Finding Unexpected Treasures
Most people hope to find family heirlooms in the attic. I found half a monastery.
Just before David and I moved into the castle, this 350-room Regency masterpiece, I was determined to transform what had once been his nursery wing into a home. The first task was to create a cosy family kitchen. While I waited for a surveyor to do a recce of the building and confirm whether the floor was strong enough to support the weight of an Aga, I took the huge bunch of keys my mother-in-law had given me and set off to explore…
Like anyone who has ever cleared elderly relatives’ houses and attics, there’s always the hope of discovering a few forgotten treasures. I couldn’t wait to search the upper floors and towers.
I remember opening the creaking door into one of the many ‘back’, spiral stone staircases and stepping up into the forgotten spaces above all the formality. Climbing the narrow sunken steps, worn with service, I felt the air become colder. My heart was beating hard by the time I reached one of the many old green baize doors. I was about to enter a whole new world of mystery.
Everywhere I looked, I found deserted rooms. Thin, single-glazed windows, cracked in places, let in scant light – the window cleaners rarely reach the upper floors. Walking through empty corridors, littered with the odd piece of furniture, stirred up thick dust that blanketed every surface – you could taste it. The original nursery wing, used by my late father-in-law and his brothers and sisters, was empty except for a few remnants of children’s lives: some pictures and books. Grates in fireplaces were covered in twigs from jackdaws nesting in the chimneys, a dead pigeon was decaying on a window ledge, and every nook and cranny was netted with cobwebs.
The silence in the abandoned space was chilling. My mind was bursting with questions. Who had lived here? What was it like? Who slept in all the staff bedrooms? And then, as I kept opening door after door, glimpsing the many layers of history shared within my home, I made an extraordinary discovery.
Feature length video for paid subscribers with the Duchess exploring hidden treasures in the towers.