IN ARCADIA
Holkham Hall has become a paragon of sustainability in recent years. Here, its current custodians Lord and Lady Leicester explain how they are keeping one of Britain’s finest examples of Palladian architecture – and its endless acreage – thriving for future generations to enjoy
Over cups of tea made with freshly picked lemon verbena in the sunny private garden at Holkham, the Earl and Countess of Leicester are singing the praises of Lady Anne Glenconner’s autobiography Lady in Waiting – and indeed, of the woman herself. Lady Glenconner, the Earl’s cousin, who grew up at this vast Palladian villa in north Norfolk and was one of Princess Margaret’s closest friends, became a surprise star of the publishing world last year, after her book received rave reviews for its racy Royal anecdotes and heartbreaking episodes of hardship. Appearing on The Graham Norton Show, the octogenarian outshone all her fellow guests (a quartet of Hollywood actors) and brought the house down. ‘Oh, she’s wonderful,’ says Lord Leicester, who, like me, listened to her reading out the memoir on audiobook. ‘Because Anne is so incredibly posh – there’s a lot of “setting orff”, isn’t there? – hearing her voice took you straight there.’
The couple (‘Tom and Polly, please’) obviously get on extremely well with their literary cousin, despite operating slightly differently. Tom doesn’t have a mad accent – nor, really, any other traditional tropes of the landed gent, such as a tweedy vibe or a stiff upper lip. It turns out he’s more the kind of man who used to cruise round the mansion in AC/DC T-shirts, to the amusement of the visiting public, and was recently moved to tears by Laurie Lee’s Cider with Rosie. Polly, welcoming, low-key and chic in a denim jumpsuit, points out that they rarely agree to interviews. (I can’t picture them gracing Norton’s studio sofa any time soon.)
Their relaxed informality is at odds with the majestic grandeur of their family seat. Since 1612, the Holkham estate has belonged to the Coke (pronounced Cook) family, a Norfolk clan put on the map by a certain Sir Edward, who rose to become the pre-eminent jurist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, coining the phrase ‘an Englishman’s home is his castle’ along the way. In the 18th century, Thomas William Coke, the 1st Earl of Leicester, commissioned William Kent to create for him a residence in which he could display the mass of European treasures he had bought on his six-year Grand Tour. The resulting masterpiece was described by the architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘the most classically correct house in Britain’.
The only time Holkham’s future looked dicey was in the mid-20th century: because the 5th Earl, Lady Glenconner’s father, had no sons, the property passed to a South Africadwelling cousin. The newly entitled relation decided to stay put, handing the running of Holkham to his son Edward, who moved to Norfolk, later becoming the 7th Earl. Energetic and entrepreneurial, Edward quickly established himself as something of a local legend, and is credited with turning the estate’s fortunes around: transforming a tired and costly ancestral pile into a financially stable, environmentally sound tourist attraction, as well as a family home. He died in 2015, leaving his son, Tom, the 8th Earl, to take the reins. ‘A lot of what I’m doing is just picking up the good work that my dad started,’ he says.
It’s quite a job. So sprawling is the house that, back in the day, if a footman popped a raw egg into a bain-marie in the kitchen, it would be perfectly cooked by the time he reached the children’s nursery. There are 209 rooms, and although many works of art have been sold to keep the place going, plenty of Old Masters remain: a Van Dyck, a Rubens and one of the world’s most extensive collections of Claude Lorrain’s luminous Baroque landscapes, along with sensational ancient statuary. There are also the 25,000 glorious acres, home to farms, lakes, ponds, rivers, saltmarshes, forests, Britain’s largest privately owned nature reserve and, of course, the famous beach, recognisable to some from the final scene in Shakespeare in Love. Holkham now contains within it 45 businesses, from forestry and farming to the hotel, cafés and car parks. It’s certainly a change from the genteel privacy that prevailed here previously.
‘When email was first invented, a friend made his address getoffmyland @aol.com,’ Tom says ruefully. ‘But my father and now I have always taken great pleasure from seeing people having fun here.’ This attitude has turned around the estate’s finances: 25 years ago, tourism accounted for five per cent of Holkham’s income – now, it’s 50 per cent.
One of the new revenue sources is weddings: anyone can tie the knot in the magical porticoed temple, the house’s own magnificent Marble Hall and, soon, in the Georgian vinery, which, along with the walled garden it faces, is currently in the midst of a £1 million restoration. The estate is working towards being able to host carbon-neutral ceremonies; couples are invited to plant trees here to offset their celebration’s footprint. As Tom says, ‘It’s rather a lovely, tangible alternative to sticking on a token fee per head.’
Indeed, everything the 300-strong staff do here is underpinned by environmentalism: the couple’s ambition is to make Holkham the most successful sustainable estate in the
THE COUPLE’S RELAXED INFORMALITY IS AT ODDS WITH THE MAJESTIC GRANDEUR OF THEIR FAMILY SEAT