Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Saving a piece of our history
THE grandest design of all, this fascinating film – 10 years in the making – tells how King Charles, when he was Prince, carried out an ambitious plan to save a dilapidated 18th-century stately home and turn it into a self-sufficient community gem.
“It was an appalling risk,” says King Charles. “I wanted to see if at the same time as saving a house I could make a difference to the local area.”
Dumfries House and its 2,000-acre estate, located 27 miles south of Glasgow in the most rundown area of the UK, was a massive gamble for the heir to the throne.
However, he led a consortium that paid £45million for the crumbling estate.
Not only did he plan to restore the house and the original 18th-century furniture – made by Thomas Chippendale – but there were grand plans for the grounds.
As well as bringing back to life a walled garden, he wanted a horticultural and education centre, a cookery school, a textiles and heritage centre, an outdoor adventure centre, a teaching farm, a STEM complex, an artists’ studio and an architectural centre.
From an 11th-hour save of the furniture – halted on the motorway at 1am en route to be auctioned off – to the moment his mother Her Majesty the Queen opened the walled garden, this is a heartwarming tale of a real passion project. HRH says: “It was such a special place.
“I knew if we hadn’t stepped in and saved it, it would have joined the list of more derelict country houses.”