Leighton Hall is one of the county’s most-loved attractions, but with 16,000 visitors a year, what’s it like to live there? Lucy Arthurs, descendent of the Gillow furniture-making dynasty, reveals all.
Imagine throwing open the doors of your family home to the general public. Add in balancing the needs of family visitors, school groups, business meetings and weddings, with maintaining an 800-year-old estate, its woodlands, farms and other properties, a Grade II* listed gothic hall, as well as, looking after your family and you’d be forgiven for shutting that door pretty quickly.
But for Lucy Arthurs, family life and public access have long gone hand in hand at Leighton Hall near Carnforth, and most of the time it has worked well.
‘First and foremost, Leighton has been my family home for 26 generations,’ she says. ‘It’s not a museum or gallery run by absent trustees. Yes, it’s historically and architecturally stunning, but those rooms packed with heritage treasures are also the same ones my family live in and use, every day.
‘That is, I believe, what gives Leighton the uniquely welcoming, personal feel that so many visitors comment on, and important to preserve; even if that means passing a tour group on the stairs and wishing you’d put slightly more make up on!’
With many country houses in dire straits after the war, Leighton was opened to the public by Lucy’s grandmother Mrs Helen Gillow Reynolds in 1958, with every shilling integral to its survival.
It operated slightly haphazardly at first, but as the business progressed each generation brought its own skills and ideas to make Leighton what it is today; award winning, welcoming, and professional. Gradually amenities were added including weddings and corporate events, team building, school and coach trips, different themed tours, woodland walks, children’s play areas, and the traditional tearooms, where visitors are treated to tea and refreshments served on “proper china”.
But, refreshingly, rather than introducing barriers between the public and the precious down the decades, Leighton remains a house where nothing is “roped off”, with visitors are still invited to get up close, touch things and even sit on priceless Gillow heirlooms.
One of the most lauded 18th and 19th-century British fine furniture and cabinet making firms, Gillows feature in Jane Austen’s writings and were even commissioned to supply panelling, furniture, and chandeliers for the first-class areas of the Titanic.
Having recently finished overseeing the opening of the hall for its annual public summer season, (May-September) including winding the clocks and putting muddy family wellies where they won’t be tripped over, Lucy reflects on the realities of life with the many hats she has to wear.
‘I’d call myself a Jack of all trades and master of none,’ she says. ‘I am just as likely to be helping an outdoor theatre company set up, discussing roof insulation, or planning new tree planting.
‘The passion, as well as the practicality, comes from being right on the spot and thoroughly immersed, for example all the residential and farming tenants have my mobile number and can contact me almost 24 hours a day so I’m never really “off” work. Living remotely, even in a cottage in the grounds, wouldn’t be the same: this is my home, and I love it.
‘It also keeps me connected with our visitors, seeing it from their eye-view, as of course it’s thanks to them that Leighton is able to remain a family home. My mother, Suzie Reynolds, loves leading house tours – recently a somewhat awed young visitor asked her: “Are you the Queen?” She replied “Unfortunately, very far from it but let me show you a secret”. She pulled back an ornate tapestry screen to reveal our family TV set. The little girl couldn’t believe we did such “normal” things here, but I assure you, we do.’
Lucy’s husband Danny says he felt like Nemo when he first moved to Leighton, so does this fishbowl-living ever lead to friction?
‘Not usually, maybe because visitors were here before Danny, our son Sebastian and I were,’ considers Lucy. ‘Also, I think because we are genuinely open and welcoming with them, they show our home and belongings respect in return. Of course, it’s important to have our own private areas, especially for our son. We’ve had the odd “lost” visitor appear in unexpected places, but that comes with the territory.’
The family have a little more privacy from October to April, when the open summer visitor season finishes and although groups and school trips are welcome, they must be pre-booked, so it gives the team at Leighton some notice. This makes it the time to get on with disruptive projects, such as the recent refurbishment of the historic Victorian conservatory, now transformed into an elegant, sustainable and flexible event space. But from film shoots to winter tours and weddings, events don’t stop.
‘The winter groups have the benefit of seeing the house more festively decorated than if it was for just the family,’ Lucy says. ‘And we do extend the irreplaceable Gillow telescopic table, and use the finest porcelain for our family Christmas dinner. These beautiful things were designed to be used, and it connects us to family members who’ve sat here through many generations.’
The whole estate is 1600 acres of mixed farmland and forestry. It is well placed within the local rural community to support housing, employment, training, leisure activities and charity fundraising events which are close to the family’s heart.
Lucy adds: ‘My mum never shouts about it but she does so much to help local causes, people and charities. She loves welcoming people to the hall, leading tours, helping out with weddings and school visits. She has always instilled in us the gratitude and opportunity that living at Leighton gives us to do lots in the community.’
From the centre of operations, (a below-stairs office in a dark stone-floored corridor nicknamed ‘The Dungeon’ by staff), Lucy juggles meticulous event planning with budgets, costs, maintenance and sustainability projects. Normally, donning wellies rather than wedding attire, Lucy will be found coordinating accessibility and diversity initiatives including 20,000 bulbs planted by local schools, dementia groups and corporates, the introduction of beehives, the management of a biomass heating system, and 30,000 new trees planted to re-establish the woodland on the estate, to help manage Leighton’s carbon footprint.
‘I moved away from Leighton to live in London at the start of my working life. At that time, I had no responsibilities: I wasn’t married, had no children and my parents were successfully managing the estate.
‘That time away and the experiences and business skills I gained gave me the confidence I needed to come back and run Leighton, as well as some perspective of life outside the Leighton bubble. Returning in 2006 really was coming home, and neither Danny or I have regretted it for a second.
‘We’ve made plenty of mistakes, but as both family and custodian, seeing visitors enjoy all Leighton and the wider estate has to offer, and having the chance to preserve and enhance it for future generations, makes every busy day and late night worth it!’
