The custodian’s tale

TO the 140,000 visitors who wander in the 25 acres of stunning gardens or take a tour through the elegant, antique- laden rooms of the magnificent Newby Hall every year, the thought of inheriting a home like this may seem like a dream come true.

Author Sir Simon Jenkins puts the late 17th Century stately home in the top 100 of “England’s Thousand Best Houses”, describing it as the “Jewel in the crown of the North”. The renowned Robert Adam building, which has featured in a number of TV costume dramas, even inspired the creator of TV’s Downtown Abbey.

But the reality of being offered the keys to such a much loved historic home, while not quite a nightmare, is far from what most day trippers might imagine.

Current owner Richard Compton confesses that deciding whether to accept the role of custodian of one of Britain’s greatest treasures did give him more than a few sleepless nights.

Standing across from the Aga in the homely kitchen of their private wing in the family home, which Richard jokingly refers to as “a four-bedroom semi with very noisy neighbours in summer”, he demonstrates just what a vital role the cords by the windows play during the tourist season.

Right next to the public entrance, he and his family live out their daily lives just feet away from a constant stream of visitors. “We have to remember to pull these blinds down,” he says.

Sons Orlando and Ludo were just 13 and ten, and daughter Sasha seven, when they moved in. “I didn’t only have second thoughts, I had third and fourth and fifth thoughts about taking on this job,” says Richard.

A successful international magazine publisher based, with art restorer wife Lucinda and his young family, in London, agreeing to take on Newby Hall meant making huge sacrifices.

“The biggest thing was giving up our privacy,” he says.

He inherited Newby Hall in 1996, but it was three years before the family moved in. “My father was very good, he allowed us time to make up our minds,” says Richard.

It was, undoubtedly, a sense of duty that drove Richard, recently elected President of the Historic Houses Association, to eventually say yes. But it is clear he also feels passionate about this very special house and grounds, with its famous double herbaceous borders, backed by yew hedges, sweeping down to the River Ure.

Without this passion, shared by his parents and grandparents before him, Newby Hall, which has been in the family since 1748, would not be the successful, award-winning tourist attraction it is today.

“Newby is unusual because it is very much the mindset of one individual. There is a special connectivity,” says Richard.

It was his ancestor William Weddell, having returned from a Grand Tour of Europe with a magnificent collection of classical sculptures and tapestries, who commissioned architect Robert Adam to alter the Christopher Wrendesigned house in order to create a grand setting for his treasures. He even enlisted Thomas Chippendale to make furniture. The resulting architecture and art collection, cared for by Weddell’s descendants ever since, are internationally renowned.

RICHARD’S passion for the place was fired from when, as a young boy, he used to visit his beloved grandfather, Major Edward Richard. His own family loved in a sixbedroom farmhouse about five minutes away.

Although he boarded at school in Harrow, “an outdoor boy”, he loved returning to Newby in the holidays. And he enjoyed his grandfather’s company. “I spent a lot of time at Newby.

He was charming, great fun, always had a twinkle in his eye.”

His widowed grandfather, who developed Newby Hall’s award-winning gardens, intro-ducing rare and beautiful plants, struggled to maintain the house after the war. When he died, in the late Seventies, Richard’s parents inherited a run-down building, in desperate need of attention.

Luckily Richard’s mother Janey, who had previously led a glamorous life, holidaying with the famous American Kennedy family and once briefly engaged to the actor David Niven, had a flair for restoration.

She loved Newby Hall and soon brought the house back to life, meticulously researching Robert Adam’s original interiors to return more than 20 rooms to their original splendour.

Although Richard’s father, Robin, had a demanding job as European chairman of Time Life International, he, like his father before him, adored the gardens, and set about developing Newby Hall as a tourist attraction, introducing a miniature railway and an adventure play garden to attract families with children. “Newby was fortunate to have had my parents’ loving influence,” says Richard.

His own children, Orlando, 26, who is running a hostel in Bolivia, Ludo, 23, who works in insurance in Central Africa, and Sasha, 20, studying at art college, have all worked shifts in the shop, cafe and ice cream parlour. But none of them is planning to take on the business.

“Not at the moment. But it is up to them.

The last thing I want is for it to be a millstone around anybody’s neck,” says Richard. “It is hard work and it needs to have someone who is dedicated. They have to be prepared to give up whatever they are doing to devote the rest of their lives to it.”

As President of the Historic Houses Association, Richard is aware of just how hard HHA members work to maintain their 1,500 privately owned houses, castles and gardens, which also happen to be among some of the UK’s top tourist attractions, catering for around 13 million visitors every year.

Including Castle Howard, Harewood House and Raby Castle, near Staindrop, in County Durham, there are more privately owned houses open to the public than those in the care of the National Trust and English Heritage put together. “Members play a vital role in conserving and protecting our heritage,” says Richard.

He feels private owners are the most effective guardians of such properties. "They are lived in by a family who loves them and that is a bigger attraction to the public than a museum or empty building," he adds.

Nationally, this means individuals are shelling out around £139m maintaining buildings and contents every year. In Newby Hall's case, annual maintenance bills total around £200,000.

Richard argues that in order to keep doing this, owners deserve support. The imposition of full VAT to alterations to listed buildings and Liberal Democrat proposals for a "mansion tax" on properties worth more than £2m, are the last thing they need. "If we lose this part of our heritage, it will damage us as a nation," says Richard.

Employment will be the first thing to be hit, he says, and some owners will be forced to sell off art collections. "Once they're gone, they're gone. It is a loss to the country," he says.

He speaks from bitter experience. The Richard family made the difficult decision to sell an ancient marble statue of Venus from the Newby collection in 2002 for nearly £8m in order to pay for repairs to the crumbling Grade I-listed stable block. A replica now stands on the original plinth.

The £2m refurbishment of the stable block, which now houses 18 offices employing more than 50 people, is just one of his pioneering developments.

There are more people employed there now than in the heyday of horses at the turn of the 19th Century.

He also had the foresight to install a £500,000 hydro-electric scheme to cut down on fuel bills, which topped £60,000 a year. "It means we can produce our own energy," says Richard. "I want to leave Newby a better place than it was when I inherited."

Now a £1m turnover business, Newby's 25 house and garden staff are working in an increasingly difficult climate. As well as the recession, bad weather has affected income, with takings over the past two years down 20 per cent.

But tourism is now Britain's fifth biggest industry, bringing in £18bn a year, and, following the success of the Olympics and the Queen's Jubilee, there is much to be positive about.

One recent survey revealed most tourists come to the UK to visit houses and castles and the popularity of period dramas like Downton Abbey has seen numbers rising. "Historic houses are people magnets," says Richard. The fact the Richard family still lives in Newby Hall is a big attraction. "When we first started doing tours, we used to apologise if there was the sound of screaming children in the background."

Wife Lucinda, custodian of the gardens as well as restorer of the ancient sculptures at Newby, can get away with a more relaxed approach to decorating in their private residence, a contrast to the elegant formality of the public rooms.

The electric bar fire in the cosy living room fireplace would be out of place in the main house.

"It's easy to switch on and off," says Richard. Lucinda has adapted old, broken screens to make attractive wall hangings and has mixed all the bold Chinese and duck egg blue colours for the walls, which she paints herself. The walls are high. "I just get up on tall ladders. I do ski mountaineering, so I'm used to it," she says.

She also restored a 19th Century lacquered cabinet using MDF. "I bought it for next to nothing at Christies. It's a botch of a cupboard, but it doesn't matter." Richard opens the doors to reveal a flat-screen TV inside. "These TVs are so ugly," he says.

Personal touches, such as an old mirror above the fireplace, painted by Lucinda, and a beautiful silk print of Venice, created by Sasha, who is studying at Chelsea School of Art, reflect individual flair. The family commissioned artist Graham Rust to paint personalised murals in their entrance hall, incorporating favourite local features including Newby sheep and pheasants.

Their main drawing room is comfortable, with large sofas. "So big kids can flop on them,"

says Lucinda, who, among other things, is busy working her way through the cleaning of the Roman sculptures at Newby. "I've just finished two urns. But Newby Hall is like the Forth Bridge, it never stops. At times it's daunting when it is a big project, I just have to focus on one thing at a time."

The couple enjoy visiting other historic houses and love travelling abroad. "It is fascinating seeing how others present their heritage," says Richard. But, for him, making a success of a business like this will always be about passion: "You have to feel passionate about it, that's what drives you on."

And when I ask, of all his achievements, what he is most proud of, he doesn't have to think twice: "Simply keeping it going," he answers.

• Newby Hall, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 5AE. Tel: 0845-450068 newbyhall.com