I honestly can’t believe this is happening!

We ACTUALLY pulled it off!

Dear lovely friends!

What a fortnight it has been. Our BIG secret project (Stately…shhhhhhh) has opened its doors to our first residents, the West Room has reached its goal, and somewhere in between I found myself in a hat at Highgrove and very nearly running out of tissues on a drive to Oxford.

In this newsletter, I’ll be sharing:

• Stately is open (to our first residents)

• My book, and twenty-two five-star reviews

• The West Room scarves are at the mill

• An hour and a half with the Bayeux Tapestry

• A garden party at Highgrove

• Countdown to Amsterdam

• Officially empty NESTORS (wow wow wow)

Let’s dive in!

Stately is open!

After months of planning, building, and testing, Stately had its soft launch last week, and our wonderful Patrons from Mapperton Live! and the Countess of Sandwich Society were the first to walk through the doors.

If you haven’t heard me talk about it yet, Stately is our virtual stately home. Everything that used to be scattered across Substack, Patreon, and social media now lives in one place: the official episodes, the Gilded Heiress articles (published early!) the live videos, the Q&As with Luke and me…

…AND new things like the pub quizzes, the hangouts, travel guides, and a feed full of behind-the-scenes moments you won’t find anywhere else.

Our founding residents have their own badges showing the year they first joined us, and there’s a peerage ladder to climb as you take part. I’m so pleased with how it has all come together, and I’m enormously grateful to the team who made it happen.

Nearly 2,500 of you have already joined the list. We open the doors to everyone on 16 November, and if you’re on the join list, you’ll get in 48 hours early, along with plenty of news from us between now and then.

And if you’re a Patron who didn’t get your link to join, please email hello@stately.club. We’ll sort you out!

Twenty-two five-star reviews

My book has had the most wonderful start! There are now twenty-two 5-star reviews on Amazon, and I’ve popped one of my favourites below so you can see what readers are saying.

Thank you to every one of you who has bought it, read it, and taken the time to review it. It means more than I can say.

And with Christmas on its way (I know, already!), I think it makes a rather good present. If there’s someone on your list who would love it, I’d be so grateful. You can find my book on Barnes and Noble, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, Amazon and more!

The scarves are at the mill

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who ordered a West Room scarf. We hit our goal, and the scarves have now gone off to the mill in Italy.

We should have them back in about a month, and the moment they arrive, they’ll be in the post to you.

Because of you, the West Room will be transformed with hand-painted silk wallpaper and gorgeous textiles from Gainsborough Silks in Suffolk. We’re open to the public until the end of October, and then it’s straight into our Christmas market, so the work itself will most likely begin in the new year. I’ll be documenting every step of it over on our Mapperton channel. And keep reading, as I wore my pocket square when dropping off Nestor to University of Oxford - photo further down.

An hour and a half with the Bayeux Tapestry

I was lucky enough to see the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum, and it took my breath away.

They tell you it will take 40 minutes. It doesn’t. It takes an hour and a half, because you are inching your way along 230 feet of it, trying to take in every stitch, while being gently reminded to keep moving.

I recorded the whole visit live, moment by moment, for Stately. If you’d like to come round with me, make sure you’re on the join list.

A garden party at Highgrove

I also had the honour of going to the Highgrove garden party with Rory Hutton (the talent behind our West room scarves!). It was a gorgeous sunny day, and the gardens were spectacular.

I took the train from London to Kemble, where the King’s Foundation had a coach waiting to take us on to Highgrove. You could spot the garden party guests a mile off, because most of us were wearing hats (and yes, I wore a hat).

For the very first time, the King opened up the ground floor of Highgrove: five rooms of his own living quarters. And when I say it was lived in, it was lived in. There were family photographs everywhere, sensational textiles from the Far East, treasures he has brought back from his travels, and even little touches that recalled Princess Diana.

We couldn’t bring in our phones, but wonderful, talented Courtney (who also photographed our scarves here at Mapperton!) was the official photographer — and trust me when I say I took plenty with Rory. I’ll post those in the next newsletter once they are sent to me.

Rory and I, however, recorded a voice note about our day, almost a little podcast, and you’ll find it over on Stately when the doors open. So again, be sure to get on the Stately Join List!

Countdown to Amsterdam

I’m now just under two weeks away from the Amsterdam Marathon on 18 October.

Last week I ran 33 kilometres, which surprised me, because I was fairly sure it would finish me off. Instead it turned out to be my best ever 33k, averaging five minutes and fifty seconds per kilometre. For someone like me, that’s a time I’m really pleased with. Fingers crossed all goes to plan in 12 days time!

Officially empty Nestors

And to top it all off, we dropped Nestor off to start at the University of Oxford.

Can you believe it!?

It was a bittersweet moment. Luke and I are now officially empty Nestors (no pun intended!). It was a wonderful day full of emotion, and off he goes for the next three years — however, he’ll have to get used to his mom visiting often!

Thank you, as always, for being here and for sharing all of this with me. Whether you’ve bought a scarf, read the book, or joined us in Stately, your support means the world, and I can’t wait to welcome more of you in November!

With love and gratitude,

Julie