Echo Woman
The hall with it all
 |
| JACQUELYN FRITH: The National Trust has this image of being stuffy old houses full of stuffy old people, but it's really not like that any more' |
Former archaeologist Jacquelyn Frith finds she can mix the past with an energetic present in her role
looking after visitors to the National Trust's Beningbrough Hall. Sharon Griffiths grabs a moment with her
JACQUELYN Frith was an archaeologist,
sitting soggily in a
hole full of mud at the side of the
A1. As the rain fell and the traffic
thundered past, the time had
come, she thought, for a change of career.
First of all, as a bit of a contrast to the
hole in the ground, there was a trip to Everest
- "If I could do that, I could do anything"
- and then she landed at the National
Trust's Beningbrough Hall, an 18th
Century mansion near York, where she
fizzes with energy, ideas and enthusiasm.
The National Trust is changing. That terribly
tasteful whiff of staid gentility and
pot pourri is gradually being blown away.
That's clear even in the car park at Beningbrough.
In among the traditional NT
visitors - generally older, probably retired
- making the most of the unexpected
spring sunshine, there are also surprising
number of young parents and small children
chasing happily around.
"Beningbrough is for everyone," says
Jacquelyn, 36, and she really means it. "The
National Trust has this image of being
stuffy old houses full of stuffy old people,
but it's really not like that any more."
Jacquelyn, the least stuffy person you
can imagine, is Visitor Services Manager -
"dogsbody and occasional toiler cleaner" -
charged with looking after 200 volunteer
guides, the shop and anything that brings
in money, which includes weddings, complete
with champagne, canapés and a
string quartet
It also means buying hundreds of Easter
eggs for this weekend's Bunny Hunt in
the grounds, where they're expecting to be
besieged by around 2,000 children.
Beningbrough has a year-round programme
of activities ranging from summer
concerts with champagne and strawberries,
jazz to swing bands. As well as special
school events - Schools Below Stairs gets
the little ones slaving away in the famous
laundry - there are regular art workshops
for children, Artrageous. "The Learning
Team are brilliant, inspired," she says. And
there are a lot of foody things as well -
evenings of chocolate, or puddings, or
starters, or mini main courses. The walled
garden restaurant takes its food seriously
and uses a lot of local produce, including
some grown in the garden.
Jacquelyn, building on the good work of
her predecessors, is constantly, frenetically,
thinking up more activities, ways to
make the house more welcoming. Not for
her a nice quiet winter hibernation.
"We already keep open on weekends
through the winter, which not many NT
places do, but that's also when we do all the
planning for the year, get all the programme
sorted, leaflets printed, so it's still
a busy time," she says.
Her job is not just about getting people
in. "We want people to enjoy it. Lots of
members are here nearly every weekend.
They think of it as their own garden, which
is lovely."
It's worked too. Visitor numbers are rising
fast and some poor unsuspecting family
was recently pounced on for being the
110,000th visitors since March last year.
"They looked a bit bemused, as well they
might, but we gave them some presents, so
they were very happy."
AS well as winter weekends, they have
events on summer evenings too. "It's
really nice to have events on summer
evenings, when people come in and enjoy
the different atmosphere," says Jacquelyn.
"When the weather's good - which it wasn't
very often last year, but this year it will
be - the walled garden is wonderful."
It's all helped by the volunteers, 200 of
them. "Fabulous, all of them. Absolutely
not the National Trust stereotype. I
promise, they will not pin you in a corner
and drone on at you until you're desperate
to escape. Honestly, those days are gone,"
says Jacquelyn.
This year some of the volunteers will be
dressed in Georgian costume, identical to
those in the portraits, and will be happy to
talk in character or explain the details of
dress, whatever people want. "It all adds
that bit more," says Jacquelyn.
The volunteers also run a thriving second-
hand bookshop which has raised
£30,000 over the last five years - money
which goes straight back to Beningbrough.
The hall is more accessible than many
big houses. "We even have a lift, just because
someone's husband was looking at
the plans and said casually You could fit a
lift in there', so we went for it."
For the sake of the building, they can't
allow buggies in the house. "But we took up
the cobbles in the courtyard to make it easier
for buggies and wheelchairs. Yes, the
cobbles looked very nice, but we thought it
more important that people could get
across there easily."
When they stocked up the baby changing
rooms and the restaurant, it meant that
Jacquelyn went on a mad trolley dash
around Ikea - "bibs, changing mats, everything
we needed."
On the top floor there is something called
rather formally The Pre School Portrait
Playroom. "It's just full of things that little
ones can jump on and shriek and squeak
and enjoy themselves," says Jacquelyn,
"which means parents can relax a bit as
well."
Outside there is plenty of space - gardens,
the wilderness area, complete with
fort. Two thousand visitors can be absorbed
quite easily.
Because her own mother is visually impaired,
Jacquelyn is particularly keen on
making things accessible. "In the Making
Faces area, there are lots of things to touch
and feel," she says.
Butwhileeverythingisbeingdonetomake
Beningbrough friendly, welcoming and interestingforeveryone,
theseriousworkstillgoes
on behind the scenes all year round. "We still
havetheworkofconservation.Thatisstillour
central responsibility."
One of the perks of a job at Beningbrough
is that Jacquelyn lives on the estate.
"When I moved I sent all my friends postcards
of the hall, saying it was my new
home, not actually mentioning that mine
is really just a small cottage..."
When not enjoying the pleasures of
home - "There are a number of families
with children living here, so it has a good
atmosphere" - she and her partner are to
be found rock climbing or travelling on a
grand scale. Next year is either the Tibetan
plateau or the Gobi desert. "I want to do
everything," she says.
In the meantime, for Jacquelyn, Beningbrough,
and all such houses, are about the
sense of history, a sense of connection with
people from the past.
As an archaeologist, her speciality was
the metal trade and the monasteries. "I
never wanted to dig round pyramids or
Roman ruins, I was always absorbed by
British history," says Jacquelyn. Consequently,
she spent a lot of time digging
holes at Fountains Abbey. "It's amazing
what a lump of lead can tell you," she says.
In among the mud and rain there were always
magical moments. "I remember finding
a piece of pottery, just a scrap, but with
a clear thumb print of the potter. I put my
thumb on the print and there was that immediate
connection with the person who
had made that pot thousands of years earlier.
Magic."
THE same is true in Beningbrough,
and not just the Georgian history.
"During the last war, the hall was
used as an RAF base. They got up to all
sorts here, including riding motorbikes up
and down the main staircase," says Jacquelyn.
"They had billiard tables here and
when they were playing - because nearly
everyone smoked in those days - they
would put their cigarettes down on the
nearest mantelpiece, shelf or rail. And they
left burn marks. Many of them are still
there. You can put your finger on them and
think of those RAF men playing billiards
in their breaks between duty. It's a direct
link with the past, another part of the Beningbrough
story.
"Houses like this are full of stories. We
just help to tell them."
* Beningbrough Hall and gardens, eight
miles north of York, signposted from the
A19. In partnership with the National
Portrait Gallery, the hall has 120
portraits of 18th Century people.
Details tel: 01904-472027.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
12:29pm Tuesday 18th March 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
