Posted on 02/01/2025 3:50:32 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Many can identify with the immense relief that accompanies downsizing later in life.
After years of slogging at the coal face and raising children, an empty nest can mean the chance to move to a smaller place with lower bills and experience the heady rush of freedom.
Sir Thomas Ingilby certainly knows the feeling: he recalls the moment of handing over the keys to his Yorkshire home as akin to 'a giant weight being lifted off my shoulders'. It was extraordinary,' the 69-year-old muses. 'I've never felt anything like it. It really was like a physical sensation.'
Then again, the weight in question was an unusually hefty one, given it came in the form of Ripley Castle, a vast and ancient estate that has been in Sir Thomas's family for 700 years and 28 generations and which he inherited at the tender age of 18.
That weight was not just the upkeep of the castle itself but preservation of a family legacy that dates back to the mid-1300s. From Catholic martyrs and Gunpowder Plotters to the redoubtable 'Trooper Jane', a female Ingilby ancestor who held Oliver Cromwell at gunpoint overnight in the castle library during the Civil War, the wealth of history here is immense.
Yet this year, if all goes to plan, a non-Ingilby (with £21million to spare) will take residence within these ancient walls for the first time.
'It's been half a century of responsibility and now we are ready for an irresponsible retirement' says the affable Sir Thomas.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
In any case, their attention is currently occupied by having two weddings to plan, that of their youngest son Richard and daughter Eleanor, both of whom are marrying in May.
'It feels rather lovely, as the family history here started with a marriage and now it will end with one,' says Sir Thomas.
They seem like lovely people. :)
That would be a nice starter-home for me.
Provided, of course, it comes with 1600 acres of unspoiled land.
Why, there’s almost enough room for you to make me a sammich!
I could probably retire there.
Does it come with serfs and peasants?
The seller is a poor excuse as an heir.
He needs to be disowned.
That ‘home’ looks like a nightmare to care for.
Wenches! That's what I'm looking for!
That’s me, impressing the crowd.
“We’re selling our wonderful £21 million family castle after 700 years and 28 generations”
In reality we’re TRYING to sell our family castle for $21 mm to some American idiot who doesn’t realize the annual upkeep is $5 million.
This would make a great bed and breakfast spot on upper levels, with guided museum tour offered. Or, maybe a casino on ground level. I don’t suppose a crocodile filled moat would be part of the picture. Maintenance costs, for both inside and the surrounding grounds will be expensive.
Just get a robot vacuum and you're good.
Oh definitely. You need a wench to get the motorboat into that lake.
Winch! Winch! It's spelled Winch!
Dlya odnikh pokhlyobka slishkom zhidkaya, dlya drugikh brillianty slishkom melkiye (For some people the soup is too thin, for some the diamonds are too small). Or, like John Lennon said: “The people in the cheaper seats, clap your hands. And the rest of you, if you’d just rattle your jewelry.”
In about 300 years, when society collapses.
Comes with its own cemetery!
I could use a wench anytime....
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