The women who saved our country piles

Why the Duchess of Rutland is a thoroughly modern woman.

How have so many great country houses managed to survive? One answer is: thanks to women. Emma Rutland "runs one of the most successful country-house operations in Britain", says Elizabeth Grice in The Daily Telegraph. Born Emma Watkins, a savvy farmer's daughter form Powys, she remembers the shock of first moving into Belvoir Castle with her four young children when her husband, David, became the 11th Duke of Rutland.

"The Tardis of perplexing rooms and corridors," says Grice. "The chill. The children's fear of ghosts. Two and a half acres of rotting roof. Disintegrating drains. Death duties of £9m." The new duchess remembers her mother-in-law handing her a huge black box of keys. "She looked me in the eye with a slight smile and said Good luck'. I read her expression as: You've got to get on with it. Find your way."

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