THE owner of an historic castle has revealed what it is like to run a stately home after appearing on a debuting podcast.
Demetra Lindsay, chatelaine of Hedingham Castle, featured on the premier episode of the Duchess podcast, a new series hosted by the Duchess of Rutland and custodian of Belvoir Castle, giving a behind-the-scenes look at what goes into running some of most historic homes in the UK.
The series focuses on ten women responsible for protecting and maintaining these traditional estates in the modern era, revealing the hard work involved and the not-so-glamorous sides of the modern-day British aristocracy.
Now Demetra has revealed just what goes in to keeping one of the area’s most historic buildings running from doing the cleaning to meeting celebrities.
Demetra Lindsay
Lady Violet, daughter of Emma Manners, told People magazine: “We wanted to approach it from a female lens because so often history has overlooked these incredible matriarchs that have quite literally shaped the fabric of the building and of the family and its history.”
The castle is arguably the best-preserved Norman keep in England.
The estate includes the 900 year old Keep and a 300 year old house.
It has been in the same family for nearly a century and was inherited by Demetra’s husband, Jason Lindsay, from his father in 1997.
Demetra, a practicing architect, and Jason, an art dealer, moved into the house and began renovations to the properties and grounds.
They had the plan to turn the castle in to a wedding and events venue.
The rest is history with Hedingham now an award-winning wedding venue, hosting weddings and events for nearly 15 years.
Demetra spoke to the Duchess about the reality of custodianship and just how much work really is involved in maintaining the estate and running it as a business, alongside bringing up three young children.
She said: “The castle is like living with a rather demanding great aunt who always wants something else.
“I can’t remember the amount of times over the years that I have thought we would do certain projects in the year and then realised that, by the end of December, we have achieved a whole different list of urgent things.
“No two days are alike – sometimes it’s cleaning the loos and other times it’s greeting Matt Le Blanc from Friends.”
The Duchess podcast aired yesterday on Spotify, Apple, Google, Amazon, Castbox and Deezer.
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