It is said that Sir Christopher Hatton – a favorite of Elizabeth I – was the best dancer in England; he first caught the queen’s eye at a ball, performing a powerful galliard. Could he have matched Barry Keoghan’s liberating moves in the Netflix film? Salt burn? Who knows. But I like the idea of the ‘Dancing Chancellor’ floating through the corridors of Holdenby, the pile in Northamptonshire he built in case Elizabeth came to visit (which she never did).
Holdenby House – now an eighth of its original immense size, but still beautiful – is just one of Northamptonshire’s multifarious stately homes. Situated on a rich belt of limestone, bisected by the main northern road and close enough to go to court if you wanted to but away if you didn’t, lies this county of ‘spires and squires’ – though largely bypassed by the staycation crowds – It is believed that there are more of these types of homes than any other country.
“About 55, depending on how you categorize them,” estimates Laura Malpas of the Northamptonshire Heritage Forum. And there is only one – Canons Ashby – which is managed by the National Trust; many are still home to descendants of the families who built them. So it’s no surprise that director Emerald Fennell was looking for uncharted territory to play in Salt burn – the house of the same name that was central to her riotous class satire – she ended up here.
The filming took place in Drayton House, a very secretive baroque country house, not open to the public. “I have been working in the heritage sector for 25 years and have never smelled anything in it,” says Laura. Despite being largely privately owned, most of Northamptonshire’s finest houses welcome visitors, if only on limited dates.
Instead of shutting themselves away from lazy summers of murder and mayhem, they give tours of their laundries, organize ABBA tribute bands and reenact the Battle of Naseby. This is partly because they want to share and contextualize their homes, says Laura: “If heritage is to survive, it must remain relevant.” And that’s partly because they can’t afford not to.
“On a nice day you walk around and you feel so happy,” Holdenby’s current owner, James Lowther, tells me. “Then I see the bills and go into deep gloom…”
According to the Historic Houses Association, a co-operative of more than 1,400 independent properties in Britain, its members’ repairs backlog is estimated at £2 billion. Keeping these places afloat is a constant struggle; Money is spent on sorting out dry rot and specialist cleaning work to clear medieval chimneys, not on wild Saltburn-esque parties.
“That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy it,” James adds. After all, his house is extraordinarily beautiful, with Grade II listed gardens and over 500 years of stories. Charles I, for example, was kept under house arrest here for five months in 1647. “We put up a plaque to mark where he was standing when Cromwell’s men took him,” says James. “You can stand there yourself. You never get used to that feeling.”
Holdenby has been used for filming – it was Satis House in the BBC’s Great Expectations. But it is Deene Park, a beautiful Tudor-Georgian country house, once home to the 7th Earl ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ Cardigan, known as Saltburn. “We’re the one in the movie doing that is open to the public,” says Charlotte Brudenell, current owner of Deene.
“Drayton has no more!” (They used Deena’s for the rock-throwing scene in the film.) The Brudenells saw Saltburn in the cinema; they stayed to see if they were in the credits and were locked up.
“I know a lot of people who live in houses like that, but they’re not like that,” Charlotte points out. “We are all struggling to keep the roof on. Frivolity and flowing champagne are not part of that.”
Maybe they aren’t now. But Deene has a lot of good stories in his back catalogue. Such as that of Adeline, second wife of the 7th Earl, who liked to shock visitors by climbing into a coffin and asking to be admired; her gossipy memoir, My Recollections, spotlighted the gambling habits and love affairs of the aristocracy.
Then there are the finds. In the 1970s, a copy of Magna Carta was found in an estate inventory (it sold for $1.5 million). Less lucrative, Charlotte recently found some, ahem, pig skin prophylactics dating back to 1900 – “they’re huge!” she says.
These are the kinds of details we love these days: the dirty secrets, the crazy relationships, the maintenance issues. “Yes, you come here to see the art, but also to see the lives,” agrees Charles Lister, property manager at Boughton House. “People look at history in different ways and are inspired by TV and film.”
Boughton was built in 1528 and extensively extended in 1695 by the Duke of Montagu, who wanted to bring French flair to the British countryside – it is known as the ‘English Versailles’. Les Misérables and, more recently, Napoleon were filmed here. Ensuring the home is protected is exciting but challenging, says Charles.
Boughton was essentially mothballed for 200 years, escaping the damaging modernizations of the Victorian period, and is thus one of Britain’s best preserved stately homes. It has a valuable art collection and in 2024 the Louis Chéron ceilings in the State Rooms will be the result of an extensive restoration.
“We are only open on certain dates, mainly for nature conservation reasons,” Charles explains. “A person emits heat from a 100 W lamp, breathing increases humidity. We want people to be able to enjoy the place, but sustainably.”
James Saunders-Watson opens Rockingham Castle at least 50 days a year. He admits that it’s nice to have his amazing home to himself sometimes, but at the end of the day, “these places need to be loved.” Rockingham has been continuously occupied for almost a millennium and has been home to his family for 450 years. Although he may be the first generation to be so practical. “For our Christmas event it was so wet that we had to close the car park and run shuttle buses. The only staff qualified to drive them were my wife Lizzie and I, so we took bus trips.
Rockingham offers a variety of visitors. The gardens are open for snowdrop shows, theater and a new Dinosaur Day. Inside you’ll find impressive rooms and important portraits, as well as a huge amount of 20th century British art. “My great uncle was an avid collector,” says James. “We have many modern paintings hanging in old places.”
This is one of the joys of the private stately home, he believes. “It’s not pickled in aspic, you get the full color of the story, the people, the thread of life.”
Even though that story is now less about the debauchery of billionaires and more about how to pay the heating bill.