit longer. But so I'll perhaps head off, leave you with her and then meet you up in the Great Hall. Perfect, perfect. OK, I'll meet you at the Great Hall, Giles. And Gemma, do you mind if I just sort of do a little bit more? OK. Yeah. So Pearl Barley's had its bit of time cooking. So now we're ready to add all the herbs and stuff, which is all chopped and prepped and ready. OK. So we're going in. Give it a good stir and then 10, 15 minutes. Hopefully we can try it. And then it's lovely and thick. And that's the Pearl Barley making that, taking off all the jigs. That is fantastic. Oh, it smells so delicious. I think it's just like a really, really good vegetable soup. It is. Exactly. It's brilliant. OK, so leave this. Yes. OK, I'm going to go see Giles in the Great Hall. But it smells incredible. Absolutely incredible. My belly's rumbling already. Yeah, exactly. And perfect on a very cold day, that's for sure. At the heart of really all of these medieval Tudor manors was always the Great Hall. And Athelhampton's Great Hall, well, it is tremendous. It has been described as one of the finest examples of 15th century domestic architecture in all of England. Oh, my goodness. I mean, this is a perfect Great Hall. I mean, it's intact. And it's beautiful. You must tell me more because this is astonishing. I mean, this hall is very similar to where it would have been in 1485 when it was built. And that is such a historic date. I mean, that's when the Wars of the Roses come to the end and Henry VII comes to power. The Tudor dynasty begins. Yes. And, you know, it lasts for over 100 years to 1603 with Queen Elizabeth being the last of the Tudors in the second half of that. Of course, what's caught my eye is the minstrel gallery right there. There definitely was one there when it was first built. Right, right, right. But it sort of disappeared over the years. And then that one is very much as it would have been. And it is a very old one, but from another house. Right, right. So when I walk into the hall, the great hall at these historic houses, you can always tell with the roof, the ceiling right here. But explain to me just this bit, because it's absolutely beautiful the way that it's been carved. So, yes, so this is a hammer beam roof, so-called, because of the shape of these beams. And it is one of the finest, certainly in the county, perhaps in the country, actually. And it's pretty well original. It's really, I think, fabulous. It is. I mean, I will definitely say it's one of the finest I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of historic houses. But looking beyond, then I can see windows up there. So what you're looking at there, this is the kind of latest restoration project. Those windows are original. They go right back to the beginning of the hall, but they have been blocked up for hundreds of years. So we've now, we've just actually unblocked and taken the wood away. Literally a couple of weeks ago. Oh my goodness. And we're going to, we're now going to put some glass in there. And we're going to put in, actually, we've been a bit bold. We're going to put in laser etched glass. So when you arrived, 2019, was that, did you know that there was a window there? Was it blocked up? You could tell that there was a window, or was this a later discovery? We could just about tell there was one there, but it was difficult because there was an organ there. The organ was removed along with the rest of the furniture. Parts of these buildings, fabrics of buildings, when you come to them is so many of them have stained glass. And it's almost a lost art these days. But when you arrive at a historic house like yours, and you see, here they are still intact. And I see very much the stained glass. I have this slight obsession with coat of arms. I mean, I probably need to do a whole course on heraldry, I suspect. But I love the way that you can see the impaling. And for me, my learning curve as the American who's come over and married into this family was, of course, hundreds of years ago, these noble families would then marry into other noble families. They had to. So then their coat of arms, the male, would be impaled with the female's family's coat of arms. And I can see that happening there. Absolutely, you can. For example, we were talking earlier about the Martins marrying the Farringdons. And the Farringdons had the unicorn as their symbol. And you can see that the unicorns there in the middle of that yellow bar with the unicorns down the middle of it. And then we talked about the Martin ape. That was the family symbol of the Martins. And if you look at each of those windows, there is the ape at the top of them. I mean, it's fascinating. What I do love about stained glasses is that they tell a story. Always. Yes, I agree. That's what's so brilliant. And there's so many different elements to them. In each element, again, you can... The potage is ready. Oh, my goodness. Oh, look. Wonderful. Let's go and get it. Thank you. Wow. Julie, do take a seat, please, here. This is... Do you know, I don't think I've had... I've ever... I'm just trying to think. Of course, I've had veggie stew before, but, you know... Elizabethan potage, maybe not. I don't think I've had potage before. Would you like me to dish it up? Oh, my goodness. That looks beautiful. Thank you. You're very welcome. Wonderful, yeah. Would you like me to dish it up for you? Yes, please, yes. All right, I'll just remove that. Fantastic. OK, Giles, I'll pass these over to you. Thank you. Lovely. OK. Brilliant. Wow. Perhaps, do you want some more? OK, I'm sure we will. Enjoy your lunch. OK, thank you so much. Oh, my gosh, it looks delicious. OK. Wow. Give it a try. Lovely. That's great. That is brilliant. Perfect on a cold day, wouldn't you say? It is just perfect for it. It really is, yeah. Oh, it is. And the spices are fantastic. I can really... The rosemary is really coming through. Yep, yep. And I love the way all the vegetables, you know, can be grown locally, which is just fabulous. I mean, absolutely wonderful. I've also noticed that we are eating on pewter dishes. So this really is the full Elizabethan experience, isn't it? It is, yes. You know, the pot is the kind of pot they would have had, the spoon. And as you say, pewter, yeah, definitely. If you think about our kind of background, you know, we're the new kids on the block. Yeah, yeah, good way to think of it. For me, one of, I think, the most surprising, I think, revelations is it is difficult to maintain and preserve these historic houses. And I think a lot of times people have this false narrative that we are living like they did in the Downton Abbey age. But yet what we're trying to do is we're not only preserving, you know, this part of England's heritage, but we're also wanting to put our own mark on it. Do you find that as well? I think that's very important. And I mean, by putting your own mark, we don't mean putting up a glass extension. Of course not. But it's sympathetic and harmonic with the building. And I think that's very important. And yet using modern technology where that's relevant. Well, exactly, where that's relevant. And that's what's so, I think, wonderful when we were just talking about what you're doing with the, you know, the new found window, which is, of course, blocked up for hundreds of years, but putting the laser cut glass on it. And the restoration of the window in the Great Hall isn't the only area at Athelhampton where Giles is using the latest technology to revive this Tudor Manor house. Athelhampton is striving to be more sustainable and economical by being the first solar-powered manor house in the country. Heating historic homes is one of the greatest challenges house owners face in the 21st century. And when Giles moved to Athelhampton in 2019, he was faced with the enormous task of heating rooms without insulation or secondary glazing. But he took on this challenge in a new and revolutionary way. Giles, this is beautiful. And I can see we're coming into this, the gardens. How many acres, you know, I always have to speak in acres as the American, gardens do you have here? Sure. So about 20 acres of gardens here. Incredible. And you've picked the most brilliant day to come. You really have. I do that. So Luke and I have always said, oh my gosh, Athelhampton, our neighbors. They are the first net zero. And I'll follow it up with castle because I'm the American in any big manor house. I always think of a castle. But this is true. You've been able to achieve something that not very many people have been able to. And in particular, in a grade one listed house. I think you're right. And we're, I mean, we're very pleased to be able to do this. So where are we entering into right now, Giles? So this is the kitchen garden now. And a lot of the produce for the cafe comes from here. Fantastic. Well, I had a delicious, I have to say, jacket potato. I haven't had one in quite some time. And I was very pleased. It really warmed me up. So very good. Very good. Kudos to the chef. But we're now heading somewhere that is a part of this net zero project that began how many years ago? So it began nearly three years ago now, actually. Yes. I'm going to show you something that helped produce that jacket potato that you had. Fantastic. Well, but here, of course, is an enormous greenhouse. Yes, indeed. I shall step inside because I know it will be lovely and warm in here. Oh, it's lovely and warm, isn't it? Yeah. They're great for growing the tomatoes for the cafe and so on. Wonderful. Come on through here and I will show you. There, you have to duck your head. Yeah, yeah. Oh, I get to go into the no entry zone. The no entry zone. No entry zone. Exactly. Very lucky. You can come too, everybody. Yes, exactly. And here we are. Oh. The solar panels. My goodness. Oh, my goodness. This is extraordinary. This is unbelievable. And how clever that, I mean, you would never guess that these were here. I couldn't see them from anywhere in the garden. Nowhere could I see them. They're just invisible. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I don't know what the right question to ask. Do I ask how many solar panels you have or what are you producing? Tell me. So these, combined with some that we have in the field around the corner, produce a maximum 130 kilowatts in the middle of the day. Yes. And across the year as a whole, we're producing nearly 140 megawatt hours of electricity. That is a serious amount of electricity. Is that and that. Okay. How close can you get to these? We can come up. Can I? Absolutely. You can come and touch them if you want. Yeah. Oh, can I? Great. We have to do that occasionally anyway, just to say, I mean, normally they're okay, but occasionally they get a bit dirty. Oh, my goodness. Look at, and they're warm. Yeah, well, of course they are, yeah. Lovely and warm. This is magical. Okay, Giles, I have so many questions and I think many people watching this program will have questions as well. First and foremost, you know, you came to Athelhampton in 2019, so not that long ago. It was, presumably, it was heated how? And electricity was the normal way. Is that right? So what we had, we had gas tanks. Yes. LPG tanks. Yep. And that was by far the biggest source of power, and we had lots of gas boilers, which needed a lot of maintenance, and then there was a small oil-fired agar. Yes, yes, we still have that. Yep, and then we had a, for emergencies, we had a diesel generator. Okay. A great sort of big beast of a thing. Okay. And so all of that has gone. All that has gone. All of it has gone, yeah. Oh my goodness. And what was your inspiration for this project? Well, and taking this here, and especially in a grade one listed house, I mean, do you know coming in, you thought, right, this is something I want to do. You had an idea around that. Or was it once you lived here for a bit, you thought, hold on, this is not sustainable. I'm going to get ahead of the curve. It did not make sense, me burning all that fossil fuel and just really, you know, having a kind of rather old, inefficient system, and why not put in something brand new that actually uses the new technologies and is zero emissions. And we, you know, that 140 megawatt hours is enough across the year to cover everything we need in Athelhampton. Everything, the heating, the cooking in the commercial kitchen, lighting, even charging the occasional car. So, no, it is great. That is incredible. So, OK, I'm just going to, I know that this is a silly question, but I am going to ask it because I know what the answer is, but I just want to hear it from Giles. So, you do not receive any electricity bills or gas bills. So, for the Athelhampton house and the gardens and the cafe, we get a bill in the middle of winter and then we get money back in the summertime. OK. Net, in carbon terms, we actually are genuinely neutral because what we are drawing down in the middle of winter is a little bit technical, but it comes in the middle of the night when the grid is very low carbon. Yes, yes. In terms of actual money, we pay a tiny bit because, unfortunately, they do not give us as much back for each unit that we put back in as we buy from them. I see, I see. You know, I can grumble about that. At the end of the day, it's tiny. It's tiny compared to what we are in now, the electricity and the gas prices. It's tiny. And also, you're heating and lighting electricity, a grade one listed house, a very big manor house. You've got your cafe. Yes. So, you know, without this, that bill would be enormous. It would be horrendous. And I mean, as I'm sure you know, then, of course, what you end up, you have to, you turn the thermostats right down or off. Yes. And then that's not so good for the fabric of the poor building. No. Nor for the fabric of the poor people. But that's another matter. Yes. No, that is. Oh, my goodness. It's incredible. But this, my understanding is this is just one. I'm seeing just one part of the project that you implemented. Is that right? That's right. Yes. So this solar, this is all drawing it in from this beautiful sun. Exactly. Yeah. And then what happens? So this then is going to go to the heat pumps, which is what creates the heat and the hot water to actually keep the house warm. OK, should we head there and look at those? Let's go and have a look at those. Yeah, let's head off. This is so clever, and especially in a grade one listed building and garden. So now we're going to look at the heat pumps. And the heat pumps here, they're being powered by the solar power. I see. So you've got solar power where we were just in the kitchen garden. Yes, exactly. Coming all the way underground. Underground, of course. Right. Underground up through here. Yes. Now explain to me their purpose so I can get my head around this. This is incredible. And you may be able to feel it. They're a bit like an inverse air conditioner. Yes. And so what they're doing is they are drawn. Yes, this one is going. You can feel it pumping out air. Oh, yes. So this draws in air at one temperature and it pumps it out at a lower temperature. OK. And it extracts the heat from the air. OK, so these two are working in tandem. Yes. Well, the system, the kind of computer turns on and off as many as it needs at any given moment. Oh, my goodness. Yes. So they're using the solar power to extract the effect from the air, which is rather clever. Oh, my goodness. This is some serious technology here. It's good, isn't it? This is very good. And you have, it looks like you've got sort of, what is it, 10? We've got 10 here. Here. Oh, there's another bank over the other side. And you're very, very clever, Giles, because they're hidden away from view. Well, that is essential. Well, I mean, obviously, you can see we're very close to even the Elizabethan part, the Tudor part of the house, but they really are tucked away in this kind of, you know, grotty area where we would just have dustbins or something. Right, you would have had, exactly, exactly. Nobody can see them, but here they are nice and close to warm up the house. Nice and, wow. OK, so this now is heating, taking what would be discarded, usually recycling it, if you like. Yes, yes. Heating, and then there's another step, isn't there? Right. So, yes, so this goes through one more kind of thing that looks a bit like a boiler. And then, of course, it has to come into the house. Yes. And in a kind of old-fashioned, say, a gas boiler, you'd be heating the house through radiators. Yes. And we are doing that to some extent, but we're also making a lot of use of underfloor heating. And we've even repurposed some of the old grills that were put in in the Victorian era. So I'd love to see inside then, now, sort of the end product, if you like. Yes. Coming up through the grills and this heat that I've just seen that's being extracted and pumped in at no cost. Let's come and look, let's come and look. Now, I have to say, I did notice these. Yes. Before, when we were in here having our Elizabethan lunch. Let's have a good look at them, shall we? Oh, my goodness, yes. So these are the original Victorian grills. Fantastic. So these, during the Victorian period, then, of course, were to heat the hall that we're in right now. Absolutely. Heated by coal. By coal. Coming up through. Yes, exactly. And then, when you came in, was this being used at all as a heat source? They kind of modernised it, I don't know, 30 years ago with a very funky old system. Right. And so barely working, I would say. Right. And so that now, you're piping it up through and the heat's coming up. Exactly. So what is coming up from here is actually the heat that's being produced by those air source pumps that we were just looking at. Yeah. Fantastic. So as far as the architectural design of all of this and where the piping, the pipe was coming through, that was already, the infrastructure was already there. It was, in one sense, it was replacing. Is that right? That is absolutely true here in the Great Hall. Okay. But as you went through the rest of the house, in some places, maybe there were old radiators, which we could use one or two, but mainly had to upgrade. But also, we decided on another solution in some places, which was to re-manufacture these grills and put them in other rooms. Okay. Instead of having the wall radiators. Exactly. Much prettier. Giles' innovative thinking and vision is shared by co-mastermind Stephen Pitman, who met me in the powerhouse of the whole project. So I walked through a lot of this project that you and Giles did together. I've seen the solar panels. I've seen the, I call them air conditioners, but they're not. Heat pumps, yeah. Heat pumps. And, but now we're here. And so just remind everybody who's watching again, these, it's almost as if you're, tell me if I'm wrong, but it's almost as if you're almost like your own electric company? Well, yes. So we're generating electricity from the solar panels. Okay. Now, obviously that's only at a certain peak of time. Yes. And that changes throughout the year. Yes. And your demand changes throughout the year as well. So in the summer, for example, it's generating more energy than it usually would use. Right. And rather than that just be sent back to the grid, it's storing it in these. I see. And when that generation declines, as that decline becomes to a level that the estate needs more, the batteries start trickling in. Oh my goodness. And that's how it balances it out. And that, I see. The first 12 months of this system running, it's used, it drew nine and a half megawatts of electricity from the grid, but sent back seven megawatts. Right. So that's a difference of two and a half megawatts, which is smaller than most three-bed settings. Right, right. And beforehand, that was massive. It was way beyond any of those numbers. So ultimately, these batteries are offering the best. Yeah, they're offering the best. It's a 12-bed, significant Tudor manor house. I can see the glaze, et cetera. I understand Giles has gone through all the upgrades we did inside the house. We've got the coach house, which is a great two-star thatch building. Other than the thatch, there's no insulation there. Right, right. River cottage, which is similar. There's outbuildings and all the grounds an estate needs there. And within all of that, the energy usage from the grid is less than a three-bed. Unbelievable. That is incredible. Yeah. Right there. It's quite impressive. It's really impressive. And all those, you know, sort of aspects you just said, single-glazed, there's not double-glazed on it. You're talking about no insulation, a 500-year-old house. Same goes for the coach house with thatched roof now. The cost to keep those buildings right now without this would be astronomical. You'd be looking at six figures. Yeah, six figures. That's exactly right. Well, thanks, Steph. And this is fantastic. So thank you for taking the time. What a brilliant project. So nice to meet you. How amazing to think that until 2020, 100 tons of carbon were emitted annually at Applehampton. And the aim of this project is to cut carbon emissions to zero. Giles has, of course, made a massive investment. But what is so inspiring and also rewarding is the long-term benefit to the environment. Now, what's fascinating for me as an American, to be perfectly honest, is that always it seems like, you know, when you go to these historic houses, there is the history, the fabric, the architecture, the inside, the stories. But then, of course, you get to walk outside and there's usually a fantastic garden. Is that right? They go together. They really do. Yeah. And, you know, the English love their gardens, don't they? Yes, absolutely, they do. And here, of course, I've heard so much about the gardens here at Applehampton. So you're going to give me a tour, is that right? I will do. Yes, I will show you. Come on, come on through here. Wow. And this, we call it the Corona. Sounds a bit bad, given what we will be through. But it's probably very popular now. It's a crown. And you can see these little pyramids around, or obelisks forming this crown. And this is really, this circle, this small circle is the heart of the Applehampton garden. Fantastic. And the garden, has it evolved over the years? And obviously it has, but can you give me a little bit of history around it? Of course. The designer was a man called Inigo Thomas. And he was an amazing man, real thinker and designer, architect and so on. And he drew inspiration from the Renaissance, from the Elizabethan era. He drew it all together. And he had this idea of rooms, of outdoor rooms. So this is the room, as it were, at the heart of the outdoors. Right. You can go into each of the little doorways around the edge. Okay. And in fact, we've just come through one, which is where, of course, in front of the house, where you would arrive at the entrance of the house. And now, if you like. Which room are we going to? Let's come here to what we sometimes call the private or the east garden here. Oh, it's stunning. Look at this. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Oh, and then you just have this fantastic view from the back of the house. Exactly. Absolutely wonderful. And overall, how long? Because when I... Mapleton, I know, our Italianate gardens took seven years. 1920 to 1927. And these gardens here, what was the length? So I think the initial stage, these outdoor rooms that we're going through now, were built very quickly, actually, in about perhaps two years. Oh, wow. And it was a massive effort. They had to shift 40,000 kind of tons of earth. It sounds an extraordinary amount. Yes, it does. And indeed, they had to demolish some old farm buildings because the house had actually kind of become a farmhouse and it was being converted back to become a mansion. Right. So there was lots of work, but they just really... Shall we come this way? This is enormous. Yes, isn't it amazing? This is amazing. The Great Court. Oh, so this room is called the Great Court. Okay, fantastic. Okay. Now, these pyramids are huge. Yeah, tell me about these pyramids. You see, I think Inigo Thomas put these here because if you look at pictures of old Elizabethan gardens, they often had huge pyramids. But now, mostly they were kind of sort of knee-high to a grasshopper. They were sort of down here somewhere or other. And of course, over the years, these ones just got bigger and bigger and bigger. Look at this. And is this their peak or is there potential that they could... To be honest, I think they're now big enough. If anything, we'd love to just perhaps make them not quite so big. That's a tall order. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're a lovely size now. They are. This is beautiful. And then we made our way to Giles's favorite room, the Mediterranean garden where tea was waiting for us. And it's my favorite because it's a bit of a sun trap as almost every time of year. Right. And in summertime, we might come and have a cocktail here. Sounds good. But obviously, now it's winter and we want something a bit warmer and it's the middle of the day. So we've got a cup of tea for you here. Oh, sensational. Oh my goodness, this is fantastic. Yes, yes. Absolutely fantastic. I can see why this is your favorite part. This is, I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with you. Yeah. I think, I mean, I love the Great Court. Yeah, yeah. Don't get me wrong. But there's just something spectacular about this tree. Yes. Eucalyptus and then brought us some tea. Cup of tea, yeah. Well, brilliant. Do you know what? We do have the sun and it is, when you look at it, it is rather warm. Yeah. Brilliant. So, welcome, cheers. Thank you, Giles. What an absolutely spectacular garden. So Giles, you know, I just wanted to ask, now that we're sort of sitting out here, having a cup of tea, relax, the sun is on us. You became a custodian of Applehampton in 2019. And what was it that really drew, because this is a big project. This is not like, I'm just going to buy a large modern house and have all the modernizations and it's much easier to restore, repair, whatever. But what inspired you to say, right, I want to be a custodian of, you know, a home that's well over 500 years in history? Yeah, I mean, you know better than almost anyone what a big project and how much is involved. So, of course. But I think the answer is, I mean, it's a, I think it's just almost like falling in love. I mean, it is an amazing place. Yes. And if one's lucky enough to have that opportunity, very difficult to not be tempted by that. It is just extraordinary here. And I think it's because it's not just that you've got a wonderful old house. You've got all the amazing history, all the people who've been connected with it, down history and right up to the present day. The wonderful people who work here and who know it. Yes. All the visitors who come, people being married here, all that. And then, of course, the garden is just stunning. Yeah, no, and you put it so eloquently because that's exactly how I feel. It's about the story's past, but also the story's present and the community that these houses still retain, but in a different way. Yes. So, you know, when we look back 100, 150, 200 years ago, and of course, in Applehampton's case, well over 500 years ago, the community was very much tied in. Yes. But we as custodians now, our community is a much wider reach because it's the public. We're saying, come and enjoy what we want to share with you. And it's sort of making sure that those invisible walls that were once up hundreds of years ago are completely down. And it's that shared history and story. And I think that's what's so wonderful. Now, I couldn't agree more. And I think as well as physically inviting people in or allowing them to see over video and whatever, it is also about showing people the history. Yes. And understanding how people lived in the past and so on. Yeah, and of course, it isn't how we've evolved. I'm thinking at one point when it gets warmer, Giles, I might have to invite myself back. And I'm going to tell you, I'm usually a beer drinker. However, because I am a lover of Italy, Mediterranean, I would have an Aperol Spritz with you. Would you do that with me? That sounds like a deal. It sounds like a deal. All right. Aperol Spritz it is, everybody, the next time we return.