RUnningen A manor house in the 21st century is not an easy performance. These great old, historical terms, the center of the village life can be expensive to manage, although its current function is often far away from its original purpose as a private apartment and community center.
In the village of Cambridgeshire in Histon, Katherine Mann, 53, has gradually brought her Virginia Creeper Clod Manor House and his 11 hectare site back to life. Greet almost 10,000 visitors to Community events for Histon Manor since the purchase in 2018.
Mann and her husband Rob, Rob, bought the port table 7,500 square meters of house four years ago, from a much smaller house in central -Cambridge, man and her husband Rob. And the next two years gradually spent every inch next to their full -time jobs.
“I felt a bit of responsibility because the house gave so much joy,” says Mann
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
“It was a popular family home that had not been renovated for 30 years,” says Mann. “When we moved here, we made an open Gardens event -the gardens were not necessarily at its peak -but we had 1,500 people from the village who have not been here for about 20 years. This is than we realized that something special was able to make a bit of responsibility.
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Histon Manor has a rich past. The listed house of class II has had a documented story of village exhibitions by the Sumpter (a family of local landowners), who for the first time inherited the property in 1735 as a beautifully symmetrical Histon Hall. The later residents included William Peed, a Victorian fraudster who disappeared into South Africans and left his wife and children in the middle, while another resident, the academic ambrose harding, developed a private zoo on the grounds in which flamingos, lemurs and a black bear were housed.
Today the site has a different, albeit less colorful use: Mann's renovation work has led to the once annoyed house and the gardens opened four times a year, with the calendar a snow hiking walk in February followed by tea and cakes that the Cambridgeshire-Air artists of the year on the bathing-air artists and the hosting more than Have launched 80-professional and amateur artists onto the ground and amateur hosting hosting hosting hosting hosting hosting hosting and birds and birds.
The Cambridgeshire Plein Air Artist of the Year Event at Histon
Every year, Mann selects another local Eastern Anglic charity organization to support them. In 2025, Histon Manor collected more than £ 12,000 for a break, a charity organization that works with young people who leaves the care system in Cambridgeshire. “We have set ourselves a goal for the year and then make all kinds of madness all year round to collect donations,” she explains. “I assume there is a tripartite way to look at it: we sharpen a charity that does not necessarily have a national brand, collect donations, and then it is pretty much everything we do, lots of fun in the community.”
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In recent times, someone in the garden – complete with a violinist and a flower arch – suggested breaking for a donation of £ 200.
Mann used local craftsmen and lived in the house during the renovation. Histon Manor was “re -wired, reduced, all woodwork sprayed and worked with listed buildings and nature conservation,” she says.
“We also restored the gardens in a much more formal state and revised one of the walled gardens. We moved the kitchen to the main attorney, which would once have been a billiard room, a pantry in the north was converted into a small library and a second kitchen. The dining room is used as a meeting room. You can use the entire ground floor that has a completely different feeling and a completely different mood than a hotel, and it is not very pushy for me. “
The kitchen with a slim island and a cozy seating pillar
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
The elegant dining room serves as a meeting room
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
Today Histon Manor is less about isolation, more about integration. Man was a co-founder of an Education Media company 18 years ago, but sold it last autumn. “Since then I have focused on getting the house a little income so that we can develop the gardens. I like to be busy, I like to work full -time. I have three children – two daughters, Zara and Charlotte, currently at the university, and my son Theo lives at home with us.
“We limit the weddings to five a year. We offer dry rentals [ie hiring of the grounds to put up a marquee, from £5,495]; Everyone who has a wedding here has to have a planner, “she explains and notices that they are booked in 2026.” The income of weddings goes back to the premises. It costs more than £ 30,000 to manage the gardens every year – we underestimated how much work they would be. We have an excellent gardener who comes one day a week and another gardener in summer. “
The living room with vintage seating, a curved sofa and statement pink Ottoman
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
The couple is enthusiastic renovators and has changed six houses over the years, but the manor house was by far their biggest project. His width caused men to use their local auctionators in Cambridge, Cheffins, to enable the property affordable with eight bedrooms. “I had a lot of fun – we obviously had rooms for which we didn't have enough furniture. So at this stage I was able to buy everything and find a place for it. In each room there are four or five pieces of Cheffins, mainly from the interior sale, not from fine sale, for example beautiful gilded mirrors and coffee tables, which I bought for £ 60.”
The finished result fits its magnificent Georgian architecture: Chic Lack Shades and Hauch of Mann's playful personality are distributed through every room -from the artificial zebra heads of Rockett St. George, which are mounted on the walls, to the Osborne & Little Bird Print Wallpaper and decorative American tin tiles, which are decorated on the walls of their home offices. Histon Manor's recent side employment is location shots – it is listed with agencies such as locations on the east coast and was used by people such as the Diamond Store and the BBC for interview backgrounds. Man says: “I don't think I'll do the next one Downton AbbeyBut I like to be after a few more local shootings. People really respect the house. “
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Bird printing wallpaper from Osborne & Little
Chris Radburn for the Sunday Times
Man says: “From a design perspective, there is nothing of a real value in the house. Everything that is bought [by buying at auction] And I have a finish that I know I will not find in another – it's not all John Lewis, Marks & Spencer or Oka. Everyone assumes that an auction house is all brown furniture. We bought several modern, beautiful sofas for around £ 500 – they would have cost around £ 5,000 if they were bought directly from the manufacturer or the shop. ”
As for Histon House in relation to the use of Histon House as a family home and community center? “The girls are pretty much back from the university – they enjoy the drive and find a community choir in the garden – like:” Oh my god, what's going on today? “We only try that the balance works where it is really fun and does not take over, so it doesn't feel like it is not our home.”
Histonmanor.com