nside the Upstairs Rooms of Our 500-Year-Old Manor

You guys loved our last video, the ultimate downstairs tour, so we thought we would do the ultimate upstairs tour, starting with the staircase hall, which is kind of two levels anyway. Does that mean that because it's the ultimate tour, we can never do it again? No, no, no, no, hear me out everybody. There might be in the next couple of years, some, he probably doesn't know this, some painting that I want to do in the staircase hall and rearranging of pictures. In that case, this is the penultimate upstairs tour. That's exactly right. Let's go inside and take a look. Right. Well, when you come back in from what now looks like the Georgian front of the house, you come into the staircase hall. But of course, this really was the Tudor part of the house because we've got the Tudor drawing room on that side, the library on that side, which we've already been into. But this is the area of the house with the highest ceilings. It has got a lovely Rococo ceiling. So again, an 18th century ceiling, not Tudor. And the same with all of the staircase, which was built by the famous Bastard Brothers of Blanford, whom you know something about because you've just been there. Yes. So I've just been giving a talk in Blanford all about Mapleton. And it's lovely. I have to say, if you have any time to visit Blanford, endorse it. It is an absolutely extraordinary Georgian town. I mean, it is stunning. So, yes, they were the architects and builders of the time like they were who, you know, if you were if you had sort of wealth and you had a house and you wanted to redecorate it, you would go to the Bastard Brothers. Yeah. Now, this ultimate tour is not just about obviously the architecture and the collection, because one of the things that I think people are interested in is how we use this space. And can I just say we really used this space the other day because we had our son's 21st birthday party. We had over 70 of his friends all dressed up and they were all milling around. All dressed up in 1970s because it was disco themed. And actually we had a speaker on this wonderful commode here. It was sitting behind there and it was playing some fabulous Stevie Wonder. Yes, Stevie Wonder was filling the hall. I know it's just brilliant. So I wonder what Louisa over there would be thinking about that. So Louisa, the sixth countess, Louisa Lowry-Curry, we've we may have mentioned her before, but she is one of the most important women in the family insofar as she led an extraordinary life. And one of the important aspects of her life were that she collected this fabulous collection of fine French furniture, which we still have today. So that's part of what we love about her is that she's left these things behind. So some of this furniture is, I mean, the marquetry is so wonderful and the quality is so high that it's thought to have come from the Palace of Versailles, no less, in France. Did you know that? I didn't know that. Have you seen the marquetry on the inside here? It's just stunning. Yeah, all of these pieces are. But these are the famous French pieces that we have. And this is a corner commode here and we've got another there. And so there are four of them and they go with the Regency furniture. They're not the same style. And of course, Louisa also grew up. I mean, she didn't live here. She lived in Hinchinbrook, but she grew up in a grand house because her father was an Earl. She's Irish. And their house, Castle Coole, is now part of the National Trust. That's right. You can you can go and visit it today. Yeah, they have a fantastic state. And we have lots of Louisa's archives as well. So we are really interested in Louisa being one of the next big projects. Yes, after Alberta. Once you've got some time. Yeah. How else do we use this room? Well, and also my sort of story around here is this. I probably started this about, I don't know, four or five years ago with your sister. We were having a drinks party here and we tend to have a Christmas drinks party like every two to three years. And we thought, let's decorate the staircase and the balustrade. And so we took some ivy from the estate and some foliage from the estate and created a wonderful garland going up and all the way across. And that's now I do it every year. You know that. Well, it's one of the highlights. I mean, it takes you about three days and we don't see you for much of that. I mean, whilst we're down here, we can look at some of the lower portraits. One thing's worth pointing out are all these wonderful pictures of exotic birds. And these were put together by a famous artist of the time called William Hayes. And I think we talked about this before, didn't we? That actually we think that many of these may have been done at Hinchinbrook where there was an aviary. Yes. Belonging to Martha Ray, who is up here. And we've got Martha Ray and the fourth Earl of Sandwich. We talked about them before. But most importantly to me anyway, is their son, Basil Montague, who is up here on the left hand side, because people sometimes ask the question, you know, so you've got all these illustrious ancestors, but there must be one or two who weren't quite as illustrious, but did very well. And Basil, of course, was an illegitimate son because they were not married. But he went on to do very great things. He went to Charterhouse for school. He was brought up by William and Dorothy Wordsworth. Yeah, that's extraordinary. Which is astonishing, isn't it? I've never quite understood the nature of that relationship, but I think the fourth Earl couldn't really cope with him as a young boy. And he became friends with lots of influential writers and poets, but he was a lawyer. So he was an important person when it came to a few things that really matter to us today. First of all, he was responsible for writing a lot of the bankruptcy legislation that is still in place today. So that was very important. He also co-founded the RSPCA. And he also helped with a lot of social reform and legal reform, capital punishment reform, to stop people being hanged for stealing a loaf of bread. So in terms of a sort of social justice pioneer, I think Basil gets the prize. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. So at the very beginning of its life, he was involved in recognising that animals may not have rights, but as human beings, we have a moral obligation to look after them as best we can. And that was part of his thinking. So obviously, there's a lot of pictures here. There's a lot to talk about with each of them. Let's just pick out one or two. I'm going to pick out Captain Cook. It's not particularly good portrait here, but Captain Cook, of course, you can see he's holding in his hand and it would say something like du monde, his voyage around the world, because of course, Captain Cook was commissioned by the fourth Earl of Sandwich. That was his patron. He was the one who released the funds from the Admiralty to enable Captain Cook to go off on his voyages of exploration around the world. And Julie, I think you were going to pick a rather risqué portrait over here. So this is Hortense Mancini, and she was the mistress of Charles II. But however, she was married to a chap who lived at Fountain House, which is a Montague relation. That's kind of why we have the picture of Charles II, Edward Montague. Also, she was married to within another family house of ours. But the chap she was married to was a bit mad, and he had lost lots of mistresses. And he would punch out their, I don't know if he necessarily did, but he would have their teeth punched out, his mistresses, so that nobody else would take them in as a mistress. Isn't that the worst thing ever? Luckily, she escaped from that and then became the mistress of Charles II. But she ended up having quite a good life in the end. She sort of left them all and lived happily ever after, to be perfectly honest. There are lots of portraits here at Mapperton, most of whom are family portraits. If you're interested in learning more about them, we'd be interested in telling you more. So let us know in the comments if you'd like more dedicated episodes on family portraits. And family scandal. Coming up the stairs, it's hard to come up here without talking about a few of the pictures. Obviously we've got Oliver Cromwell up the top, who people will know was an important figure in English history, and of course was in some respects the patron of the first Earl of Sandwich, and had the pleasure of commanding Edward as a young man. Here he is not such a young man, I think he's probably about my age in this portrait, a little more portly, I would say. He's got a lot of kit on. He's got a lot of kit on, hasn't he? And this is a full-length portrait, again by Lely, of the first Earl and in all of his finery. Now this is probably not long before he was involved in the Battle of Soul Bay, which is illustrated in this picture over here by Monomé, but sadly there was another portrait here, not portrait, seascape by van der Velde, which was one of the greatest seascapes and it was one of the finest pictures in the house of the same battle. It was incredibly vivid, but alas we had a terrible fire about 30 years ago in a warehouse where it was being stored and it was burnt to a crisp. Of course the first Earl himself was almost burnt to a crisp because he was on that ship, the Royal James, when it was being attacked by the Dutch and he was killed in the explosion once the ship caught fire. So that was the end of him in 1672. I've always found it interesting that at the same time as that there was another painting made celebrating his heroics and this is just an engraving from the painting. We don't have the original. The original I think is in America and it shows him as a very slim, svelte young man. It does compared to this. Refusing to leave his ship and the reality is probably that he couldn't possibly have left his ship given how difficult he would have found it to get over the side, but we will say no more about that. Earl of Sandwich refusing to leave his ship while on fire in the Battle of Soul Bay and if you're wondering where Soul Bay is, it's off of the east coast of England, so up near Suffolk. Another portrait worth mentioning, just because it's a funny family story, is this portrait and this portrait is catalogued as the Bay of Tangiers and Tangier was part of the negotiated settlement for Britain led by the first Earl of Sandwich and was essentially a British outpost in the 17th century and that was the bay, spelt B-E-Y, which of course means chief, but for a long time my mother couldn't work out where a wonderful portrait or a wonderful seascape of the B-A-Y of Tangiers was. She was looking around to see if she could find it and of course she couldn't because it was talking about a fella, not a lovely bay with a shimmering sea. So that's the staircase hall which is again really kind of part of the upstairs and now we're going to head into the great chamber. Every day we have four tours, they're always full, so they're between 16 to 20 people, so you're looking at sometimes a day where you've got 80 people coming through the house and that's okay, you kind of do just a bit of that. Well this is the great chamber, now it's called the great chamber, I mean that was a room that was obviously an important room in houses of that period because it was in fact a reception room, so this was not a bedroom originally. People who were meeting the important people in the house would come up here to be presented and to have their discussions about whatever it was. I suspect around here there was a lot of discussion of farming and issues in the countryside and issues linked to the church and you can imagine all sorts of people coming in here and talking about all sorts of things with the person living at Mappeton at the time. Now of course when Mappeton was built in the 1540s it was built originally by the Morgans and that means that in this room there are certain things that are left behind. Let's quiz Julie and see if she can point. I did write a book about it, Secrets of an English Country House here at Mappeton, so I better know this. Oh dear, I'm a bit nervous. Well no, and it's not I know, but we've obviously got this really important wonderful pendant ceiling, slightly later we think than the house itself, so maybe sort of 1560s. There's something similar in Hampton Court, it's got this wonderful plasterwork, so the fleur-de-lis up there and then these pendants. We really need to get up there and clean this properly Julie. You know because she did such a good job at the Rococo ceiling downstairs in the library that I can imagine you and me of course on a ladder with a little toothbrush. Do you see how it's all sort of dark on the top? Yeah but that, to be honest Luke, I've looked at that beforehand and he's going to learn something quite new. So that looks like it's dirt, but it's cracked paint, it's cracked plasterwork. Oh my goodness, there really is paint coming off quite seriously there, I hadn't seen that before. Usually that's an indicator. Anyway we're not here to talk about repairs today are we? This is all supported, there's a timber frame supporting this ceiling and it would be rather wonderful to lift some floorboards above and look down. So what I do want to talk about is the frieze and this is something that I learned when I was researching my book. What's interesting is you can see these really, they're Tudor heads, you can see the profile of a woman, you can see a profile of a man and they're the same profile going all the way across and they'll be the same profile in the other bedroom that we'll show you in a second, which is the Tudor overmantel. And what's interesting about that is when I was doing my research about why would, you know, let's say it was the Morgans who created this ceiling, why would you, what's the relevance around that and what the research that I've uncovered said it was probably just sort of the decoration of the time and that there would be in one sense sort of drawings and engravings that were passed from one great house to the next great house. So they were kind of copying what the other houses were doing. So that's the same thing for this pendant ceiling. It wasn't just Hampton Court Palace. There was another castle that had something similar. And then same with the Tudor heads, it would have been really the style of the time. So when we think of like Georgian paneling and Georgian sash windows, that that was the style. It's the same with really these frieze of the profile of the Tudor heads. And I find that interesting that it was just probably really popular to have and also to show off like you lived in a grand house. Well, hopefully there wasn't too much sort of copying and pasting in those days. But in fact, I think that's exactly what was going on to a large degree. And what's interesting is also how sort of thematically it then does link with the overmantel, the same sort of floral imagery that you've got there. It's not the same, but it sort of reflects it, doesn't it? And this, of course, is the coat of arms of the Morgan family. And I think this is old French. Loyalta sa provera, which means that loyalty will prove itself. In other words, the importance of loyalty in all families. But obviously that mattered enormously to the Morgans as well. And this is a lovely Tudor fireplace. And of course, this engraving here in the side is also reflecting the overmantel, reflecting the ceiling, all done at around about the same time. Yes. And you've got sort of sheaths of wheat, it looks like, up above. I'm not saying that every house had this, but if you were a grand house and you wanted to, again, create something really remarkable, you know, you would look at these different motifs and decide where they would go and what to use. And I think it's really splendid. But there are bits of paint coming off. There is some work to be done in here. Now, of course, this is a now used as a bedroom. It's got this Louis Cass Bureau plaque over here. So this is some more example of fine French furniture at Mapperton. And of course, this side table as well, which is really quite astonishing. And look how it's got the hoofed feet at the bottom and then the scalloped motif above. And you've actually got somebody's face coming out of the scallop. Really intricate and wonderfully carved all of this is. And this came from Louisa, the sixth countess of Sandwich. Is that right, do we think? Yes, I think most of the French furniture was acquired by Louisa, who spent the latter half of her life on the continent, living in Paris and hosting important literary soirees and hanging out with all sorts of people. She did. She was very social. There is, of course, a really interesting new piece in the room, and that is this mirror. Julie, give us give us the story of the mirror. Let's get people's opinion. OK, so what happened was I found this at an auction. I loved it. It is a smart piece because I'll show you it. But but it doesn't quite fit. I mean, it's George, the third. So it's earlier than whoops, than than the pieces that are obviously from Louisa. But isn't it rather smart? Look at all the things you can put in there. We know this is supposed to be isn't isn't supposed to be an opening drawers thing. But if we open that, we can that lovely. There is absolutely nothing. I just couldn't pass. There's a hidden compartment. So you push. Oh, my gosh. I hope there is something in there. Nothing underneath again. But do you see how this has been carefully designed, cleverly designed? Look at this. It is. I see you're pleased with the piece. It's designed so you can push there and open it. But if you push it, that's it. You can't. Yeah. Look at that. I do. I just think it's a bit plain and but I do like it. I think it just needs to go somewhere else. Well, it's been here for about four years. Now, the other thing I just want to mention, there's a famous French expression called rien ne dure comme le provisoire, which means nothing lasts as long as the provisional. And that is partly the story of maps. And we put things in places thinking it'll only be there for a week or two, 10 years later. It's so true. So one thing I do want to ask you and maybe you guys as well. But as I was looking at the lovely pendant ceiling and it was carrying on through to the east side of the house, of course, you've got this Georgian paneling and the Georgian paneling would have come in during Richard Broderick the fourth time here. But do you see, Luke, that he's closed off, again, any of the frieze and you can see where he's cut part of the ceiling. So I'm just wondering if we were to ever, we wouldn't do it, but if somebody were to ever take away this paneling here, would the frieze... Whether it would extend further. I've absolutely no idea. It all depends what's behind here. Yeah. And that would be a really good exploration. I think we'd have to get permission from the powers that be at Historic England before we started tampering with anything like that. But we could probably put a little camera into a hole. But having said that, Luke, look at the very end of both of them. They sort of stop. Do you see that of the frieze? Yeah. Well, things were done very imperfectly in those days. Now, I don't know anything about the china in this cupboard, but I do think, Julie, the next time we have a smart cup of tea, we couldn't do it in a more stylish way than looking at this Thomas Goode. So lovely English porcelain. But it's rather wonderful, isn't it? My grandfather collected this. He was interested in porcelain. And so he's got a lot of Meissen. Which we'll go particularly one that we do live. We've got the teacup. We've got the cups. We've got the milk jug. We've got everything. That will be another. By the way, I'm so glad you loved our secret drawers. That's right. We haven't gone through all the drawers in the house. So that's another episode. Now, when I was growing up here, this was my parents' room. And what I do remember is somewhere behind this curtain is a little button, a bell, because there used to be a time when the housekeeper here would come and bring orange juice up to my parents in the morning. Where is that bell gone? Anyway, it's somewhere here. I remember their bed being here. Oh, no, there it is. It's over here. Wasn't their bed here? So you'd get up. No, no, it was over there. This was your bell. That may easily have worked. Downstairs, we have in the back of the house, the bell display that shows us where the different bells have come from. But what I remember distinctly in this room was coming in, my parents being here, the housekeeper had delivered the most fantastic fresh orange juice. And I would run in here and grab the glass and drink it back. And then the other thing, of course, I remember is running in here as a child with my stocking, my Christmas stocking, throwing it on the bed and piles of paper and presents going everywhere. Do you remember spending a lot of time in here? Of course, this was their room. This is where I would come. The favourite sort of thing that I would enjoy getting would be toy slime, you know, that really sticky gooey stuff you use. Yes. Or silly putty. Silly putty, that's what it was. You could bounce it on the floor. Yes. But you want to show something in here. I'm going to show something in here. There's two doors in here. And again, this was remodelled, you can tell, during the Georgian period. So again, it would have been Richard Broderick IV during the mid-18th century. And we've recently, there's no light, I'm really sorry. We recently repainted this room. But this had always been taped on to this wall, but it had fallen down because it's old tape and it had been here, well, gosh, it will be here almost 70 years now. And what it says, it says there's a small window looking into the staircase hall near here. It has been blocked up by cement. This was done without Mrs. Labouchere's knowledge and contrary to her wishes, she hopes it may be opened out again. And we're, you know, we don't know. We're not going to drill a wall in here. This is a piece of social history. But how wonderful to think that this closet, which again was probably obviously created during the Georgian period, had a window. And that would make sense because this, the staircase that you see that we just talked about, in the staircase hall, which was again designed and built by the Bastard Brothers, they would have possibly put a window here, right? So because this was the great chamber or this was the smart room in the house and you wanted a window here. Or it might have been one of the original Tudor windows that was still a part of the house as well. I mean, who knows? But I do believe there probably is a window behind here. But perhaps when Mrs. Labouchere was putting in some, I don't know, some hangers here, some hooks here, somebody blocked it up because this was her, might have been her bedroom. Anyway, I love this. And so what I did was I had it mounted and framed just to make sure that it survives for the next, well, 100 years. Coming through here, talking about family stuff, we've got a wonderful self-portrait of my grandmother, Rose Marie Pitot, who was an artist. And as you can see in the self-portrait, she was also a smoker. And I always think this is really quite an interesting portrait. She has a slightly offish look where she's sort of looking with slight disdain at herself, maybe because she's smoking. I don't know. And painting at the same time. And painting at the same time. She's trying to catch something. I remember sitting for hours being painted by my grandmother and getting very bored as a child. But actually, there was one around here that she did of me when I wasn't that young. I think I was probably 18 or 19. And actually, that one turned out okay. So not 19 because it's 93. So I would have been 23. There you go. That's me, 23. I hadn't noticed that the date was on there. Okay, well, that's very good. Age 22. Every country house, of course, has to have a portrait of the Duke of Wellington and probably a sculpture. In fact, we didn't look in the staircase hall, but there is a sculpture of Arthur, Duke of Wellington. And of course, it's hard not to notice his nose. I feel like giving it a stroke as I walk past. Wellingtons have a very fine nose. And that, of course, is my other grandmother, my mother's mother, Sylvia Heyman, as a young girl. And then we also have this rather wonderful ship model. This always terrifies me when the sun is shining. I know, I think you should close that actually. So we're going to just keep that closed, I think, for now. This does have UV film on the other side to protect it. But this is a rather fine ship model. And it's from the early 18th century. It's not a big first rate, so it's not got three decks. I think it has about 60 guns. So you can see the openings in the side. But it's beautifully made. A lot of these were built by prisoners, as I think I've said before. But you can see how intricate the rigging is here. And these were models often built before the ship was built. And that was one way. I don't know that you tested its seaworthiness, because you can see the ribs of the ship under here. And I wonder whether those ribs actually reflect the construction of the ship. I need to do some more investigating. But it's a rather beautiful thing and sits in pride of place. It certainly does. Next to my grandmother's. So now we're going to head into the West Room, which many of you know, I am fundraising for, because we're going to make it amazing. So do check out the link down below for these limited run incredible silk scarves that will be produced in Italy, but of course, are designed by Rory Hutton, one of London's or really the UK's top textile designers. And right, so here's the West Room. Again, my big renovation project. If you didn't see the video before when I visited Rory and Malcolm, who's going to help to design the space, do check it out. But FYI, I have seen the final scarf. So it's gone off to print in Italy, so we can get a sample. That's coming soon. So make sure you join the waitlist because you will be the first to see what it actually looks like, which is very exciting. And you need to join the waitlist so you can see my top of the waitlist. I think I should be. I'll put you on it. I'll put you on it. So this room, let's talk about the architecture in this room. First and foremost, it relates back to the great chamber. And you can see, again, the Tudor overmantel and the Tudor heads. The same Tudor heads you see here are also in the frieze around the in the great chamber. Now, what's interesting is that clearly this ceiling has been lowered. You can see, you know, sort of the top of their heads have been have been cut off. I don't know how much has been lowered. And now you've also got the Morgan coat of arms again before. And these are Flemish designs, I think, in the overmantel. So Flemish motifs and another wonderful Tudor fireplace. This one gets quite a lot of water down it and you can see the kind of muck that's accumulated. But yeah, so when it comes to the redecoration of this room. Oh, my goodness. It's my laurel. What? It's my laurel. I didn't know what to do with that. That is my laurel. I deserve a laurel. From your big party? Don't you think? Yeah, this is an asterisk laurel. Well, it's what Caesar would have worn. This laurel needs fixing, which I think is beyond me now. But it doesn't, it should not be sitting in the fireplace. So I'm going to put. I wouldn't put it on the marble. No, that's fine. It can sit on the marble quite happily. We've obviously got other interesting features in this room. I've always thought it was a bit under-decorated, the ceiling, but it does have this rather lovely sort of garland. I wonder about that. Do you think he ran out of money? Ran out of money. That's quite familiar. Because if you look at the rococo ceiling in the staircase hall and the one in the library, this is just very simple. Yeah. So I wonder, you know, you would have thought he would have put sort of more swirls and twirls around. Swirls and twirls. So what's, again, we've talked about this on previous videos about what we're doing in this room, but we thought about the architecture. What I find really interesting is you've got the Georgian sash windows there. And then of course, you've got the Tudor mullion windows here. So, and then you've got Tudor panelling here. You've got the Tudor overmantel, the Tudor fireplace. So it's a real clash of, you know, two different sort of eras. But one of the, one of the clashes that I feel most deeply actually are these Victorian portraits, which I really don't like. Yeah, I agree. Really grim. Yeah. And it's interesting because certain portraits got left behind at Hinchingbrook. Julie, of course, quite rightly has brought them back, but I'm beginning to understand why some of them got left behind. And maybe you are a little bit as well. No, I think they're a part of your family. It's the eighth Earl, which technically is not your great, great grandfather. It is your great, uncle. Because his younger brother produced George because he didn't have any children, who's then your great grandfather. But so that's, that's him. That is the year that he actually becomes the Earl of Sandwich. He succeeds to the title and this is his stepmother. So his father, the seventh Earl of Sandwich, lost his mother when they were quite a young age and then remarried here. Now, the reason that they're up is because I took down the tapestries that were here. And you needed something. And I needed something to go and they worked for now. I think once we look at rehanging pictures, these won't stay. And definitely, I'm afraid, well not, I'm not afraid, actually, you'll be pleased to know once we redecorate the West Room, hopefully we can get all that funding in and scarves sold, these will not be in the room. Well, what's interesting, which I hadn't really noticed before, is a little bit like the portrait, the self-portrait of my grandmother with a cigarette. He's also got a cigarette. And it looks like a rolled up cigarette, doesn't it? Because you can kind of see the sort of frilliness at the end. Yes. And what is this here? And it's got tobacco coming out. That's a glove. Oh, that's a glove. Or a pair of gloves. Yes. And what's really interesting would be to try and identify this piece of furniture, because it looks like the Renaissance table. Well, look at the head. I don't think it is the Renaissance table. It could be. Oh, I think it is. Could it be? Oh, my gosh. That would be a mystery resolved, wouldn't it, if that was the case? That is the Renaissance table. And there he is also with his gold pocket watch, which I'm sure we don't have anymore. And a rather fine suit with a red handkerchief or pocket square, as you call it. So one of the things to notice about this this room is it does not have the bed that used to be here when I was growing up, because this was my grandfather's room. And it had a much wider and lower and later bed. This is a Tudor or even Elizabethan bed. And it's still got the kind of horsehair mattress right here. Very uncomfortable. But when the other bed was here, I remember coming into this room with my grandfather. And again, in the same way that I used to get orange juice with my mother, my grandfather would always have lemon tea served to him in the morning. And he'd have these enormous sugar lumps, which he would dip in the in the lemon tea and give to us as a treat in the morning. And they were called canard, so duck in French. And he'd say, boys, would any of you like a canard? And we come in and we grab a lump of sugar, we dip it in the lemon tea. In fact, it would be rather delicious to do that. How interesting, I didn't know this. So that was a kind of early morning treat. And then he would have, all those years ago, he would have rung. He had a bell to press as well. Well, you've really piqued my interest with the corner of that picture. Let's have a quick check downstairs and see whether that possibly is the corner of the Renaissance table. I mean, I hope it is. That's a mystery solved. So we've come back down into the hall in order to check whether Julie is right. And you know what? I think you're right. I think you're right. I think this is exactly the same because you've got a head here and then you've got this carving above here and you've got the table there. Look at that. And look at that, everybody. Oh, my gosh, I'm so right. Can everybody see that? You can see, Luke, do you see that? This, this mystery solved. So and there he. Oh, my gosh. And he had his hand there on this. So there we go. I'll recreate it. Yes, can you recreate it? There we go. The figure is the other way, but yes, the cigarette in hand. So yeah, that's the thing. And what's so wonderful about that is that there I was looking at that piece of furniture thinking, oh gosh, that's yet another lovely piece of furniture that has gone, been sold. But of course it hasn't. It's still here. And we hope all of these pieces will continue to be here for hundreds and hundreds of years for people to come and enjoy us. And in large part, thanks to all of our viewers for your ongoing support. And we'll be doing another ultimate tour of kind of the backside of the house where we live and kind of the private part where the tourists don't go special delivery. It's here. That is a heavy tone. Look at that. Is it for me? No, it's for me. But I thought we could open it together. There is a bit of clue on here. Korto, that's your publisher, isn't it? It is. And this feels very bookish. It could be my book. It could be your book. Is this the first copy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You guys, this is all happening right now. Sorry, I've never seen this. You've never seen this. It's terrible. Okay. Okay. This is it. This is better than Christmas. Don't open it like that. You've got to reuse the envelopes. Honestly, make do and mend. You can't ruin a perfectly good envelope like this. It's like ripping Christmas paper open. No, no, no, no. Do you do that on your Christmas paper? Just like open it up, tape by tape, piece of tape. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. No. Don't cry. I'm not going to. I just have to let her. She does often cry. Oh my gosh. Which is fine, by the way. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, it's better than I thought. Can I feel it? Yeah, look at it. Because the feel of a book before you even open it is so important, isn't it? Okay, I'm going to cry. Oh my gosh, it's so nice. Can I pull the ribbon? Or do you want to pull the ribbon? I'll pull the ribbon. We'll pull it together. You do that bit. There we go. And that comes out. Look at this. Look, it's a lovely color. Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful. Oh my gosh, look at the gold embossing. Country house. Let me just go to a random page. Mappleton's got two peas, really. Yeah, that's what's printed there. He's just terrible. Can I just take my book now? That's a lovely photo. That's a very luscious color, isn't it? Look at all the leaves in the autumn. Isn't that lovely? That really is lovely. So this book has been a labor of love, as many of you know. I've been talking about it for, gosh, I don't even know, almost three years, I think, when I first signed my deal. Or maybe it was two, two and a half years ago. And to have this in my hands is more than I can say. Oh gosh, look at the back. Look at the back. It's so lovely too. I would, I just want to say thank you to all of you because, you know, you are very much a part of this book. Those of you watching on YouTube, those of you who have been, who have stayed in the house here, those of you who have donated to our, you know, restoration projects, you're all mentioned in this book because this is a year at Maperton and you have all been a part of that year through our filming, through our fundraising. There's a whole chapter on YouTube, isn't there? Well, it's not necessarily a whole chapter, but it's weaved in and out. It's weaved in throughout. It is absolutely gorgeous. So, I would love you all to pre-order and it would just make my day. So, pre-order details down below. And if you pre-order before this comes out on September 24th, you get a three-month subscription of Maperton Live, where you get all the behind the scenes, you get voicemails from me, you get the episodes early on YouTube, and there's a wonderful community. Plus, you'll get a Christmas card from both Luke and I, like a proper Christmas card. And you'll also get a book plate as well, a digital book plate that you can put inside. Are you going to order it? I'm ordering 10 already. Where can I order? The link is in the bio. It's on the usual places. I'll have to go to the bio to get the link. But no, this is absolutely fabulous. It's lovely. But we should have weeded that bit of the garden. Again, thank you guys. And we'll be back again for another tour. This time, the part of the house where we live in. So, stay tuned. And of course, remember to like and subscribe to the channel. Turn your notifications on. And many thanks, of course, to our many wonderful patrons who you can see right over here.