Dear lovely friends!
What a few weeks it has been! Between waving off our Grand Historic Tours guests, a keynote in London, a few precious days in Italy, and a certain 26.2 miles through Amsterdam (!!!!), I’ve barely stopped. My legs are still quite tired, but I wanted to catch you up on all of it.
In this newsletter, I’ll be sharing:
The last few spots on Grand Historic Tours 2027
A very special photoshoot for Stately
Giving a keynote in London
A mini break in Italy
The Mapperton book, just in time for Christmas
Running the Amsterdam Marathon with Emma and Jack
Let’s dive in!
Only three spots left on Grand Historic Tours
If you’ve been thinking about joining us on Grand Historic Tours, now is the moment. We have just three spots left, and I expect them to be gone by next week.
These are once-in-a-lifetime trips! And it’s SO FUN to host you!!
Our most recent tour has just come to an end, and saying goodbye to all the guests was happy, sad, and funny all at once!
It’s always the way when you’ve spent such wonderful days together.
A very special photo shoot
In the middle of the tour, we had a HUGE photo shoot. I can’t tell you what it’s for just yet, but I can tell you it will be one of the biggest features we’ve ever made for Stately.
Not only did ‘they’ kindly send hair and makeup, but we were photographed by Millie Pilkington, who has photographed the royal family, and it was such a privilege to work with her again!
Everyone involved is so excited about this one. Watch this space…
A keynote in London
As soon as the tour guests had gone, I headed up to London, where I was one of the keynote speakers at the Visitor Attractions Conference at the Queen Elizabeth II centre in Westminster, close to the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey! It’s the largest conference of its kind in the UK, so it was a real honour to be asked!
My talk was about ‘beyond physical visitors’ - preserving Britain’s finest house, Mapperton. I shared a little of the Sandwich family’s history, and then how Luke and I took over Mapperton in 2016.
When the pandemic arrived in 2020, we started our YouTube channel, and it has been so instrumental in getting us to where we are today. It has helped fund restoration work across the house, from the 18th-century eagles to the tapestries.
I also talked about American Countess, which has now been going for five years (can you believe it?!), and about our new home on Stately. It was wonderful to introduce everyone to Stately for the first time: a place for lovers of historic houses, period dramas, and all things royal.
The talk ended with a huge round of applause from an audience of about 400 people, and afterwards there was an enormous queue of people wanting to talk about digital, YouTube, and what we’re doing on Stately.
I stayed long after I’d finished, and I came away with some really good connections!
Curious about Stately?! Be one of the first in the door when you fill out the Join List!
A little bit of Italy
After the tour, I headed to Italy for a five-day mini break, just for a little bit of fun.
(And work, of course!)
Naturally, I filmed lots of Julie in Italy videos while I was there. That channel sits apart from Stately; it’s simply a fun hobby of mine, and I’d love for you to come along if you haven’t subscribed yet.
The Mapperton book makes a wonderful gift
With Christmas coming up, I wanted to mention the Mapperton book again. If you’re looking for a gift for someone who loves history, houses, or gardens, I’d be thrilled if you thought of it.
Find it on Amazon and all good bookshops across the world!
I ran the Amsterdam Marathon!
And finally, I JUST ran the Amsterdam Marathon, finishing in an official time of 4:06:52. I’m absolutely thrilled! It was incredible!
I won’t pretend it was easy, around 28k I thought to myself… what am I doing?!, but once I reached the last 10k, I knew I could finish.
Emma and Jack were running ahead of me, and they both finished too, in amazing times! After all those months of training, crossing that line as a family meant the world to me, and I couldn’t be prouder of them!
Next up: Valencia, Spain on the 6th December…. yes, in seven weeks time… yes, I have the marathon bug!
As always, thank you for reading and for being here. These past few weeks have been full in every sense, and I’m so grateful to be able to share them with you.
With love and gratitude, Julie
Well done, the lot of you, all three posting fantastic times, WOO-HOO!! And now ANOTHER in just 7 weeks??? Completely mad!! So excited for you, Julie, you are such an inspiration that, at 69(!) I am now training for my very first 5K! Congratulations everyone!! xx
Bravo and a job well done!