Circulation: Area of Clip: Page 1 of 5
VIP* Wednesday, 1 October 2014 Page: 61,60,62
24113 329900mm²
THE RESIDENTS OF CASTLE LESLIE
“We’re very down to earth! The sun is raging high in the sky when VIP pulls up on to the gravel driveway and parks in the shadow of the towering 16th eentury Castie Leslie. The entrance is grand and imposing, llie interior has an Italian Renaissance feel and the 1,000-acre estate has three beautiful lakes. Everything is colossal, from the sweeping stairwells, to the majestic fireplaces, to the Renaissance frescoes that grandfather John Tcslie painted. Here to give us the grand tour is die irrepressible Sir Jack Leslie, 98, a Cambridge scholar, prisoner of war, Roman expat and dance music-mad raver! Guiding Uncle Jack around the 1OO-roomed casde is Sammy Leslie, the trustee, “the botde washer”, the boss. Sammy will play it down because that’s her way, but it is she who has helmed this estate’s regeneration and turned this Monaghan castle into a multi-award winning hotel diat hosted, most famously, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills’ wedding, and houses on its grounds a world-class equestrian centre, a converted limiting lodge, self-catering cottages, a spa and restaurants. With much pleasure, VIP joined Sammy and Uncle Jack for afternoon tea, and afterwards swiped their leftover finger sandwiches! In the magnificent breakfast room overlooking the lake, we listened to Sir Jack pound the ivories, and down at the stable yard we walked and talked with Sammy Leslie, the dyslexic, cancer-surviving director of The Irish Heritage Trust. Truly, we didn’t want to leave. Sammy, what does it feel like to be the Queen of such a stunning 16th century Co. Monaghan castle? I feel much more like a benign wizard, or something! I’m like the guardian of the castle, and it’s my responsibility to pass it on down through the generations. It is such a stunning place to live. The gardens are magical at the moment, and doing a shoot like this today makes you stop and look at it with a different set of eyes. These estates were built to entertain, to share and to be enjoyed. There is great wealth associated with an estate of this magnitude, but is there much wealth io go around? Image is deceiving, we guess... Everything that is made goes back into tire estate and supports jobs, building and restoration. You don’t get to put a load of cash into your back pocket and swan off into the distance estates aren’t like that, they are too complex and too expensive to maintain. I think there are many myths about the aristocraey or landed gentry, if you want to (’all them that. Wc arc just people looking
after a big old house and we generally are very down to earth. We are brought up to have good manners, but not airs and graces.
The must your Well
upkeep alone on this 1 OO-roomed castle be colossal. We don’t want to imagine electricity bill might be! it’s huge! It’s about €14,000 a month.
what
And that’s just one bill! Do you manage to cover your costs? We do now, but I think there was a period of about 100 years when the castle just consistently lost money. Our finances really took a dive in the early twentieth century when the Leslies invested their money in Russian Railway Bonds, on advice of the Queen’s financial advisor. The following year the Russian Revolution happened, and most was lost. So, it’s really funny when 1 watch Downtown Abbey, because many of their storylines resonate. Over the years you’ve had many famous guests through your doors, but one of your most famous residents is Sir Jack Leslie, who December next will celebrate his 99th Birthday. And Uncle Jack loves to rave...! He does! He was out clubbing a couple of weeks ago, and he’ll be out again in a few weeks time once his chest infection clears up. He missed out on all of that fun and dancing growing because he lost his hearing in one ear, and then he was a prisoner of w’ar. But once he heard that heavy beat of dance music, the “boom boom music” he calls it, he just wanted to hit the floor! He loves dancing and everybody really loves him and looks after him. We believe you went clubbing to Ibiza together... We did. I took him to Ibiza for his 85th birthday party. There he was up on stage at Manumission, loving it!
He was imprisoned in a POW camp in Salzburg and after lived in Rome for 40 years, as is documented in his book Never A Dull Moment. So, when did he come to live in the castle? In his late 70s, and we all thought he was just going to quietly slide off his perch, but then he found clubbing and it gave him a whole new lease of life. Old people often think they are not relevant anymore and that there’s nothing left to enjoy. Society often tells you that you should go grey and develop mould in a corner, but Jack has broken the mould.
VIP* Wednesday, 1 October 2014 Page: 61,60,62
What a treat it is to get the grand tour of the magnificent Castle Leslie, courtesy of its oldest resident, Sir Jack Leslie. At 98-years-of-age, the Cambridge scholar, former prisoner of war, and Roman expat is still living life to the fullest - he has a penchant for raves, and sp^nt his 85th birthday at one of Ibiza's most famous nightclubs. Manumission. Another resident of the 16th century castle is Sir Jack's niece and Castle Leslie's trustee and boss, Sammy Leslie, (who later sat down with VIP for a most fascinating of chats.
Circulation: Area of Clip: Page 2 of 5
24113 329900mm²
Circulation: Area of Clip: Page 3 of 5
VIP* Wednesday, 1 October 2014 Page: 61,60,62
Indeed. When It comes to your famous guests, Sammy we know that you are eommendably discreet, but what can you tell us? We’re very nosy! Well, Mickjagger and Marianne Faithfull came to stay here in the 60s. The two of them were out having a picnic in the garden one day when a local school came to visit. Dad had forgotten to tell the school not to come. Of course they spotted Mick and chased him around the garden, and he shot up the church tower to get away! W. B. Yeats and Sir Shane Leslie also used to have bardic sparring matches here, and Claudia Carroll’s first book was inspired by the time she worked here with my sister on a film. What about Paul McCartney wedding in 2002?
vipmagazme.ie
and Heather
Mills'
Paul was so lovely, so down to earth and great to work with. I don’t how he picked us. He just came to visit and fell in love with Castle Leslie. 800 million people viewed that wedding on tv. Talk about putting Castle Leslie on the map! I know, and Ulster and the whole border region too. It just validated that it was a safe and magical place to visit. Do you have a favourite room in the house, Sammy? My bedroom! It’s the old art gallery and an entire floor of a wing’ I like all the rooms at different times of the day though. 1 love die dining room at night when the shutters arc closed and it’s candlelit, all the gilt on the paintings glittering softly. Equally the drawing room on Christmas Day when we’re all opening our stockings and )
24113 329900mm²
VIP* Wednesday, 1 October 2014 Page: 61,60,62
1 “I took him to Ibiza for his
party. There he was up oh s Manumission; 7 lovina^ itb” -
Circulation: Area of Clip: Page 4 of 5
24113 329900mm²
Circulation: Area of Clip: Page 5 of 5
VIP* Wednesday, 1 October 2014 Page: 61,60,62
24113 329900mm²
on the boat and row off to wherever, or carry the boat down to a new river. We’d watch swallow's and squirrels and catch frogs in the local sewage works die best frogs lived down there!
“Ihope my dad would be proud. ”
Any ghosts in the castle? All friendly ones! I diink every' place ancient has something! In 1991 your father handed over the estate to his five children, and it was then that you decided to take it over. Did nobody else want it, and the hassle associated with it? Either they had their own good careers, which they' would have just had to quit, or it wasn’t their thing. I was the one that wanted to do it and I have always wanted to do it. There was never any pressure. You were a keen horsewoman, and a very good one at that. It’s nice that you managed to carry your dream back to the castle with the Equestrian Centre. Well, yes, mum set il up in 1974 and then we re-purchased it back in 2004 and with a lot of support from Failte Ireland we were able to set up the most fantastic yard. People come from all over the world to ride. We have a varying selection of different packages to suit diose who want a 10-day riding experience to others who just want a gentle 30-minute hack. We have between 23 and 25 horses - il keeps us busy! It’s October now, which means Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Three years ago you found a lump, how did the whole experience impact on you? My treatment was fabulous and I was able to work it around my schedule, because I still had a business to run. I didn’t throw up once from chemotherapy. 1 thought T’d lose weight, but I didn’t —shucks! Even losing my hair was fine. In comparison to my divorce, my lather’s death and one of my closest friends committing suicide - and all that happened within a short space of time breast cancer was like another day in the office. I’ve worked with horses for years and having being brought up on a farm I found I was very practical about life and death, and injury' and illness. It’s the cycle of life, so you just get on with it That said, everyone’s experience is different And if you are having a hard time emotionally with a diagnosis you shouldn’t beat yourself up about it. Tell us Sammy, when you holiday do you like to go somewhere a million miles away from what you are used to? I’ll go anywhere, as long as it’s somewhere that’s true to itself and has soul, be it camping, glamping or Iambay Island, where I holidayed this summer. Hot baths, long walks and nights by the fire chatting in this incredible old castle - really enchanting We have to leave you now, but are you proud Sammy with how you have brought Castle Leslie back from rack and ruin? It’s really getting there. There’s still more to do; there always will be in an estate this big and complex. But yes, there is a nice sense of achievement. I’d hope my dad w ould be proud. ©
Santa has come dow'n the chimney and the kids are all mesmerised by the snow footprints on the lloor. I also love being ‘back of house5 and working in the kitchen. Christmas at Castle Leslie must be something else. It is. We close for Christmas and re-open on the 27th. My sisters and brothers and their partners and children all come, and also w'hat we call ‘waifs and strays’ those of us who aren’t married, those recently widow' 64
www.vipmagazine.ie
we’ve had people in all sorts of circumstances. It’s huge amounts of fun, and Glaslough village is the most magical place at Christmas. There’s carol singing and an incredible service in the church and then everybody comes back to the house for a big drinks reception. This must have been an enchanting place to grow up? It was. We just had so much freedom. We’d head off and take picnics, and maybe iide the ponies. We’d hop
MAKEUP:
INTERVIEW: Bianca Luykx PHOTOGRAPHY: Kieran Harnett Dolly Buckley; www.thepowderroomgirls.com
Visit Castle Leslie Estate for delicious dining breaks that include breakfast and dinner in their 2 AA Rosette award winning Snaffles Restaurant Indulge in their Overnight Escape from €115pps at The Lodge and €130pps at The Castle or enjoy a twonight country getaway from €160pps at The Lodge and €190pps at The Castle (includes dinner on one evening and breakfast on both mornings). Tel: (047) 88100; www.castleleslie.com Thanks to Mary Collier.
