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02
Feb
Sir Thomas Ingilby: 'Taylor Swift would be an asset in the church choir'
This is the second part of a two-part interview with Sir Thomas Ingilby of Ripley Castle. In today’s article, he tells us what he’ll miss most about the place, who he’d like to buy it – Donald Trump or Taylor Swift – and what he wants to do now.
In yesterday's article, he told us why he and Lady Emma Ingilby decided to sell their ancestral home, what he feels about it, what their children think of it, and what the move will entail. You can read it here.
Ripley Castle was put on the market last month, and the hunt is now on for the next keeper of one of the county’s finest stately homes.
Of course, the ‘winner’ will be the one who makes the biggest offer – Sir Thomas Ingilby has told us he’d be willing to consider “anyone who had the wherewithal” – but he can’t help but have his preferences.
The property is on the market with national estate agent Carter Jonas, and interest has come from the UK and overseas, some of the lots attracting “dozens” of enquiries from local people.
Rumours have swirled of interest from the likes of Donald Trump and Taylor Swift, but – sadly, for MAGA fans and Swifties – Sir Thomas told us:
Just to be clear, we’ve had no approach from Donald Trump or Taylor Swift, nor their representatives.
Who would Sir Thomas pick? Photo: Library of Congress & Eva Rinaldi
So, who is the source of these stories, and which of these mega-names would he prefer to hand the keys to?
I don’t know where the rumours come from – Daniel Craig was going to buy every house in Yorkshire at one point!
If it was a toss-up between them, it’d have to be Taylor Swift. She’d be a very good asset in the church choir, and we have a concert venue in the village, where she could play to packed houses.
Whoever buys it, of course, will never have the same degree of connection to the place that Sir Thomas and his family have, but there’s still plenty to love about the place.
Sir Thomas said:
The setting is unrivalled. I’ve always said we have the best kitchen-sink view of any house in Europe, because we see the sun setting across the park, and the deer coming down to nibble the rushes at the lake edge. It’s absolute perfection.
Ripley Castle. Pic: Carter Jonas
And if not Taylor, then who would he like to see become the castle’s keeper?
He said:
Just someone who gets the place. Someone who respects the castle, makes any changes sensitively, and takes part in the community – that would be lovely. But we may not get a choice. We shall see.
When it’s all done, there will surely be plenty he will miss about his lifelong home, but he said:
The thing I’ll miss the most might just be not being able to walk the dogs around the lake. It’ll be something as simple as that, funnily enough.
As for the institutions that have relied on his commitment, he hopes they will continue. The Ripley Show will still be held in the park this summer (on August 10), but after that it will be up to the new owner.
Sir Thomas said:
One of the things we’ve been very careful to do is to preserve the community network here. Hence our intention to sell the town hall to the Star Club, because that really is central to life in the village and is used by the village school for their lunches, so it’s so important that that is preserved for posterity.
We’ve just granted the village cricket club a 25-year lease, which they’re very happy with. They’ve started talking about buying the ground, I believe.
I would hope that whoever buys here would get involved in the community, because we’re not like most stately homes – there isn’t a park separating us from our neighbours. It would be lovely if they got involved, and I think they’d find it hugely rewarding.
Ripley Show
Having spent half a century as estate owner, landlord, guardian of the nation’s heritage and general pillar of the community, it will surely be a crunching change of gear once the deal is done.
He and Lady Emma want to travel and see more of their four grandchildren, and he also wants to devote more time to his life’s work, without the pressure of being in charge. He said:
I’ve still got things that I want to do. I wrote a book about 20 years ago, which was an ironic look at what it’s really like to live in a castle, and there’s certainly room for a volume two of that.
I might volunteer my services as a guide if the new owners want me. I could even get paid for it, which would make a change!
So Ripley Castle will still feature large in his life – but physically he won’t be going far either. In fact, the couple only live about 100 yards from the medieval gate. He said:
We would like to continue living in the village, because it’s one of the nicest places to live and all the neighbours are our friends.
We’re almost accepted as locals here now, which is good. I don’t want to spend another 700 years trying to become a local somewhere else. I can’t think of anywhere nicer.
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