Dear wonderful readers,
There is that unmistakable early-season energy at Mapperton right now. After weeks of relentless rain, the sun has finally returned, the house has reopened, and the kitchen garden is beginning to stir into real life! It’s such a satisfying phase where preparation starts to become visible. So let’s catch up!
In this newsletter, you’ll find:
• We’re coming to Mississippi and there are still tickets
• Major progress in the Mapperton kitchen garden
• What we have already sown for the season ahead
• Opening day at Mapperton and our volunteer celebration
• Rewilding updates from across the estate
• Final places remaining on Grand Historic Tours!
Let’s get into it.
We’re absolutely thrilled to be heading to Natchez, Mississippi for the Antiques Show Preview Party, beginning 11 March (with the special Patron gathering on 10 March).
We can’t wait to meet so many of you at the Patron Party on Tuesday evening, and then at our main presentation on Wednesday, where we will be speaking about Mapperton and our shared passion for heritage and preservation.
The meet and greet is now sold out, but there are still a limited number of tickets remaining for our main presentation. As always, the full week in Natchez is filled with wonderful events and beautiful houses to explore.
P.S. If you’re planning to come to the Patron Party on the 10th and haven’t received an email with information about it, please email Shelly: shelly@mapperton.com. (We switched email servers and fear that we may have missed some confirmations during the down time!)
After what truly felt like biblical rain, the weather has finally shifted, and the kitchen garden is starting to look genuinely transformed.
Estate-sourced woodchip has now been laid along the paths between the beds, which not only looks beautiful but keeps everything rooted firmly in Mapperton’s own landscape. We have also brought in excellent mushroom compost and topsoil. The compost is feeding the beds, while the compost and topsoil mix is going into the polytunnel!
The polytunnel itself should be up this week, which will make an enormous difference as the growing season progresses.
Most exciting of all, seeds are already in the ground!
So far we have sown broad beans, five varieties of tomatoes, cauliflower, coriander, spring onions, and several varieties of cutting flowers now growing in the conservatory.
It is early days, but the momentum is very much there.
One of the happiest practical victories this month comes from the conservatory.
For six years, the heated beds there simply have not worked. Thanks to Robert, our operations manager (and electrician extraordinaire), they are now fully functioning again.
This means we can start some of our seeds on gently heated beds, which will make a significant difference to germination and early growth. It is one of those behind-the-scenes improvements that quietly shapes the entire season.
Mapperton has officially opened for the season, which is always one of the most meaningful moments in the Mapperton calendar.
Before opening, we held our annual volunteers’ lunch. We now have 61 volunteers across the estate, with 55 joining us for the gathering. We gave a 40-minute presentation sharing the many positive developments from the past year, and there was much to celebrate.
Among the highlights:
• A significant increase in visitor numbers
• Strong growth across our events programme
• Mother’s Day Tea already sold out (15 March)
• Continued expansion of the kitchen garden team
• Growing support across house guiding and rewilding
To our volunteers: we are enormously grateful. Mapperton simply could not function without you.
Several important conservation projects are now nearing completion, and we expect to have them back on display in the coming weeks.
Visitors will soon be able to see once again:
• The Peacock Tapestry
• The 18th-century Japanese screens
• Alberta’s House of Worth gown
Each of these has been carefully conserved, and we are very much looking forward to welcoming them home.
Out on the estate, the rewilding project continues to bring daily moments of delight.
We have welcomed a new foal, and Chip and Willow are thriving!
Meanwhile, the pigs were particularly content this morning, happily working their way through fresh acorns.
It is muddy, lively, and exactly as it should be.
Our Grand Historic Tours are now very close to full, with only two rooms remaining in the house.
For those who may be newer to Mapperton Live, Grand Historic Tours is a fully immersive experience of life at Mapperton. Guests stay here on the estate and step into a carefully curated programme that blends heritage, beauty, learning, and community in a way that is quite unlike a traditional tour.
Over the course of the experience, guests typically enjoy:
• Private access to the house and gardens
• Black-tie dinners and special evening gatherings
• Concerts and behind-the-scenes moments on the estate
• Rewilding walks and time in the landscape
• Yoga (optional) with Julie and slower reflective moments woven into the schedule
• The American Heiress Supper Club experience
• Day trips to nearby historic sites and castles
What we hear time and again from past guests is that the true magic lies in the atmosphere that develops over the week. Friendships form quickly, conversations run long, and many guests leave already planning when they might return.
Because this is intentionally kept small and personal, availability is always very limited, and this year we are now down to just two remaining rooms.
If you have been considering joining us, now would be the moment to take a closer look.
As ever, thank you for being part of the Mapperton Live community. Whether you visit in person or follow along from afar, your support sustains this work in ways both large and small.
With appreciation,
Luke & Julie xx
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