Regeration History
Castle Leslie Estate’s colourful history is awash with politics, royalty and war.The Leslie family has lived on the Estate since 1665. The land was purchasedwith a £2000-reward given to John Leslie, the fighting bishop, by KingCharles II. The Family’s non-conformist ancestors include warlike bishops,politicians, social reformers, agricultural innovators, philanthropic wives, finepre-Raphaelite painters, furniture collectors, writers and war heroes. They'vebeen connected with royalty, ambassadors and prime ministers, and regularlyvisited by foreign emigres, wits, poets and infamous kleptomaniacs.
The Estate was passed to Desmond Leslie in 1964 and subsequently to hisdaughter Samantha Leslie. The size and nature of the Estate, the cost of itsupkeep and the effects of the troubles on the border county ensured that CastleLeslie Estate was a 'hot potato' within the family.
Typifying the Victorian excesses of its day, the Castle was built by Sammy'sgreat great grandfather. When Sammy took it over from her father, sherecognised it as a commercially viable opportunity that would not only ensurethe future safekeeping of the Estate and its history but also prompt itsregeneration.
Sammy's ambition was to bring the Estate back to life, gain sustainabilitythrough tourism and work symbiotically with local communities. She alsowanted to have fun in the process! Her desire was to restore the Castle in thestyle and manner it was built to enable guest entertainment on a grand scale.But she started small, establishing tea rooms in the old conservatory therebycreating income to restore the roof.
Between 1995 and 1997, Sammy refurbished fourteen of the Castle bedroomsand bathrooms, each in its own unique style, in an effort to maintain theindividuality and uniqueness of the property. Dinners were served bycandlelight in the original dining room, just as it had been in the old days, withpre-dinner drinks served in the Drawing Room or Fountain Garden.
The Castle at Castle Leslie Estate was soon rewarded with The Good HotelGuide Caesar Award for being 'utterly enjoyable and mildly eccentric'. It is awonderful refuge for grown-ups where there are no TVs, phones or radios -just wonderful food, relaxed and friendly service, lazy breakfasts served untilnoon and picnics by the lake.
When peace finally came to Northern Ireland with the Good FridayAgreement, the Leslie Family took the opportunity to restore the rest of theEstate, slowly but surely, to its former glory.
In June 2002, Castle Leslie Estate hit centre stage when it hosted the weddingof Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. Over 800 million people worldwidesaw the event on TV which had a huge impact on the progression of CastleLeslie Estate and the border counties.
In 2004, after 20 years in external ownership, the Estate's Equestrian Centreand Hunting Lodge were re-purchased. Having secured euro cross-borderfunding, the family set about restoring and regenerating the Castle at CastleLeslie Estate. The redevelopment of the Long Gallery Wing in the Castleenabled the Estate to offer business and corporate facilities. The addition ofsix further guestrooms brought the room total in the Castle to 20. Thetransformation of the old Victorian Kitchens into a Cookery School addedanother dimension to the expanding Estate.
With 78,000 square feet of historic buildings, miles of famine wall and theHunting Lodge back in the fold, funding was sourced for reinvestment in theEstate. Inspired by Poundbury, the town Prince Charles built in England,Sammy Leslie worked with a team of Irish architects to extend the village ofGlaslough back over the Estate where it had been, prior to a fire in the 1850s. A seamless extension to Glaslough village, the Village Cottages and houses arebuilt around a Village Square and Green. Sammy wanted to ensure that thedevelopment would be sensitive to the Irish Countryside and sympathetic tothe current style of the existing village so she called in specialists inconservation and heritage architecture to design the development. All proceeds from the sale of the houses are re-invested to fund the continualregeneration of the Estate.
Located at the gates of Castle Leslie Estate, the Hunting Lodge and EquestrianCentre underwent extensive refurbishment and renovation before re-openingin May 2007. Both had been in the Leslie family for many years until 1984when Desmond Leslie sold them. It was in the midst of the Irish troubles andhis daughter Sammy had just qualified as an intermediate instructor.Undeterred, Sammy set up a yard in the old Estate farm buildings. Here shebought, sold and broke horses until 1987, vowing to re-purchase the HuntingLodge when she could. She achieved her goal in 2004.
All the hard work and commitment started to pay off in 2005 when CastleLeslie Estate won the Sunday Times ‘Best Country House’ and Food & Wine’s‘Best Country House Restaurant in Ulster’ awards. More recognition followedin 2006 with the Hotel & Catering Review Gold Medal Award for Best CountryHouse which recognises excellence in 11 categories.
In January 2006, work started on the €10million refurbishment to expand andimprove the existing facilities - the 35-bedroomed Lodge and the new state-ofthe-art Equestrian Centre. The project was supported by grant aid from the Irish Government and part-financed by the European Union under theNational Development Plan 2000-2006, administered by Fáilte Ireland.
This has allowed Sammy to go back again to her original dream - great horses,good food and old-style hospitality. But never one to rest, she has alreadyidentified a number of future projects including the restoration of the Walled Garden and Gate Lodge.
Acopy of the History of the Regeneration of The Estate can be found HERE.
