It`s open house at the Manor

It could be a sequel to To the Manor Born – To the Manor Drawn, perhaps. For years Nicky Mander coveted Owlpen Manor, a Tudor pile standing in a remote valley under the edge of the Costwolds, its 200 acres of pasture, meadowland and an enclosed formal garden flanked by beech woods and yews. He often fantasised about living there.

It is dream that came true more than two decades ago when the estate came on to the market and Nicky raised the money to buy it. Since then it has been home to Nicky, a son of Sir Charles Mander and a heir to his baronetcy, his Swedish wife Karin and their five children, all born at Owlpen.

For the past two years that space and the magnificent house has been shared with the public. These days parties of visitors gaze upon the antiques, furniture, painted cloths and Arts and Crafts pieces. Opening Owlpen as a commercial concern was `absolutely essential`, says Karin very firmly. `If we wanted to go on living here we had to make it pay`. Nicky, whose passion for the place led him to study its history in depth and write a detailed booklet about the estate, has more sentiment in his interpretation: `This is a wonderful historic site with architecture from different times. It went through a Sleeping Beauty period when it was left, overgrown with ivy, huge trees falling down, and the place crumbling. That`s how it was until 1925 when Norman Jewson, a latter-day Arts and Crafts architect, came and pulled it back to good shape.

So it is that on a day of washed blue skies and sudden vivid sunshine, Nicky and Karin walk me around the house and cottages and an old mill, which they have converted into holiday accommodation, past the medieval Church of the Holy Cross, and on to the Queen Anne and Georgian gardens and the flowerbeds of the Tudor enclosure, described by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe as possibly the earliest domestic garden in England to survive intact. In summer they serve cream teas on the lawns overlooking the valley and the children, when they are home, help with this. They are also conscripted as wine waiters in the restaurant opened recently in a converted barn where Karin prepares Swedish and European dishes. This often means, she says, `sitting up until the small hours poring over recipe books then working out how to interpret the dishes. Everything is made here, down to the ice-cream and stock for the soups. I never use a bouillon cube`.

The Manders waited until four of the children were at school before `going public`, as Nicky puts it. But Fabian was still only five and, Karin remembers, `He couldn`t understand why I got uptight when he opened the kitchen door on to the hall when a coachload was coming in, or why other children used his slide. On his birthday, which is at Easter, he had to sit in the ticket office with me, opening his presents. It was 100 per cent disruption of family life at first, and even now we are working every day of the week. But the children really enjoy it. They have become very self-sufficient and they get paid – although not very much – when they help or act as guides`.

It is a tiring business and last year, Karin recalls, she and Nicky decided it was a holiday or bust. They went to Sweden for a week, leaving the children in charge. She says, `We did feel more than a little nervous but they were wonderful. The great thing was the children coped in their own way and didn`t ring us the whole week.`

Even when they are there, things do not always go according to plan. Giving Nicky an old-fashioned look, Karin recalls the time Nicky was showing people around the top of the house where the family quarters are. `I`d gone to our bedroom to change. I was stark naked in the middle of the room when in walks Nick, followed by eight people. I dived behind the four-poster and shouted, `Get out!` I suspect those guests are not ones who return regularly.`

And now the afternoon is drawing down, Karin and Nicky move from the garden to the family kitchen with its long wooden table. They open a bottle of wine, clink glasses and consider: `Sometimes we wonder that we`ve taken on, but people seem to be enthusiastic. It means we can live here and we can`t think of a nicer way to earn a living.`

Tick the statements which are true.

1. The family moved into Owlpen Manor less than 20 years ago.

2. His wife was from Switzerland.

3. The youngest son`s name is Fabian.

4. People began to visit this place three years ago.

5. Norman Jewson came and reshaped the house seventy years ago.

6. Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe described the garden as an oldest English garden to survive.

7. When summer comes, children work as waiters at the restaurant.

In the article find synonyms for the following word combinations:

a) to think about

b) as Nicky says

c) to leave somebody responsible for smth.

d) to take smb. for a walk

e) to remain in its original form

f) to undertake

g) to show to the public

h) to get nervous

i) to be in a bad state of repair

Explain in English what is meant by:

a) washed-blue skies

b) to gaze upon

c) to raise the money

d) an old-fashioned look

e) to dive

f) to bust

g) enclosed formal garden

h) to be conscripted as a waiter

i) to covet

j) to crumble

k) to be self-sufficient

Write out the words and phrases describing:

a) the decline of the house

b) artistic and architectural values of the estate

c) family business and life

Retell the text.

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