Restoration drama (From Living Northeast)

Restoration drama

4:17pm Thursday 24th June 2010 in

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When Clare and Mark Oglesby saw the rotting shell of a derelict house near Harrogate, they were hooked, they tell Jenny Needham.

CLARE Oglesby has been well and truly hooked a couple of times in her life. Firstly, and quite appropriately, on a fishing trip to Alaska. And secondly, when she first saw a huge run-down property and its overgrown grounds just outside Harrogate.

The first time she ended up landing a husband; the second time she netted the home she now lives in with him and their family.

“We met in Alaska, like you do,” laughs Clare. “I worked for The Field magazine down in London and the editor asked me to go on all sorts of trips around the world.

Then this fishing trip in Alaska came up, hosted by Arthur Oglesby, a world authority on angling from North Yorkshire.”

Unfortunately, Mr Oglesby was taken ill, and his son was sent out to Alaska in his stead. Mark met Clare and they fell in love. When they returned from the trip, plans were made for a future together and Clare moved North.

Clare was entering the domain of an interesting family.

“Mark was the youngest son and he and I were in our early 30s then,” she says.

Arthur Oglesby was born in Scarborough, where his father ran the family pharmaceutical company, producers of Nurse Harvey’s Gripe Water. In 1928, they moved to York, where Arthur enjoyed a “semi-Victorian” upbringing, learning to coarse fish on the Ouse and Derwent. He died in 2000.

While Mark inherited his father’s love of angling, his business was marketing and a fax-to-internet innovation.

He sold up in 2005 and he and Clare were thinking of heading off to live in France when they picked up the local paper one day. “Goldsborough Hall was advertised in it.

We had never heard of it and were intrigued, though I did wonder what on earth we would do with a 40-bedroom stately home,” says Claire.

It lies between Knaresborough and Harrogate, tucked into the curve of the River Nidd, and was in a parlous state. “It was absolutely awful, derelict,” says Clare. “It had been a BUPA nursing home until 2003, when it was abandoned. The windows were rotten, the bathrooms all had avocado suites, the floorboards were up and most rooms were simply uninhabitable.”

But just as the couple were about to write it off, they went for a walk down to the bottom of the garden and looked back at the house. Standing proud in the beautiful countryside, its potential became clear. “I told Mark I really liked it and he said so did he. We could suddenly see through all the awfulness,” says Clare.

There were plans afoot to turn it into a school for children with learning difficulties, but local residents were against the idea. “It wasn’t really appropriate for that purpose,” she adds.

The couple had to buy Goldsborough Hall as a nursing home and get a commercial mortgage, so it was a big risk. But with their hard work and vision, it proved a risk worth taking.

The hall, which was completed in 1625, has had a fascinating history as the home of many of Yorkshire’s aristocratic families and was the first family home of Princess Mary.

Now all that history has been brought to life again and the stunning period property can be rented for weddings, house parties, corporate and black-tie events, and as an upmarket B&B. Guests have a choice of six rooms, each named after one of the families who owned the hall during its first 400 years. Each one is individually and traditionally furnished, but with perfectly modern en suites: a great mix of four posters and whirlpool baths.

The Oglesby suite, in memory of Mark’s father, is the latest to be finished.

“Mark is a real designer,” says Clare. “I chose the soft furnishings. We have stuck to period as much as possible, except for bathrooms, which are very high-spec.

One of the rooms has a sunken bath in the bay window.”

The hall is a perfect venue for weddings, big enough to accommodate family members and with two dining rooms with lovely views and a library, yet small enough to be intimate. The garden, into which Clare has put vast amounts of time and work, is a superb setting for drinks and photographs.

Clare, Mark and the children live “above the shop” in their own private flat. Before moving to the hall they lived in a fairly traditional town house. “We lived in Tockwith, on the main street, in a normal four-bed with an acre of garden,” says Clare. “It needed doing up, though, so although it was on a much smaller scale, it was good practice.

I think projects must be in our blood.

It’s been a hard slog, but the family have really taken to their new home. “You very quickly get used to space, though it can be a bore when you’ve left something upstairs,” says Clare. “We have a mini kitchen upstairs and use the main kitchen when chef is not there, or we clear out and go to a restaurant.”

The chef is a local lady who used to work in wedding catering, and other staff include wedding coordinators, a general manager, maintenance men, three housekeepers, a chap who looks after the wedding cars and one gardener.

Clare’s favourite project was the garden. “It was my baby,” she says.

When Princess Mary, the Princess Royal, lived at Goldsborough a vista was created to the south with the planting of the walled terrace. A lime tree walk was planted by visiting members of the Royal family and surrounded by 50,000 daffodils in the spring. To the southeast of the formal garden there is a copse of Japanese cherry trees which were a wedding gift from the Emperor of Japan when the princess married Henry Lascelles, later the 6th Earl of Harewood.

“We could see the outline of the garden, but it was derelict,” says Clare. “Two 120ft herbaceous borders completely covered in weeds were cleared, we’ve replanted the roses and formal areas, and we’re now working on the woods.”

The results are stunning. On a bright, spring day there can be few nicer places to be. And looking back up the lime tree walk to this imposing mansion, it’s not surprising the Oglesbys fell in love with it… hook, line and sinker.

■ Goldsborough Hall, Church Street, Goldsborough, North Yorkshire HG5 8NR. Tel: 01423-867321. goldsboroughhall.com