How This 1300-Year-Old Saxon Monastery Became A Grand Mansion | American Viscountess | Real Royalty

This time on American Viscountess Julie Montagu, Viscountess Hinchingbrooke visits Deans Court – a tranquil country house in the centre of the Dorset market town of Wimborne. This is an historic home which continues to surprise and inspire. Once a medieval monastery, the building was transformed in the Georgian period. The Hanham family have lived here for 500 years since the time of the Tudor Kings and Queens. William and Ali Hanham give Julie a tour of the beautiful interiors – from the splendour of the Georgian period to the colourful brushwork of the 1930s. Julie discovers how buried treasures were unearthed from the Roman Period and hears of the extraordinary and sometimes heartbreaking history of previous generations.

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Today I’m visiting the beautiful Dean’s Court a Georgian Country House in the center of the historic Market town of wimborne endorse it this is a house with monastic Roots dating back to the 8th Century I’ll be delving into the family archives with William and Ali Hanam whose family has lived here for nearly

500 years This is a historic home brimming with fascinating stories to tell this is early 8th Century 705 ad was the date that the monastery was founded into this is the sort of classic 1930s I’m left speechless by the beauty of the decoration and the creativity of the women who have lived here past and

Present I can’t resist lending a hand as a shepherdess I got a little bit left I want to give it to you come on and I wait in to give fly fishing a whirl and fish Upstream [Laughter] Oh that would make Sense 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 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 Heritage Matton 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 bountis as I journey into the British Countryside in search

Of some of Britain’s Finest historic Houses Hi how are you oh I’m great so nice to finally be here oh welcome Dean’s court it’s good to have you here so nice Ally I’ve been wanting as you know I’ve been wanting to come here I know for so cuz you are practically neighbors I know 45 minutes away

Exactly yeah come down here the um William’s here looking forward to seeing you again hello good how are you so nice to see you and oh my goodness okay so this is baby so exciting this is lty hello and my daughter and Dan her h and baby

Maisy they’ve been living with us for 18 months look at that at the beginning of Co and never and never left well I can’t wait to learn more about the history of Dean’s court because just walking up here it’s just extraordinary I mean did you did

You get a sense when you walked in of sort of tranquility and an oasis of calm absolutely that’s what I found was so extraord inary because all of a sudden I arrive here and knowing that steps away is Winborn and it’s tranquil it’s beautiful it’s Serene what this goes

Back to I like to think is that there was a monastery here very long time ago um and um I think that sense that feeling of of sort of almost spiritual Tranquility still pervades the gardens here I’m glad you picked up yeah no no I absolutely I I absolutely did and but

The history of Dean’s Court I I know that it dates its 8th Century yeah so it’s that’s originally 8th Century but then it’s been added on yeah yeah so there’s an 8th Century House buried in the core of the building which we’ll show you later but right there’s a

Georgian WRA around the sides yeah I mean it’s very it’s Georgia and when did you actually take over the running of Dean’s Court about 12 13 years ago I sort of I started coming down from London to take over but we really didn’t move in until what um about 11 10 or 11

Years ago yeah we sort of we started we tried as probably a lot of people do at the beginning to keep our business is going yeah I had an antique business in glossier William had an art business in London but within a few years we realized this was not going to be

Possible so actually we just moved in and start our own businesses here right because when you move into these historic houses they become your business I mean that is that’s what’s happened now that’s what’s changed so much over the past really years so you this is your business and then as far as

Renovations cuz I know what it’s like living in these historic houses it’s constant repairing and restoring what have you both done since you moved in 10 years ago well we put two new bathrooms in it and the very first central heating we put a few radiators in downstairs but

Before that it was just fires or you froze that was it fires you froze and there was only one place to to use a bathroom right and they would literally in the winter not take their coats off we’ve got some rooms that were redecorated the 1930s which will show you and actually won’t

Change them great and that’s a very important feature I think of looking after a house like this you want to keep it up to date you want to keep it as a modern you know livable in home yes but every time we do a makeover in one room

We try to keep a few elements of the previous generations so that the story and the continuity works and then you get also you get that l which is what we all absolutely love about all these historic houses yeah because it’s like you want to be able to walk into a room

That has your touch your legacy in it but also at the same time it’s combining everybody else who’s been in that room before you so making sure all those elements stay within the room but you’re adding into that as well for future Generations you’ve always got to keep

Adding or else they they they they literally they don’t move forward do they and then they get stuck in the and you’re living in a museum you’re living in Muse you’ve got to constantly keep changing them a little bit this is what I really like about these historic

Houses that are private still privately owned lived in by the families because they’re not museums we’re continuing to evolve and we’re continuing to add on and we’re continuing to really add to the stories that only we can tell when we have people come for weddings come to

The shop come to the restaurant and that’s what make these these historic houses so much more interesting in my mind to come and visit and see because it is living history I mean this really is living Heritage living history right here absolutely and this this house is a

Lovely example of that because every single moment in in English history for the last, 1300 years has left an has left an imprint particularly in the last 500 years you know I’d love to go see some more great we do that yeah perfect you lead the way all right

So I can really start to tell now the difference between what you’ve done with this paint and then this yeah this these these rather startling colors these are the old original colors which defined the difference between the staff quarters of the house and the non-staff quarters we mentioned the earliest part

Of the house and these two rooms in here and in there formed the Saxon part of the house and you can see that it’s actually built of very thick masonry those two archers over there were punched through in 1725 but this was the this was the hall

House but you’ve got to use a lot of imagination because you’d have probably had a half in the middle of the floor here with a hole in the roof to let the smoke out and there have probably been straw on the floor dogs uh Livestock in the underr underneath to keep the place

Warm but it would have been very busy because this was the this was the Beating Heart of the Saxon Monastery and wonderful and it was built by a very Royal person called cuff burer she was the sister of the king of Wessex and she was the the wife or the consort of the

King of of North Umbria and that marriage sealed an alliance between wesex and North Umbria but this was where she lived so this was the Royal Palace of wimborne and her quarters would have been in what we call the solar next door there but this is where the sort of General day-to-day business

Of the administration of the monastery went on so remind me again what century am I literally standing in right now this is early 8th Century 7 7:05 ad was the date that the monastery was founded and we think that this house was built at the same time so yeah 1300 years

People have been living and working in this house it’s incredible it is unbel so that’s the first 800 years do you want to go and check out the next 500 years yeah because should we have a look at that when my family became involved right so even I mean here I am 1300

Years but also it’s you know it’s Quite a feat that this has been in your family for nearly 500 years yeah um not a lot of families you can say that yeah William is the 13th baronet to live at Dean’s Court generations of his ancestors look out from the walls

Reminding us of the previous lives lived here discover the past with exclusive history documentaries and AdFree podcasts presented by world-renowned historians all from history hit watch them on your smart TV or on Theo with your mobile device download the app now to explore everything from the wonders

Of ancient Pompei and the Mystery of the princes in the tower to the life of Anne berin and D-Day sign up via the link in the description it was in the mid-6th century when the family first took up residence so that brings us to this character here John hannam who was a MP

For pool and he was one of the Commissioners for Dorset and when Henry iith Died um Edward the 6 government sent in the commissioners of Dorset to break up the church lands of which it was still the property of the church so that was the end of the 800 years Bas

That was the end of the churches yeah right um ownership of the land and he basically redistributed most of it to himself right because he was the MP so they gave him the job and they said right you’ve got to yeah he did it all legally though all about Bo he was a

Very eminent lawyer in the middle temple in London so he he he ass signed himself a lease to start with and then his son took over um uh and and Grant and bought the free hole okay okay but so when he saw this place of course he thought well

I’m going to have this absolutely yeah it suited him down to the ground he was also looking for a wife at the same time and in 1548 um he picked out the richest aess in wimborne and married her so this is a very good year for him

Indeed so this is though a tutor painting this is a lovely yeah portrait it’s probably done in the year 1548 but it’s U it’s by a Flemish an Anglo Flemish artist we should say we don’t know who exactly the the closest painter is someone called Steven Van de moan who

Did come to England but a little bit later than this but what it shows is a is a man um presenting himself in a sort of merand style right um as a wealthy wealthy man this is the whole point the gloves that he presents are a sign of

Affluence and of course the Signet ring which which tells us about his family but the rough and the hat and the whole style of the painting um just sort of shouts I’m doing well I’m wealthy and you know I’m going places right yeah but it’s a it’s a lovely it’s a beautiful

Painting and it’s it’s probably the best one we’ve got in the house yeah no no it’s beautiful but uh he would have he would have paid the that Painter with with his new wife’s money right but but the sad thing is he didn’t Accord her the same high quality portrait as he did

To himself oh here she is oh yeah there’s definitely there’s a big difference there’s a big divide there’s a big quality gap here they’re not even a pair because she doesn’t face him so this is a pen and it’s obviously done later than his own portrait but he was

Very he was very keen to establish himself at first with his own portrait and I think this was an afterthought done by a much less expensive painter and um and what is she holding there gloves she’s holding gloves as well yeah it it was her money after all

Okay but she’s called Alice orange she nothing to do with the Dutch House of orange this is before all that happened so this is a French name it was Alice right yeah fantastic it was the third baronet Sir William hannam in the mid 18th century who transformed the layout and

Appearance of Dean’s Court the Saxon Great Hall was wrapped in a sequence of Georgian rooms and the facade of the building we see today was added each generation adapts these historic homes to their taste and the library was the first room William and Ally decorated when they moved in so this is the

Library oh wow you I can see you’ve you’ve definitely redecorated in here this is lovely paint color yeah this is the first room that Ally and I set about painting the thing about this room was it was unbelievably dark when we we came in here because it was actually a very

Dark turquoise color but all the window surrounds and the door surrounds and the fireplace surround was all covered in this wood graining this is actually just painted wood graining from the 1930s so you can imagine with the bookshelves and everything this place was just so gloomy

And what we did was try to drag the light in from outside it’s cheered the room up I no it’s wonderful and what do we have here then so this is this is a little uh group of objects which relate to an ancestor of mine called Captain

John hannam who fought very bravely in the first seat wars in the Punjab which were not very well known about these battles but they were some of the bloodiest in British history and here we have a letter that he wrote home in 1845 from his tent this so this battle is

Around so he’s he’s fighting in sort of mid 1800s 1840s 1840s okay these are the medals he got from the three main battles and one he was quite a hero then he was a hero he came home yeah quite decorated and um you know a heroic Survivor very decorated he came back to

England he was um posted to Preston in in Lancashire he married he had a he had a wife called Amy who’s a very interesting personality as well but they were living up there even though they they had Dean’s court and this was their home ah so this was his home yeah he

Comes back after MH and he’s married and but then they move away being in the Army he had to go where he was posted one day in 1861 he punished a very young 18-year-old Irish private very very severely for a tiny little infraction he’d sent him to get the names of some

Children that were bothering some of the staff and he went out and he could only get one name cuz the children ran away and he came back and reported this to Captain hannam and the colonel and they put the poor private on a charge and that was a very nasty business in those

Days you were constantly having to get up in the middle of the night and clean your kit and you were humiliated by having to walk around the barracks and salute all the centuries so he was this 18yar old Irish 18-year-old Irish man yeah was really punished and he was he

Went and got his musket and he loaded it no yeah and he waited um in the barracks by by by wall in the barracks until John Captain John Hanam and the colonel came walking across and um he took aim he was a very good shot and the bullet went

Through the colonel first of all and then lodged in Captain hannam and the colonel died within a few hours but Captain hannam took two days to die with his wife beside him taking instructions about how to manage his estate after you gone you’re kidding me yeah and she

Wrote very very heavily about this afterwards and we have a very long letter here no well has obviously you know it’s got the black order around it that’s the morning the morning when you wrote letters when you were in morning when you’re morning but in that letter

She describes how when he was dying he actually forgave the private that had shot him and he said I want to go I I hope to go in peace and that includes the man um the man who’s killing who’s killed me and I can see even in here

Because it says Dear children but it says Monday the 9th of September 1861 we started started a very happy and merry party um so she’s really describing the day to her children in this letter yeah they wake up it’s a normal day he goes

Off to work um can I can I touch this yes of course yeah oh my goodness she has so much to say you can see she does yes it’s a it’s a long old letter um but she was a wonderful writer his his his wife wife Amy and she wrote copiously

About all sorts of other things what you get from her writings not this but also other writings is the incredible Despair and grief that she felt at the murder of her husband this wasn’t just a marriage for for financial reasons or anything this was a m Real Marriage of love and

She was absolutely destroyed by by the death and you’ll see here we have a little box which says the bullet that made me a widow no Amy ursila Kyle those Hannah those are her and which she has this is the bullet this is the bullet that made me a widow and

There it is did she write in did and yes and there she is written on the day that he died this um extraordinary sort of outpouring on thee their life blood lies oh fatal cruel oh loved oh darling one these are all exclamation points how long must I

There mourn make thou me strong at Duty’s call um let Duty’s path be short mhm so she wants to die she wants to go she wants to go after him yeah when his dear children Know Thy Name oh call me from this world washed with my savior’s

Blood uh let let me be where he is let me go after the trial of the Irish private who was called mcaffrey and it was sent to her by the local police the police police constable and we’ve got the sort of letter that you know came with that as well but the interesting

Thing about mcaffrey um was that he was obviously sentenced to death and he was publicly executed in January 1862 outside Preston jail but it was the penultimate public hanging in the country they stopped doing them soon after that right so he was hung he was

Hung yeah and in front of a crowd of 35,000 mainly Irish onlookers who’d come out in disgust at the whole thing they’d heard the story and of course there had been the trial and they were on his side and they hated they hated the British army all of these so the 35,000 that

Came out were actually on his side on the irishman’s side because they were predominantly Irish it was hugely um written up by the Press particularly with by the time we got to McCaffrey’s execution in January but this is four four days after he died his body is put

On the train from Preston down to Winborn it arrives 8 hours late so it’s quite nice to know that it’s the trains actually did not run on time in those days and so the funeral which was supposed to take place at midday took place at night at 8 8:00 p.m. and they

Marched from wimborne station to the cemetery and and 2,000 residents of wimbor turned out to pay their respects how unbelievably heartbreaking though this story I mean heartbreaking on both levels you know you’ve got somebody who was murdered and and now you’ve got the Widow who’s absolutely beside herself

Heartbroken but then you also you have this 18-year-old Irish boy who was also executed the Press when they wrote it up said he looks like a child he looked like a 12y old oh I can’t even I mean I I that gives me chills that gives me

Chills it’s a sad story very very sad story Amy Hanam retreated to Dean’s courts in deep mourning following Victorian social convention she dressed in black and muted tones of gray and purple her room here is painted in the same color Scheme so this is the m room it’s stunning I mean it’s really stunning how I mean if you’re in morning I would like to be in this room because it is there’s something even though you’re in morning at least there’s a little bit of cheerfulness here yeah and

It’s a quite it’s a nice calming color actually I mean know even if it wasn’t to do with morning it would still be quite an interesting scheme and so did you is this the original I mean it looks this isn’t the original paint That’s is why it looks in quite good Nick because

In the 1980s my it was falling off it was peeling so my parents um actually just replicated the exact color scheme um so this is how this is how how I mean how extraordinary and wonderful for your parents to keep it as Amy had it that’s what’s so fascinating but this is a

Piece of social history I think which is really important to hang on to absolutely mhm I’m very happy Buster coming with us I know he he does actually love a visitor he to T senses to attach himself to them as if we don’t give him enough

Love so here we are coming to the kitchen Garden lovely hidden behind protective walls Dean’s Court both boasts the most glorious kitchen Garden just as it would have done 100 years ago it provides fruit and vegetables for the family but also for the wider community so Julie come and meet James hi hey

Julie how’s it do James is totally in charge of just under one acre of kitchen Garden there’s a lot of kitchen Garden James there’s a lot I’ve got some fantastic volunteers so yeah definitely really helps james’ green fingers ensure the kitchen Garden is productive all

Year round so this kind of here is just all different varities of beetroot exactly and are they ready to come up yeah yeah yeah we could pull one up now if we want P yeah yeah so so basically they’re in little clumps so what you

Want to do is sort of twist one and then pull it out so if you take pick a nice big juicy one okay so then with that and then you twist and then ah so that’s how you pull it it out and then you get a nice it’s beautiful lovely little beach

And a big one I’m looking for a big the biggest one in the bunch so the smaller ones will keep growing so in a couple of weeks time we can take the next one and the next one so yeah find a bunch this looks lovely I’ll use this yellow one yeah okay little

Twist okay oh my goodness there you go perfect look at that it’s beautiful natural oh wow that I mean you know I don’t want to ask if I can take them home but can absolutely 100% yeah yeah I can make a delicious salad salad yeah I

Love it just roasted as well and then tsor a salad just simple and can I put these in your basket basket wonderful and then you’ve got here behind you’ve got cly kale yeah so some different types of kale so this is a yeah a red kale so these have been here all season

So since the spring which is now they look a bit unusual for um oh I love the look of them yeah they almost so so these are ready to be yeah yeah so this is all ready to go so I can show you how so you sort of pick the

Outer leave so again it’s like picking them like that y like that and then we leave a few at the top so I’ll probably take that one right that far and then you’ve still got this lovely so this will then grow later and then this will

Be and then yeah just like the beetroots they’ll keep growing and then you’ll be able to take more so I didn’t know that they keep growing all winter weren’t they yeah so these ones will probably finish but we’ve got some other ones over there which went in in the Autumn

And then they’ll go all the way through until the spring well do you need any help with anything absolutely any yeah 100% there’s some stuff over here we could go and pick for sure and this soil James is particularly fantastic because it’s completely organic isn’t it yeah

Absolutely so yes wonderful do the no dig system what is the no dig system I’m glad you are it’s become very popular recently with small scale gers right um really championed by a guy Charles daing over in Somerset and basically it’s trying to mimic um the natural processes

And apply compost directly on top of the soil there you go you can probably get that a tug now you might need both hands there well there you go and you can just shake it up okay wow this soil is particularly fantastic soil because this was the

First kitchen Garden in the country to be certified by the soil Association so it was William’s mother Jane hannam when she came here in 1973 turned it straight away over to an organic garden so she was yeah a complete she’s a real Pioneer oh my goodness a complete pioneer in the in

The organic movement and she was sort of mixed with the very very early moves and shakers in the organic um world that is very early 197 1970 when the rest look what the rest of the world were doing in 1973 they didn’t have a clue about no I fertilizing fertilizing everything yeah

It’s fantastic so this soil is particularly amazing because it’s probably been organic for longer than any other kitchen really fantastic so I mean I you know and and um that’s why I wanted to put a lot of it back we’ll cut this off and it will go in the

Compost anyway and then it’s coming back here so it’s not nothing’s wasted whole thing great also it’s all about composting the whole time but James then puts back in the Wonder I mean that is it’s about giving back and it’s and and that is what it’s giving back to the

Land and then the land giving to us and it’s just this wonderful perfect cycle loop system 100% that’s what we want this one’s enormous that cerous yeah we can let you yeah these are all cauliflowers growing up I have to watch you do it first one and then you can

Harvest the big one the big one okay brilliant so you’re just going just underneath yeah and then just use this as a serrated knife so just like a bread knife it will cut through ah and then there you go wonderful so in there is a cauliflower so we’ll pick off these OU

Leaves but James would you use the outer leaves yeah you can cook with them I would use not the biggest you want the young ones these younger ones inside absolutely I was just picking them off to reveal look at this fabulous cauliflower that is I’m just going to really be naughty

Here yeah I don’t even mind if I get some soil in my mouth cuz now I know that it’s been organic since 1973 so this is like the best soil in all of England is what I think that is delicious so I’ll give you that right this is a Whopper here yeah yeah

You that is a w okay so I’m going to go like I’m going to go at the base that’s it perfect okay just like yeah slicing the slice of bread okay yeah how was that James was that all right brilliant yeah yeah okay I’m going to hand you

Back that knife perfect I’m going pull these away and it’s the big reveal right here perfect yeah oh my goodness look at this glorious cauliflower yes so we R incredible it’ll be delicious certainly will I just have to have a little bit of that right here yeah 100%

Yeah organic fresh best cauliflower I’ve ever had cauliflower James uses the organic ingredients from the kitchen Garden in is cooking Conjuring up the most delicious recipes you’re cooking a curry I’d love to come and help you amazing that would be fantastic 100% any help’s great so should I meet you later

Yeah yeah we’ll I’ll grab the veg together and we’ll meet over there shortly oh my gosh brilliant thank you James this has been eye opening fantastic beyond the kitchen Garden William is introducing me to some inquisitive members of the family all right wait so William just an FYI I have a fear of

Cows now I know that goats aren’t the same as cows but should I be fearful right come okay okay facing my fear of gats I just don’t want to really leave here with another phobia of another animal goats okay woo okay okay yes you keep hold of the

Food he’ll knock her out of the way do you have to be super quick at this she’ll come over here okay okay and then we stand back wolf is down and then what happens and then you’ll come and butt her out of the way no no oh yes oh wait

Look it okay so so these two goats the the you have you have goats Orlando yeah who’s huge he’s a Nubian goat right and um Pringles what is she something else might be new as well but some people say that he’s the biggest goat they’ve ever seen right and what we’ve done we

Brought them on here so that they can clear out all this all this trashy dried grass here that didn’t get moan when we took hay because there are a lot of Earthworks here and it was difficult for the tractor so before we moved the sheep

On for the winter I want the goats to clear out clear out all this stuff and they’re already making a good start on it and then they go around and they also clear the hedges oh so so they’re useful they’re useful goats oh they have a purpose they have have a purpose They’re

Not Just Pets well with the names like Orlando and Pringle I thought maybe they’re your your pet goats look at this they okay they Pringles like give me that’s it give give me some more oh dear oh dear sorry Pringle okay oh my goodness Orlando literally

Like head did Pringle out of the way that was extraordinary complete brute so what happens when you finish with all the feed like what happen well they go after next they don’t need they don’t really need feeding we just do it so that we keep them under control and when

We want to collect them up and take them somewhere else their little house they’ll come run yeah right yeah so that so that was it yeah but they’re obsessed with food they think about nothing other than eating okay and that’s what they live for but this is this helps me the

Next time I encounter go goat I’m just going to make sure that I’ve got some feed with me okay get Out Orlando and Pringle aren’t the only ones mowing The Meadows here on the estate a flock of 35 sheep graze happily under the watchful eye of shepherdess Louise Marshall it’s just so wonderful to wander around Dean’s court and then of course I’m wandering and I find you and I find um your sheep

Yeah but you know when I think of England I always think of England green but of course then I see you know all uh England you see sheep grazing but for me in one sense it kind of saddens me because I know that the sheep that are

Grazing are usually going to be on people’s plates but that’s not the case with yours is that right no they did start off as a breeding flock but I rapidly changed my mind and they’ve become a rescue Sanctuary now so now I rescue sheep every everywhere you do but

How do you rescue them are you are you finding them that they’ve been lost or no sometimes the that will call me and say there’s a lamb here that’s going to be um destroyed because the farmer doesn’t want to invest the time or the money in them um some people they have

Them as pets and they’ve died they need new homes or they’ve moved on or right um sometimes they’re welfare cases that need to be somewhere so you kind of rescue the lost sheep yeah The Unwanted the unloved go there’s their fee they have it’s called Sheep nuts so it’s all

Of molasses and vegetables all put into a nice little cake for them la love them right so this is like real proper nutrition nutrition right here oh fantastic stuff we’ve got lots of grass here it’s very nutritious um but these are just an added extra to keep them

Sort of friendly towards you and through winter as well give them a bit extra and how do you feed them do they come up yeah just give it all Shake watch watch them run M do you have do you have your named yeah so you know every single name

No this is my oldest sh this is horaaa that’s Penny here they come that’s buttons there you are oh my goodness they’re literally all coming look at this look at this one running that’s Rosie Rosie that’s big old Rosie to Bonita Lita how do you keep track of

Their names um well it’s like your children really that’s this Egan timee she’s really old she’s my second oldest she’s your second how old is she then uh she’s 14 she’s 14 so that’s considered old in sheep years I mean yeah generally sheep don’t really get past 9 or 10 oh

So doing really well she’s fantastic cuz she’s very active there too what we could do we could put them in their troughs if you like you can yeah top up brilliant right you start at one end to fill the trough and I’ll meet you in the

Middle and just a little bit in each of them yeah yeah just spin them all Out they are how brilliant all done how brilliant they love their food and they’re all healthy they’re very healthy y you’ve nursed them back to life really yeah yeah some have really horrible injuries but yeah they can all come if you spend the time and the effort um

They all come good again so you’re still rescuing if you hear or somebody contacts you you’ll take another the two there’s two commercial farms around here and in lamington they’ll often have an orphan orphans or they’ll have a mom that’s lost their their lambs in delivery and they don’t want to keep the

Mom anymore because she’s not a good breeder for them so she’ll come here in sort of retirement really like a luxury retirement yeah well exactly I wouldn’t mind that I mean look at you get fed you’re on this beautiful estate here who wouldn’t want to retire Here Dean’s court and its landscape stand Testament to the police political upheavals and stylistic changes of generations past from the foundations of the Saxon Monastery led by a royal abbis to the 18th century facade we see today wonderful oo I love it and this Georgian door isn’t it lovely yeah it’s just

Extraordinary opening Geor wonderful yeah right where are we off to right let’s go and look at the pond fantastic this way it’s just so beautiful and calming here and look it you have a ponds now too I mean you have everything here everything wow so I mean I mean this is just so

Lovely I mean I would think I would want to swim there you know William I’m a big cold water you could do lengths it’s 125 yards not sure if I do lengths I like my twom minute cold dips so it’s quite cold I ass is pretty cold I mean I’ve only

Been in in the summer clearing weed but it’s not very deep in you know it’s about four or 5T deep right that’s perfect for me to do my my dunking yeah absolutely Brant this was probably a Roman Reservoir originally because we had a Roman Fort just across the fields

There in about ad45 okay a huge Garrison with 4 and a half thousand legionnaires and um we dredged it in 2013 we took a, tons of debris that had all fallen off the trees out spread it over the field next door and found huge amounts of

Stuff I spent a week in there with a metal detector you’re kidding me was so fun that one fun that I found is this is a it’s a Roman coin with the head of Claudius wonderful makes perfect sense because Claudius was on was the emperor

At the time and he issued a license to the garrisons in England to to Mint their own coins to pay their armies which was eminently sensible Roman practice rather than shipping money from Rome to the you across the Empire um so that was a very nice I me did your metal

Detector Go I mean was it like it was pretty busy yeah yeah you must have been so excited when you found this yeah cuz that sort of does confirm that that this yeah this piece of water is is pretty ancient pretty ancient well as is you know all

Of Dean’s Court really yeah yeah but there have been people Liv you know living and operating and now this is the other little thing I found okay it doesn’t look like much much but it’s a Saxon dress pin and British museum have got lots of these with that particular design it’s

Called polyhedral with Dot and pin um pattern um but it’s they date usually from 600 to 900 ad ad so the timing is pretty good for a Saxon Pond and I imagine that what used what was common was for the Romans when they left left reservoirs everywhere because they were

Obsessed with water even in a country like England but of course of course mean look at bath spa exactly yeah and of course when the Saxons sort of took over instead of digging new ponds they just took over Roman reservoirs and usually expanded them and it was very

Common practice for monasteries to do the same because monasteries needed fish ponds because they had so many days where they couldn’t eat meat of course so they ate fish yeah but next to the pond here we’ve got these two incredible trees and this this is the swamp Cyprus

Yes which is 110 ft tall and next to the T tree which is about 90 95t tall two American trees which uh anytime I hear the word American I’m like yes yeah yeah so so why do you have two American trees here at Dean’s Court that’s a very very good

Question we think the only possible explanation is that they were planted here by Thomas hannam who sailed to America when he returned in early 16007 that he brought them with him and he planted them here so these are I love doing maths here four give me all about

Aging everything 400 over 400 years old 15 something yeah and you know I have to ask this is there a point that they start growing do they the route there do they continue um like like L trees they just carry on growing that’s what I thought yeah they slow down right

Exactly but uh so that they’re healthy they seem very healthy you know the only bit of the tree that’s really alive of course is the outside the outside wood and M shell I mean this point of VI back from this swamp you can see it’s it’s at

Least twice the height of the house there this is an exceptional tulip tree usually they only live for 3 400 years um but at the most but uh if they’re situated on gravel grally soil and they’ve got plenty of water like they have here they apparently in America

They will go on for 500 years wonderful so hopefully this tree’s got another 100 years left Hello hi Julie I thought I might find you here yeah to the morning room excuse the chaos no I love you know I’ve just done a little bit walk around myself and every room is so different very different which is wonderful and it’s like you’re walking back into into time

In some of the rooms you know I’ve just gone from the library which is the room we’ve completely red redecorated but here what where am I walking into right now what century you’re walking into a bit of a mixture in here you’re walking into a room that was the wallpaper goes back to

1868 and the painting is 1930s it’s the one room we’re not really quite sure what to do we absolutely love love it we’ve just taken the carpet up because it was moth completely moth ridden um the the original carpet that was put down in here the painting absolutely

Beautiful but then you can see look at the ceiling and the Beautiful molding yes but it’s you know if we just painted the ceiling it would look ridiculous you suddenly have this bright white ceiling it would emphasize actually how grubby and stained the wallpaper is but I am

Really noticing though so basically I’m in a room of 19th and 20th Century kind of a mix match of the two of the centuries but what’s extraordinary is just all of the painting absolutely beautiful the detail yeah so Cordelia who came to the house lived in the house

From sort of 1900 to about 1948 um came with lots and lots of money after the 20s she had lots of money and started redecorating and she in the 19 early 1930s would have commissioned a a decorator but when sort of everyone was into painting and and color and um

Special effects with the paints and stippling and that’s exactly what these beautiful doors so she obviously decided to leave the wallpaper in here which is absolutely beautiful H painted so the the wallpaper the wallpaper 1868 186 68 yeah and in fact this particular wall here in Williams

Parents herea I think it said in the 1980s that had a big damp problem so actually they sort of redid this and they cut out every single star that was original and put it onto new paper and they reded this corner so they were able

To save the Stars yes they cut them out they cut them out and put them onto new wallpaper because you can see that’s slightly whiter also than say the wallpaper over there and same with the Border here same with the Border yeah but you know you can see look at the

Deterioration there but how do you Salvage this wallpaper because surely that’s something you want to to do well we would love to but I don’t I don’t I don’t think I don’t know if we can I mean you can’t take the whole all the wallpaper off and rehang it I mean I

Think we’ll I think we’ve got this far we’ve got the carpet up it has turned into rather a box room we’ve got to sort this out obviously and we will work out how to sort of touch up the lovely lovely molding and redo the ceiling somehow but what’s fascinating about

This room is obviously you’ve got the mixture between the two centuries kind of mashing together you’ve got the wallpaper from the 19th century but then this painting this this beautiful painting yeah that was very influenced by the Charles in the 1930s Vanessa Bell Virginia wolf John Fowler they all sort

Of went you know they all congregated in the house in Sussex Charleston and painting painting these beautiful colors experimenting with colors experimenting with paints and I think Cordelia was obviously very influenced and you can see it’s AB absolutely beautiful the the colors very very Charleston these colors very

1930s and you know we wouldn’t want to change that at all because that is so beautiful she she’s you know that was the period that they would decorate on these sort of the Georgian features that you would have in the Georgians obviously would this would just be completely plain they exact they they

Did not like too much color they likeed it plain right so it’s fascinating that you’ve got such a mix cordelia’s restyling of the Interiors here also included commissioning the iconic Liberty store in London to decorate some of the rooms and then we go through into the next

Room oh two doors into the Next Room wonderful those Georgians yeah look Georg the Georgians the paneling and you know couple of doors into this is the sort of classic 1930s so you can’t change this no no the color is so amazing isn’t it oo the color is so wonderful okay what’s happening

Herey this is B employ to me this is fantastic what a lovely place to do it so what are you I’m I’m totally intrigued right now okay so um basically this is a lockdown hobby that grew um started as a lockdown hobby it’s embroidery basically it’s all done by

Hand um and I’m doing at the moment some little Christmas stockings that I’m doing for someone that has um all their familys on how wonderful so this lockdown project then became a full-time bus a business it was a total um like kind of suddenly cuz we were all here in

Lockdown and we had so much time um I just had to go and I literally learned by YouTube by YouTube well we love YouTube so I started doing it then I basically set up a little Instagram account for it and then it just grew and but I think it’s fascinating also

Because you’re doing what they did sort of a 100 years ago but this time you’re you’re being a really fast forward um businesswoman which is trying to be no it’s quite yeah it’s been fantastic and it’s been lovely during lockdown actually to do it and and nice that this

Room’s being used again because it was a bit of a museum this room for the for the W of course since we’ve been here no one really came in here I think I think what’s extraordinary is you’re taking this lovely craft that’s been around you know for a long time but you you

Modernized it and making it into a business so it’s like this I love it this modern working mother taking a craft and making a business out of it well also yeah that’s what’s quite nice it’s such a therapeutic kind of like oldfashioned thing to do but I literally couldn’t do

It have done it without technology no couldn’t I wouldn’t have sold anything without Instagram and I wouldn’t have learned how to do it without YouTu YouTube yeah it’s the meshing just like that room over there was meshed in the centuries we’ve got the meshing up here

Of the same thing happening sort of 21st century with the 19th century if you like yeah exactly no and it’s so exciting and I feel now it’s kind of like got I found a new kind of well business that I can now do going forward

With a baby and just great well I’ve got four children and I might be contacting you and commissioning you for something maybe four stockings since we’re coming up to that perod anyway I will leave you to your pece cuz I know how important that is

Especially when you have a 4 and a half month old L’s business threads back to another creative woman who lived at Dean’s Court in the 19th century Amy Hanam who had been widowed when her husband Captain John hannam was murdered created beautiful embroidered Furnishings harking back to its monastic rots Dean’s court is just a short walk from Winborn Minster and the historic Market Town right no no exactly you can literally just walk into town I mean how extraordinary I mean it wouldn’t be a complete walk without Buster it would I mean so this is lovely though just walking yeah through here and then you know it it develops your sense of

Surprise so rather than just having straight path the town no no exactly but was it always like this no this was it was a there was a track you could just about fight your way through the Laurel we’ve extended it cuz this where the wedding guests when they arrive come ah

So this is the entrance just for you is that right in one sense this is like your private entrance yes exactly but it wasn’t always like this this used to be uh the the vehicular the car entrance to the house and then you followed an Avenue of chestnuts which is still there

And then came out to look at the corner of the house you know I was mentioning that Georgian trick of having two sides to look at there’s a story behind this there was trouble there was trouble there was trouble yes right so I see so they they used the

Two Crest used to be up here and these walls were filled in and these walls were filled in yeah okay so what happened was um in 1930 there was a big fight with the town over the ownership of the lane the council came and laid tarmac

Down and Cordelia Hanam Who was the who was the the lady of the house at the time very formidable character said you you know you you’ve laid tarmac down this is our lane it belongs to the estate and the house and it always has and the council um pulled out some bit

Of legal stuff and to to try and claim that it it was theirs now and she was absolutely Furious because she’d done so much for the town in the past she her husband built the hospital she gave a lots to the town she built the rectory

And gave it to the Minster and every time the town the community needed something she wrote the check right and this she was Furious that they were treating her like this and basically trying to steal a piece of land off her of course so what she did was she moved

The Big White gate that was there up to here built these two Stone Piers moved the the fine Hanam yes Griffins press onto the top and she never went into town again she went in she closed all her trade accounts and she literally refused to to engage with the community

Again the only thing she did do was every Sunday because she was so devout was to go to the Minster but she built herself a little walkway over there wall walkway which was her own private one with a locked gate to get her as close as possible to the minst so she was

Furious yeah but she had a problem this right here because she had a problem though because she couldn’t get it get to the nearest place to go shopping and do business was pool right yeah I was want to say how did she do her shopping if without having to drive all the way

Around the town to get to pool uh she couldn’t get there cuz the river Isen runs across the land here and is in the way so she solved that by building that very fine bridge over the Allen and extending the drive 500 yard down to the

Road to pool and then she built a very pretty little Lodge Bungalow Lodge and two more peers like this with very fine rot iron gates and um so she that was it so that was her exit she just couldn’t she couldn’t even drive through the town

She couldn’t bear to have anything to do with them extraord the L people go to when they’re Furious yeah I mean but heartbreak for her she was a flame haired lady and she was I think she was not to be trifled with no no and here

And so I presumably there was a huge gate here then there was a big vehicle gate here and there was a little pedestrian gate there pretty white gate yeah but you’ve opened this all up now no the court she was taken to court or she took the counsel to court and the

Judge sat there and scratched his head and thought God I don’t know how to resolve this um so he basically said you’ve got to take the gates down but the ownership of the lane is sort of still in question and we’ve never really resolved yeah so it there was no there was no

Judgment I the yellow lines we can say her bar ex she she withdrew from the case and I think that that infuriated her even more cuz her barass said you’re probably not going to win yeah oh my goodness but then she also in 1932 built this gorgeous squash court for her son

John who was a mad Sportsman and then she built these two 1930s garages uh and then when we came here 12 years ago this was all complet completely derel it was overgrown just a farm gate here and just came in the the squash court was structurally quite sound but completely

DED on the inside so then did you have thoughts of what you wanted to do I was by slightly starting to miss my antique shop in glosser sh and was saying with my shopkeeper’s hat on saying this would make a fantastic shop because right on the corner of town this would make a

Fantastic shop so we did quite we’ll take you inside we did quite of basic restoration on it and a year later I kept looking at this 19 30’s garage yes which was also derit is that right my father had an old Bentley which he kept in there he’d stopped driving it

For years and years and years and it was sitting there just sort of rotting away right and so in 2013 we turned into our little cafe wonderful and this is good morning Anna good morning hi Anna Anna’s just set up all the cakes all the delicious homemade cakes I think it’s

Brilliant though Allie what you’ve done taking this and you know really thinking outside the box here it was a garage and you’re you know this is the Contemporary Progressive owners of these you know historic houses you’re the perfect example of one of them thinking like

What can we do with it Mak into a cafe use every why tear it down when we can you know use it um for you know to make something like this yeah can I order a something hot sure course can I have a just a black Americano yeah black

Americano exactly that’s the Americano for the American do you want a piece of cake yeah I will have one later I think I’m going to be having some lunch here so I will definitely have that okay perfect thank you so much just wonderful wonderful to see later Okay yeah so come over and see the shop with her knowledge and background in antiques Ally has furnished the cafe with such style echoing the 1930s so this is our shop hi Alex hi Julie hi so nice to meet you so this was the squash squash court imag that in

1932 was turned was built yes and it was probably left from I think people often come in here and say oh I played squash in here once it probably from about sort of the mid 80s ’90s onwards right it was um just derel literally everything that

Could rot had rotted all the wood all the floor the doors the balcony the staircase and it was like a fery literally it was just had sort of plants growing in it which actually looked rather atmospheric right so then you walked in we walked in and I thought oh

Wow this would make the most amazing shop so Ally are you doing all the buying then yeah I do I do all the buying yeah and I I try to buy as much locally endorsed as possible so little soap makers and candle makers and all the people do their different trades

Down here but also I go to some of the trade fairs in Paris and London and then I go to India once a year for about a month yeah wonderful and what are you sourcing from India Well India it’s the scarves and the silks and the lovely

Rugs and yeah we come back Alex with all sorts of things don’t we from India yeah oh this is brilliant um what wonderful space and wonderful shop it’s a good use for an old squash court isn’t it well it’s really wonderful what you’ve done Ally is you know coming in to Dean’s

Court and really putting your mark on this saying okay here’s a derel building let me do something about this with your background in Antiques and buying and creating a shop for the community and I couldn’t I couldn’t bear the thought of it being pulled Down just a short walk from the house on the banks of the river Allen William and his friend guy spend mindful afternoons fly fishing for wild brown trout how do you know it’s a GRE cuz it say so on the tin I hope I’m not gate crashing no just

A bit of fly talk a bit of fly talk and well I’ve come prepared I think oh my God yeah they’re enormous so ready but apparently this is what you need to fly fish that’s what you need so right waiters that and a few flies and and a

And a few trout yeah i’ really like to get that trout one two okay so I’ve done fly fishing once before and I I didn’t catch a thing is that normal yes especially if you’re with us and with a slightly Muddy River today because there was so much rain yesterday

So the river is not because it’s like we’re we’re fishing on sight so the whole point is to be able to see them through through the clear water and as it’s completely cloudy it’s a bit difficult to know where the fish are but I think um cuz you normally stalk them

You find a fish and then kind of stalk it and then you stalk it so so now it’s just down to luck so now it’s down to yeah pot luuck okay down to potluck okay okay so you going to waiter up take a chair I’ll take a chair a rocking chair

Is not going to work no no but where are your waiters um um I thought this was we’re going to sort of watch you are you just so seasoned as trout pictures that you don’t even need waiters anymore absolutely years and years of doing nothing but fish that you don’t need the

Weight anymore I mean they are rather spectacular though beautiful waiters I know fir LED as well listen I need to come prepared woo look at this and what are these dangling things for that’s just strap them on if you want but no I think that’s meant to attach to

Something that you probably should have higher up like a waist or something to keep you to keep them up when I land a fish can hook one on each side I can hook it on each side now that would be a photo right that would be a okay

Brilliant okay so you’ve got you’ve got the waiters on got a couple how many years have you both been fly fishing about 10 years yeah so you’re so you’re semi-professional then once a year but guy and I cleared this River when when when we arrived here it was it

Was almost grown over you couldn’t fish it at all so we he and I got stuck in together spent a long time and it’s amazing clearing it if we did a little nature did quite a lot for us after that it was extraordinary experience actually

Okay do I need a rod yes you’re going to we’ll carry it for you we’ll be your ghilly that’s BR thank you both very much okay okay so probably Judy the best thing is if um guy gives you a little demo right and um the best place to do

Casting is in a field not next to the river cuz there’s less to catch okay there less things for the fly to get caught on okay so if I let guy give you a little run through I’m going to keep out of the way okay so I’ll just give you a very quick

Demonstration okay should I stand clear yeah yeah I’m just um going to quickly just do a a cast or two and then kind of get you to do the same so just going to the idea is to get this tiny fly imitation fly that we have on the rod on

The line here right is to get it out into the middle of the field um and projecting Pro ejecting it as far as possible which is why we use a slightly heavy line to give us some weight so the idea is to come back sort of like you’re

Answering a telephone call just at 90° to your ear um no further because if you take it further the line will drop behind you we want to keep the line in the air behind us and then pull on this as it’s coming forward so just like this

So we go back and we pull a bit on this and we using the line now to get out as far as we can to where the fish you’re pulling this back towards you yeah just slightly like that and then up to here and then forward again sort of moving forward

Until you find your final destination okay where the flyer should drop down in front of the fish and then you bring it back to the bank okay so you give it a whir so there we are you take the rod you right-handed I am right-handed okay so where’s my fly

It’s here the Red Is it supposed to look like a fly yeah okay this doesn’t cuz it’s got a bit of felt on the on the um on the bar to stop it coming back and hitting us oh okay few bring it back like I’m say hello and I might say hello

It might help me okay and let the line go behind you okay and then pull and go forward just a gentle hell that’s it okay and then back again cuz you’re going to do it lots of times to feed the line do lots of times I going to do this

Several times in a row yeah yeah okay okay the same thing okay so and then forward again I didn’t pull it you didn’t pull it hello and that’s whoops now we’ve now a heavy line sort of come down through the rod let go of the line if it’s this difficult on dry land

I don’t think the trout have anything to worry about about when I wait into the water don’t flick it and remember what we’re trying to do is imitate fly life so when that fly lands on the river it needs to be really gentle like a like a

Real one so you just want to almost feel that gently okay Okay better I it felt better it was it was getting there the only thing that made it go slightly sideways was you just got a breath of air which is every Fisherman’s nightmare every fly fish can I do it one more time you think I’ve done it you think it’s okay okay yeah

It’s getting there and let it go that’s it so there you go and it landed although you didn’t well we don’t want to go far but it landed prop it landed nice and gently okay I think I’ll end on that one well it’s a definitely High I mean

It’s an improvement from from the first from five minutes ago yeah massive didn’t mean to untangle anything exactly and if it was been a fish that would have eaten it it would have that’s right I’ve succeeded with not tangling it up this tranquil landscape is beautifully unspoiled and bursting with

Wildlife I can absolutely see why William and Guy enjoy spending time here so this might be a nice little spot to try it’s lovely and it has a bench has a bench won’t be fishing but is it safe to go in it should be because this

Is this is a this is a shallow a shallow bit but this is a chalk stream this is a CH stream yeah which that this is a very special type of Waterway and it’s very unlike the usual what we call Co rivers that you see everywhere um chalk streams

Are fed by Springs which uh from rainfall that comes down through the ACT falls on Chalk downlands is filtered through the aquifer and then comes up in Springs and then forms a river oh my goodness rather than being fed by runoff from fields which is why all other

Rivers are usually this cover color because they’re fed by you know muddy silty water but when a chalk stream is looking really good it’s absolutely crystal clear because it’s fed by this filtered very very pure nutrient-rich water so you can drink the water drink it yes but not only that it attracts a

Huge amount of wildlife because there’s an enormous amount of invertebrate life going on at the bottom of the chalk stream and then up you’re going up the food chain you’ve got the fish then youve got the birds that come for the fish the ERS and all sorts of things so

These chalk streams are absolute um habitats for everything and some people call them the um the rainforests of Great Britain and the interesting thing is that um because we’ve got so much Chalk in the southern part of this country uh we’ve got about 76% of the world’s chalk streams in England and

About 50% of them are within 30 Mi of here you’re kidding me yeah they’re a really rare resource and people fly in from all over the world to fish for trout brown trout on these streams here and we are right in the center of some

Of the best fishing in the world so when you’re fishing for trout you you obviously want to go to chalk streams but you want to be able to spot the fish first so you’re not just you know going in it blind and hoping for the best no

You’re finding a fish and then you’re like stalking that fish so as as when William was just saying it’s gin clear we walk down the bank and we could if was clear now we could see lots of different brown trout so you’ll look at the fly life of that particular day and

That time of year and then you’ll imitate that by putting a fake fly on one of these lines and then try and imitate it again landing on the water but as you’ve already seen your fish so you’re just trying to aim just in front

Of it nose so that when it FL it’s much more fun than regular fishing better than just watching a sport it’s like a proper sport but a really really good fly fisherman will only spend 50% of his time fishing he’s sitting there on benches like this watching watching the

Fly life watching the fish seeing where they’re Rising what they’re Rising for and watching their behavior and then you’re just trying to imitate exactly what’s happening in wildli you’re outwitting the fish yeah you’re outwitting the fish which is rather fun so can I see you do a little casting we

Can do a little casting but it’s going to be hit and miss obviously because can’t see but I still have to see your you know your skill of casting I have to get in and it’s safe what did you get one oh my gosh I thought you got one Frid not and and all the fish that we we catch here we we we catch and release now right so everything that we catch goes back into the river fantastic

Um which is great I think yeah which is great it’s just I think that’s it doesn’t take anything out of the sport and then it was time to put the waiters to the test oo is it deep it’s a bit muddy at theide okay I mean they’re

Working I just want to you know don’t go here there’s a pool there so go straight straight up you sure you yeah yeah yeah I know it pretty well I should say okay like I’m not going to just all of a sudden plunge to my yes you need a rod don’t

You okay where is it is it what you look prision where where’s your um okay wait oo it’s quite I mean the current hold on okay I’m just going to do you think that you know this is good this is great great take take a

Road yeah so I really look like I’m okay I mean I’m not going to but you could it around pretend yes I’ll just pretend I mean I want to shut your eyes and do the Zen thing that’s right I’ll do the Zen thing it’s my yoga there you

Go so here’s my thumb th keep wait hold on yeah that went straight exactly I like the hello that’s looking good that that’s great and then I’ll just let it kind of sit there the only thing and fish Upstream oh that would make sense yeah gosh but you could really spend hours here

Couldn’t you you could people do you tune into the wildlife and the Flies and everything standing in the river with it going in in and around your legs quite often you’ll be standing there and fish should be like swimming in and around you I mean that’s incredible and then

You’ve got the joy of all the other Wildlife we’ve got a pair of King fishes I really could spend hours here I can see how many people spend many hours here because you’re not just trying to catch that fish you’re trying to find a little bit of Peace yeah you’re immersed

In it and it is a bit like meditation because you’re so concentrating on the one incred object in Mind so Julie there’s just one little part of the house I’d love to show you if you if you don’t mind down in the cellers down the spiral staircase so this spiral staircase this spiral staircase was the one that was used by the staff pretty much exclusively they

Weren’t allowed to use the main staircase but they could get from the sellers all the way down here all the way up through the house right up to the top it’s quite a steep climb yeah that is a steep climb it’s quite yeah exactly claustrophobic yeah right so so now

We’re heading we’re going to head like a maze to the other corner of the house okay I’ll follow I’ll follow the sellers run all the way through the house and they were very important part of the function of the house particularly when it came to food because a lot of meats

Were cured here they were brined or they were hung and um there were stores that’s the Apple Store in there these are all really food storage rooms or food preparation rooms and there’s one room yeah it goes on throughout the whole house but this is the Saxon bit

We’re now coming out into the Georgian bit and you’ll see they sprung the The Arches off the old Saxon bit and this is this little piece of wall here is the only exposed bit we’ve got so this is the outside of the house that was built

In 705 or thereabouts oh my goodness so you can see in outside of the house so when I was standing in the hall mhm I was standing in the middle of where this wall would have been when we were standing in the hall we would have been

Essentially on what you call the second floor cuz you’d have to go up but but because this was an undercroft but um and you’ll notice here where we’ve scraped out a bit of brick work here this is an old window that was blocked up by the Georgians and there’s the

Lovely Stone lintle there and you can just make out the outline of the the ancient window wonder and you can see that there’s this there whole mixture of different types of stone here so they didn’t matter mind what they used a lot of it is what we called Heath Stone

Because there’s there’s a lot of Sandy Heath around here and of course it was fairly light to transport and it was easy to build with but there could well be some Roman Stone in here because they would just Quarry anything that they came across 1,300 years ago yeah mhm I

Mean incredible I’m so pleased I got to see this that is just yeah that is a real treat just like the fictional Downtown Abbey historic homes once functioned with housekeepers footmen and butlers tending to the needs of the family here at Dean’s Court the basement is a warrant of rooms where meals were

Prepared and food stored after harvesting the wonderful organic produce from the kitchen Garden James is busy preparing supper I’m supposed to be helping him I’m trying to find James right now but I’m rather interested in exploring down here as well so I shall just follow there’s another one I’m going to follow

The smell but before I’ve got to try to get into as many rooms down here look at obviously wine seller recycling excellent but wonderful wine Celler so fun I mean this would be brilliant for hide-and seek actually quite scary no there’s more rooms in here I mean I love going to downstairs

Of these historic houses because there’s so many rooms it’s quite extraordinary oh there comes the light not sure what this room was used for But but obviously this one’s used for Billiards now but it’s just extraordinary how many rooms there are look at this look at this look look at this oh my goodness it’s like a treasure Trove in here look at this Old Carriage this is really filled with real

Dean Court Treasures here I mean I would have a hey day Here all right this is where the smells are coming coming from I found you I mean it was so easy because it smells amazing and oh my it’s beautiful yeah cool so so what are you making then for we’ve got the beetro that you picked earlier so this is going

To be like a beetro Chutney so got yeah loads of nice spices and some lentils and stuff so that would be like a nice diping Chutney lovely uh then we’ve got some uh tomato based sauce here uh which we’ve used some of our own spices so the

Coriander and fennel flour and then I’ve harvested the seeds um and used them in some of these dishes and then we’ve got a dll at the back so here are all the other veggies we harvested oh my goodness so cauliflower your cauliflower this is your Sal and then this is a butternut squash

Which I harvested before but these are going to go in with the D at the back and then these ones are going to sort of be dressed up with some of the herbs parsley and stuff from the garden oh my goodness I what a feast this is

Fantastic wonderful okay so what can I help with so there’s some Obin just over there so if you want to just slice them up and then we’ll pop them in with the tomato sauce and then 15 20 minutes we’ll be good to go okay wow fantastic

Should I I’m just going to wash my hands so is there like a particular way to slice up the obber jeene they’ve already been roasted but literally we just want to slice them into pieces like that big okay um so you can do a few at

A time okay great yeah okay so this is going into into the Tomato yeah sauce so that’s yeah some of the spices from the garden and wonder and these are all your recipes a mixture yeah yeah I get inspired I did some traveling in India

When I was what 5 years ago or so and that’s yeah it’s the food I most like eating my girlfriend’s vegan so it kind of like spices make vegetables taste better they they do spice it up go so you can chut that straight on them with these Tomatoes okay fantastic and you give

Them a nice stir get all that flavor oh lovely I mean the smell is I mean the I mean smell is pretty darn amazing so I know that the taste is going to be outstanding and then at the back here we’ve got the rice and I forgot to say

Earlier I picked some of the Fig leaves from the Fig Tree so we’ve actually got what fig leaves in there um and hopefully they’ve got a slightly coconut flavor um so yeah so I’ve literally just cooked it as you cook rice with a few fig leaves in fantastic experiment yeah I like that

Experiment but why would the Fig bring out a coconut flavor I’m not sure it’s really strange sometimes different parts of a plant have flavors reminiscent of other things it’s like eating the thing we’re not used to eating sometimes can yield you know something different so well brilliant well thank you James I’m

So glad I found you I was down exploring extraordinary down here but I was obviously drawn to the smell of the kitchen so brilliant um so I’ll see you then uh later upstair shortly for dinner great thanks James my visit to Dean’s court has quite simply been amazing I’ve loved every

Second and it’s topped off with a wonderful organic feast in the dining room but can I just say a huge thank you to all of you for just really welcoming me here with such Open Arms letting me sort of you know really spend a full day out

I mean just from the beginning learning a little bit about the history of Dean’s Court your ancestors but also you know that this goes back 1,300 years I mean that still blows my mind but also that this house has been in your family for nearly 500 years and then Ally just

Looking at all the things that you’ve created here and you know the kitchen Garden for you to find peace in and calm but also your passionate about ly I’m not just saying this but just finding lot in that beautiful room embroidering with the sunlight coming in and just

Bringing a past time back to life if you like but also creating a business out of it as I think it’s just empowering women who are mothers as well and especially young mothers and that’s not a lot of sleep you’re constantly do you know what I mean right you’re feeding your your

Your you know it’s a lot and then just to find something that you were you know really immersed yourself in over lockdown through the YouTube videos and then now you’ve created this business to me it was just something beautiful about seeing you in that room that I really loved it’s just

Extraordinary to that thank you cheers the americ to Dean’s Court