Categories
Architects Architecture Design People Restaurants Town Houses

Dover Kent + Huguenots

Vagabonds’ Entertainment

When the Eurostar used to stop at Calais it made breakfast in France much more straightforward. So the next best thing is lunch in Dover. Like its French counterpart, the English port’s charm is not always apparent to the unseeing. But the Kentish rumour mill grinding on overtime has it that Dover is the next southeast town to be discovered. So we’re here, if not ahead of the curve certainty at its tip, making a splash, ready to dive in, explore and lots more besides.

Dover’s coastal position and proximity to France made it a natural first point of settlement for Huguenot refugees. Some stayed; others moved on to Canterbury and Spitalfields in London. An early 17th century census of foreign residents in Dover recorded 78 Huguenot residents: one gardener; one shepherd’s wife; two advocates; two esquires; two maidens; two preachers of God’s Word; two schoolmasters; three merchants; three physicians and surgeons; eight weavers and wool combers; 12 mariners; 13 drapers; 25 widows and makers of bone; and a handful of other tradespeople.

Typical of Huguenot destinations, the Dover textile industry increased in prominence. Dover and Sandwich became particularly well known for wool combing, the process of arranging fibres so that they are parallel ready for spinning. A French church was already established in Dover by the arrival of a Flemish population in the 1640s. The Huguenot population of Dover was large enough towards the end of the 17th century to receive monies from the Civil List of William and Mary.

Dover is still a welcoming place to foreigners. The Town Council’s 2015 Statement of Welcome for Refugees declares: “People in Dover are compassionate and caring. Almost everyone has experience either firsthand or through families and friends of the challenges of living in a border town. Many who work in Dover have responsibility at the sharp end for the protection and freedom of citizens against those who wish harm to our national community but also for upholding British values of community and compassion to those in need.”

The Statement adds, “The names on Dover’s war memorial and the graves of the War Dead in Dover’s cemeteries testify to the determination of our community to protect our national freedoms and way of life even at terrible personal cost. Dover is a front line community with a proud history of welcoming those seeking safety when in fear of their lives. In 1685 French Huguenot refugees landed at Dover fleeing persecution for their religious beliefs.”

And finally, “Dover was the first town to welcome Jewish children saved from Germany before the Holocaust of the Second World War. A child coming to Dover remembers, ‘When I saw the famous cliffs of Dover, I got terribly excited. Inside me I had a feeling that a new era was about to start. I made up my mind there and then to start afresh.’ We understand that threats to our freedoms and values can be physical and support our Border Force in their duties. Dover people fought and died in the past to make sure that our community was a safe and caring and compassionate place to live and flourish. Dover people today are committed to working to make sure we remain a safe and caring and compassionate community where a warm welcome is given to refugees and all are able to live full and happy lives.”

Banker Michael Ramus used to work in the shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral London. “Its architecture inspired me to drive around and visit every cathedral in England!” he relates. Michael is of Huguenot descent. “Back in the days when there was a telephone directory there were only six Ramus families listed. Huguenots, especially in the south of France, were often successful lawyers and textile merchants.” He is the patron of several artists and fashion designers. There’s clearly an affinity with France. “I feel totally at home in France whether in the south of France, Paris or Granville in Normandy.” I spend so many holidays there but even when I’m yachting in the Caribbean I can spot the Parisian yachts!” Michael is carrying a cutting from the Encyclopaedia Britannica of his ancestor:

Ramus, Petrus, or Pierre de la Ramée (1515 to 1572), French humanist, was born at the village of Cuth in Picardy in 1515, a member of a noble but impoverished family; his father was a charcoal burner. Having gained admission, in a menial capacity, to the college of Navarre, he worked with his hands by day and carried on his studies by night. The reaction against scholasticism was still in full tide, and Ramus outdid his predecessors in the impetuosity of his revolt. On the occasion of taking his degree (1536) he actually took as his thesis ‘Everything that Aristotle taught is false’. This tour de force was followed up by the publication in 1543 of Aristotelicae Animadversiones and Dialecticae Partitiones, the former a criticism on the old logic and the latter a new textbook of the science.”

The extract also confirms, “Henry II made him Professor of Philosophy and Rhetoric at the Collège de France. But in 1561 he embraced Protestantism, and was compelled to flee from Paris, and in 1568 from France. But he returned before the Massacre of St Bartholomew (1572) in which he was one of the victims… The logic of Ramus enjoyed a great celebrity for a time, and there existed a school of Ramists boasting numerous adherents in France, Germany and Holland.”

Dover is awash with Georgian architecture. It’s Bath-on-Sea, Clifton-de-Mer, Canning-over-Dour. In 2014, Castle Hill House was elevated from Grade II to II* by the Secretary of State. The actress Julia Stavrietsky owns the Listed Building. She stated the Government’s letter described the building as “the grandest 18th century house in Dover”. And, “The upgrade is a reflection of it being of more than special architectural interest for its quality of composition, detailing, distinctive plan form and outstanding interior decorative features, its degree of survival, its rarity of type in Dover and its historical associations with prominent local and national figures.”

Cambridge Terrace is one of many impressive residential blocks close to the beach. Jeff Howe and Paul Wells write about it in their 2012 publication Dover Then and Now. “The buildings are Grade II Listed, being mid 19th century constructions; they are stuccoed (plastered) to the front and ends, with bare back to the rear.” A vintage photograph in the book shows Cambridge Terrace in its original unpainted state: the architecture looks so much better, less two dimensional, the patina of the material adding a warm to its appearance.

Dover is proud of its heritage as demonstrated by the number of information signs on buildings. One on hoarding outside an impressive public building reads: “The Grade I Listed Maison Dieu (or Dover Town Hall) is undergoing a £9.1m restoration project over the next few years thanks to a £4.27m grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project will see the restoration of internationally significant decorative schemes by the renowned Victorian neo Gothic architect William Burges (1827 to 1881), a new street level visitor entrance to the Connaught Hall, along with improved access throughout the building. The project creates a sustainable future for the Maison Dieu by bringing redundant spaces back into commercial use, including restoring the Mayor’s Parlour as a holiday let in conjunction with The Landmark Trust, and a unique new café in the Victorian gaol cells. Once complete in 2024 the Maison Dieu will be permanently open to the public for the first time in its 800 year history and contributing to the creation of a heritage quarter in Dover town centre.”

A sign in English and French explains the history of a petite building next door to Maison Dieu: “St Edmund’s Chapel, built in 1253, originally belonged to the Maison Dieu, which ministered to pilgrims, and was under the control of a Master appointed by St Martin’s Priory, then the most important institution in medieval Dover after the castle. A ‘Cemetery of the Poor’ had been established outside the priory and the town walls and the chape you see today was built in its grounds, probably as a Chapel of Rest. It was consecrated in 1253 by Richard, Bishop of Chichester, in the name of Edmund, a former Archbishop of Canterbury under whom Richard had first studied and who was canonised in 1246. Richard fell ill and died in the Maison Dieu only four days later. Before his body was returned to Chichester Cathedral for burial, his internal organs were removed and buried in a cist, or pit, under the chapel altar. When Richard was canonised in 1262, St Edmund’s Chapel became a place of pilgrimage in its own right. It is still the only church in existence that was dedicated to one English saint by another.”

It continues, “After the Reformation in 1534, the priory, the Maison Dieu and St Edmund’s were forced to close. The chapel was surrendered to the King in 1544. Over the years, new buildings concealed the old chapel and its sacred status was forgotten. It had many uses including, in late Victorian times, as a blacksmith’s forge. In 1943 German artillery shells demolished two nearby shops revealing the chapel building for the first time in 400 years. 1n 1965 Father Tanner, Dover’s Roman Catholic Parish Priest, arranged for both the private purchase of the chapel and its restoration, using only genuine medieval materials – at least 75 percent of the building is still original. The chapel was reconsecrated in 1968 and is now owned by a charitable trust who maintain it solely from gifts placed in the wall boxes.”

We’ve swapped the harbourside delight of Le Channel restaurant in Calais for the hillside wonder of The White Horse pub in Dover for school day lunch. A plaque beside the bar reads, “The history of The White Horse, St James Street, Dover: Said to be erected in the reign of Edward III, in 1365, the premises was occupied by the verger of St James’ Church which stood next door. With the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 the ‘house’ was no longer connected with the church. In 1574 it became home to a string of ‘Ale tasters of Dover’ residents. The White Horse had been known as ‘The City of Edinburgh’ from 1635, its name and sign having been taken from a wrecked American freighter. It became the meeting place for actors and players from the Dover Theatre in the 18th century.”

It also states, “The name changed in around 1818 when the house was frequently used for inquests, often relating to recovered bodies from the sea. These are said to have been stored in what is now part of our dining area to the rear of the property. In 1865 a Mr John Friend sold the house, along with ‘The Five Ales’. Satchell was the owner in 1881 when the property was sold again to the Kingsford Brothers for the princely sum of £870; it was described as a ‘freehold property in the Hamlet of Uphill’. Later its ownership went to George Beer who began opening at 5am in 1890 and later merged with Fremlins Brewery. Alterations to The White Horse in 1952 uncovered a programme for Dover Theatre, dated 1809, advertising Harlequin and Mother Goose. This is still displayed in the pub today.”

Dover Then and Now includes a vintage photograph of Old St James’s Church and explains, “It is thought to be one of Dover’s oldest churches and stands next door to what is probably Dover’s oldest pub, The White Horse. Almost certainly referred to in the Domesday Book, the church was of Saxon origin, although the present ruin dates from the 1100s. As well as a congregational meeting place, the church was also used by the courts of the Barons of the Cinque Ports. The Victorians decided that St James’s was too small, and New St James’s Church was built in 1860 in Maison Dieu Road.” Like a large number of buildings in the town, Old St James’s Church was mostly destroyed by World War II German bombing.

Marianne Faithfull covered Dolly Parton’s song Down from Dover in 1970. Crooning in her unmistakeable husky upper class English voice, Marianne makes it all her own. It’s as if the feckless character in the lyrics (who gets a young woman pregnant out of wedlock and deserts her) is due a visit to the southeast coast of England. Not so, Dolly wrote it about Dover, Tennessee, which when it comes to rhyming usefully has – move over Kent – fields of clover. So little time, so many photographs to be taken! The Park Inn glass house extension, Hubert Passage, St Radigund’s Road, Victoria Park, Marine Parade also known as East Cliff…

Categories
Architecture Luxury Town Houses

Lavender’s Blue + Montparnasse Paris

Positive Capability

Montparnasse Tower Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

The 14th Arrondisement hosted the vanguard of 1920s avant garde Paris. Writer Alice Toklas called it “the city of boulevard bars and Baudeloire”. Poet Guillaume Apollinaire went further: “a quarter of crazies”. Marianne Faithfull now calls it home, from riding in a sports car to missing the moon. Behind Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s homogeneity and square cut gentility lies the mysterious courtyard life of Paris played out under the shadow of Montparnasse Tower. It’s a 32 second lift ride to the 59th floor of the tower to view the sacred horizontality from the profane verticality.

Montparnasse Tower Panorama Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Montparnasse Tower View Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Montparnasse Tower Eiffel Tower View Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

The skyscraper was completed in 1973 to the design of Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan, Louis de Hoÿm de Marien and Jean Saubot. The tower’s height, all 210 metres, was not universally welcomed. It didn’t quite accord with Baron Haussmann’s rule that no building should be taller than the width of the boulevard on which it stood. Two years after Montparnasse Tower’s completion, President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing banned buildings over 32 metres in central Paris. In recent times, the limit has been relaxed to 50 metres but only on a case by case basis. Wallpaper* provides a contemporary reassessment, admiring the tower’s “wonderfully gridded curtain wall” before adding, “The redevelopment of the down-at-heel area around Gare Montparnasse in the early 1960s was, by and large, a piece of inspired city planning.”

Montparnasse Tower Rooftop Paris © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Categories
Architecture Town Houses

Cheyne Walk London + The Doors

The Pursuit of Love and More

Cheyne Walk London Doors © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Well, if it was good enough for Marianne Faithfull

Categories
Art Design Luxury People

Galignani Bookshop + Rue de Rivoli Paris

There Will be a Moon in Paris Tonight

Cultured Parisiennes like Maud Rabin always comment how Paris is constantly under construction; the city as cathedral. Perhaps that’s how it can lean towards an old architecture yet expressing l’esprit nouveau. Chaneling Channelling our inner Inès (de La Fressange), chic to chic, air kissing and French embracing, we stride along Boulevard Haussmann to a Gershwinesque cacophony of taxi horns. Tout-Paris, tout suite! Palais Garnier is on our right. “It’s full of ghosts!” whispers Maud. “Paris has two opera houses. The other opera house, Bastille, was built in 1989. Très moderne!” Paying homage to the late great Karl Lagerfeld, we head for his favourite bookshop, Galignani. Danielle Cillien Sabatier, Directrice Générale, will later say, “Thank you so much for this really nice publication.”

Categories
Architecture Hotels Luxury People Restaurants

Sammy Leslie + Castle Leslie Glaslough Monaghan

The Rear View 

Castle Leslie Rear View © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

John Betjeman, Winston Churchill, Marianne Faithfull, Paul McCartney, W B Yeats and Lavender’s Blue have all been. The great and the good, in other words. In recent years thanks to Sammy Leslie and her uncle the 4th Baronet, Sir John (forever known as ‘Sir Jack’), Castle Leslie has flung open its heavy doors to the hoi polloi (albeit the well heeled variety) too, rebuilding its rep as a byword for sybaritic hospitality. Visitors from Northern Ireland could be forgiven for experiencing déjà vu – it’s the doppelgänger of Belfast Castle. Both were designed in the 1870s by the same architects: Sir Charles Lanyon and William Lynn.

Castle Leslie Porte Cochere © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Together these architects captured the spirit of the age. Lynn produced a majestic baronial pile with chamfered bay windows perfectly angled for views of the garden and lake simultaneously. Lanyon crammed the house of Italian Renaissance interiors and designed a matching loggia to boot. Fully signed up members of the MTV Cribs generation will find it hard not to go into unexpected sensory overload at this veritable treasure trove of historic delights. Castle Leslie is all about faded charm; it’s the antithesis of footballer’s pad bling. But still, the place is an explosion of rarity, of dazzling individuality. Sir Jack’s brother Desmond Leslie wrote in 1950:

Castle Leslie Garden Front © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

“The trees are enormous, 120 feet being average for conifers; the woods tangled and impenetrable; gigantic Arthur Rackham roots straddle quivering bog, and in the dark lake huge old fish lie or else bask in the amber ponds where branches sweep down to kiss the water.”

Castle Leslie Garden © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley_edited-1

We caught up with Sammy in the cookery school in one of the castle’s wings. “Although I’m the fifth of six children, I always wanted to run the estate, even if I didn’t know how. After working abroad, I returned in 1991. The estate was at its lowest point ever. My father Desmond was thinking of selling up to a Japanese consortium. There was no income… crippling insurance to pay… The Troubles were in full swing. People forget how near we are to the border here.”

Castle Leslie Monaghan © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Nevertheless Sammy took it on. “I sold dad’s car for five grand and got a five grand grant from the County Enterprise Board to start the ‘leaky tearooms’ in the conservatory. They were great as long as it didn’t rain! And I sold some green oak that went to Windsor for their restoration. Sealing the roof was the first priority. Five years later we started to take people to stay and bit by bit we got the rest of the house done. So we finished the castle in 2006 after – what? Nearly 15 years of slow restoration. “The Castle Leslie and Caledon Regeneration Partnership part funded by the EU provided finance of €1.2 million. Bravo! The house and estate were saved from the jaws of imminent destruction.

Castle Leslie Urn © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

The Leslies are renowned for their sense of fun. An introductory letter sent to guests mentions Sir Jack (an octogenarian) will lead tours on Sunday mornings but only if he recovers in time from clubbing. In the gents (or ‘Lords’ as it’s grandly labelled) off the entrance hall beyond a boot room, individual urinals on either side of a fireplace are labelled ‘large’, ‘medium’, ‘tiny’ and ‘liar’. Take your pick. A plethora of placards between taxidermy proclaim such witticisms as ‘On this site in 1897 nothing happened’ and ‘Please go slowly round the bend’.

Castle Leslie Lake Front © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley_edited-1

Bathrooms are a bit of a Leslie obsession ever since the thrones and thunderboxes were introduced upstairs. “The sanitary ware in the new bathrooms off the long gallery is by Thomas Crapper. Who else?” she smiles. “We’ve even got a double loo in the ladies so that you can carry on conversations uninterrupted!” Exposed stone walls above tongue and groove panelling elevate these spaces above mere public conveniences.

Castle Leslie Long Gallery Garden © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley_edited-1

In the top lit gallery which runs parallel with the loggia, the 1st Sir John Leslie painted murals in the 1890s of his family straight onto the walls and framed them to look like hanging portraits. Always one to carry on a family tradition with a sense of pun, this time visual tricks, Sammy has created a thumping big doll’s house containing an en suite bathroom within a bedroom which was once a nursery. It wouldn’t look out of place on the set of Irvine Welsh’s play Babylon Heights.

Castle Leslie Glaslough Lake © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

A sense of history prevails within these walls, from the amusing to the macabre. The blood drenched shroud which received the head of James, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, the last English earl to be beheaded for being a Catholic, is mounted on the staircase wall. “It’s a prized possession of Uncle Jack’s,” Sammy confides.

Castle Leslie Entrance Hall 2 © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Our conversation moves on to her latest enterprise: the Castle Leslie Village. “An 1850s map records a village on the site,” she says. “Tenant strips belonging to old mud houses used to stretch down to the lake. Our development is designed as a natural extension to the present village of Glaslough.” In contrast to the ornate articulation of its country houses, Ulster’s vernacular vocabulary is one of restraint. Dublin based architect John Cully produced initial drawings; Consarc provided further designs and project managed the scheme. Consarc architect Dawson Stelfox has adhered to classical proportions rather than applied decoration to achieve harmony. Unpretentiousness is the key. At Castle Leslie Village there are no superfluous posts or pillars or piers or peers or pediments or porticos or porte cochères. Self builders of Ulster take note!

Castle Leslie Drawing Room © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley_edited-2

That said, enough variety has been introduced into the detail of the terraces to banish monotony. Organic growth is suggested through the use of Georgian 12 pane, Victorian four pane and Edwardian two pane windows. There are more sashes than a 12th of July Orange Day parade. Rectangular, elliptical and semicircular fanlights are over the doorways, some sporting spider’s web glazing bars, others Piscean patterns. “We’ve used proper limestone and salvaged brick,” notes Sammy. “And timber window frames and slate.”

Castle Leslie Grand Piano © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

We question Sammy how she would respond to accusations of pastiche. “They’re original designs, not copies,” she retorts. “For example although they’re village houses, the bay window idea comes from the castle. The development is all about integration with the existing village. It’s contextual. These houses are like fine wine. They’ll get better with age.” It’s hard to disagree. “There’s a fine line between copying and adapting but we’ve gone for the latter.”

Castle Leslie Paintings © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Later we spoke to Dawson. “Pastiche is copying without understanding. We’re keeping alive tradition, not window dressing. For example we paid careful attention to solid-to-void ratios. Good quality traditional architecture is not time linked. We’re simply preserving a way of building. McGurran Construction did a good job. I think Castle Leslie Village is quite similar to our work at Strangford.”

Castle Leslie Miniatures © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

The houses are clustered around two eligible spaces: a square and a green. Dwelling sizes range from 80 to 230 square metres. “We offered the first two phases to locals at the best price possible and they were all snapped up,” says Sammy. “This has resulted in a readymade sense of community because everyone knows each other already. A few of the houses are available for holiday letting.”

Castle Leslie Conservatory © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

“We’re concentrating on construction first,” she explains. “The hunting lodge being restored by Dawson will have 25 bedrooms, a spa and 60 stables. It’ll be great craic! Between the various development sites we must be employing at least 120 builders at the moment. Estate management is next on the agenda. Food production and so on.” Just when we think we’ve heard about all of the building taking place at Castle Leslie, Sammy mentions the old stables. “They date from 1780 and have never been touched. Two sides of the courtyard are missing. We’re going to rebuild them. The old stables will then house 12 holiday cottages.”

Castle Leslie Tearoom © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

We ask her if she ever feels daunted by the mammoth scale of the task. “I do have my wobbly days but our family motto is ‘Grip Fast’! I think that when you grow up in a place like this you always have a sense of scale so working on a big scale is normal. I mean it’s 400 hectares, there’s seven kilometres of estate wall, six gatelodges – all different, and 7,300 square metres of historic buildings.” Sammy continues, “The back wall from the cookery school entrance to the end of the billiard room is a quarter of a kilometre.”

Castle Leslie Long Gallery © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley_edited-1

“A place like this evolves,” Sammy ruminates. “There’s no point in thinking about the good ol’ days of the past. The castle was cold and damp, y’know, and crumbling. And it’s just – it’s a joy to see it all coming back to life. The whole reason we’re here is to protect and preserve the castle and because the house was built to entertain, that’s what we’re doing. We’re just entertaining on a grand scale. People are coming and having huge amounts of fun here. Castle Leslie hasn’t changed as much as the outside world. Ha!” This year there’s plenty to celebrate including the completion of Castle Leslie Village, the Leslie family’s 1,000th anniversary, Sammy’s 40th birthday, and Sir Jack’s 90th and the publication of his memoirs.

Castle Leslie Fireplace © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

That was six years ago. This summer we returned to Castle Leslie. Our seventh visit, we first visited the house umpteen years ago. Back then Sammy served us delicious sweetcorn sandwiches and French onion soup in the ‘leaky tearooms’, looking over the gardens of knee high grass. The shadows were heightening and lengthening ‘cross the estate. Her late father Desmond showed us round the fragile rooms lost in a time warp. Ireland’s Calke Abbey without the National Trust saviour. He would later write on 11 May 1993, waxing lyrical to transform an acknowledgement letter into a piece of allegorical and existential prose:

Castle Leslie Cartoons © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

“I am glad you enjoyed your personally conducted tour. We try to make them interesting and amusing. Thanks also for St John – the only disciple who really understood. His opening verses contain more advanced cosmic science than all the modern theorists bundled together. I also love Chapter 17 ‘that ye may be one’. But now, at least, scientists state it all began with the sudden appearance of light from nowhere, filling the whole of space in a billionth part of a second – The Big Bang. Or more simply – ‘Let there be Light. And there was Light.’ As our old friend Ecclesiastes says, ‘There is nothing new under the sun.’ I hope you will come again when you have nothing better to do on a nice weekend.”

Castle Leslie Library © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

On another occasion, Sammy’s sister, the vivacious Camilla Leslie, came striding up the driveway, returning home from London to get ready for her wedding the following week. “Nothing’s ready! I’ve to get the cake organised, my dress, at least we’ve got the church!” she exclaimed, pointing to the estate church. This time round we stay in Wee Joey Farm Hand’s Cottage in Castle Leslie Village, enjoy a lively dinner in Snaffles restaurant in the hunting lodge, and once again, afternoon tea, now served in the drawing room. Meanwhile, Sir Jack is taking a disco nap in the new spa to prepare for his regular Saturday night clubbing in Carrickmacross.

Castle Leslie Staircase © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

That was four years ago. Visit number eight and counting. More to celebrate as Sammy, still living in the West Wing, turns 50. Sir Jack would have turned 100 on 6th December but sadly died just weeks before our visit. This time, we’re here for afternoon tea in the rebuilt conservatory or ‘sunny tearooms’ as they turn out to be today. The assault of a rare Irish heatwave, 26 degrees for days on end, won’t interrupt tradition. A turf fire is still lit in the drawing room. ‘Apologies for the mismatching crockery as so many of our plates have been smashed during lively dinner debates’ warned a sign on our first visit. The crockery all matches now but the food is of the same high standard:

Castle Leslie Execution Cloth © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley

Sir Jack Leslie Castle Leslie @ Lavender's Blue

Miraculously, Castle Leslie still has no modern extensions. It hasn’t been ‘Carton’d’ (in conservation-speak that means more extensions than an Essex girl in a hairdressers). Instead, the hotel has grown organically, stretching further into Lanyon and Lynn’s building. An upstairs corridor lined with servants’ bells – Sir J Leslie’s Dressing Room, Lady Leslie’s Dressing Room, Dining Room, Office – leads to a cinema carved out of old attics. Castle Leslie has had its ups and downs but Sammy Leslie is determined to ‘Grip Fast’! And in response to Ms Leslie’s late father’s letter to us, we will come again when there is nothing better to do on a nice weekend.

Castle Leslie Afternoon Tea © Lavender's Blue Stuart Blakley