All Change at Longleat - First Season

Do you find it weird moving from not being aristocracy to being aristocracy?

Obviously you can stress yourself out with it, if you want to.

But I feel like it's a transitional phase,

so not all of it is going to go smoothly.

Do I have to call you Lady Weymouth now?

Ha-ha! I'll let you off.

Change is coming to Longleat,

the aristocratic house with lions in the back yard.

This national treasure belongs to a lord like no other.

Monogamy wasn't ever going to work for me.

But he has handed control to his son and heir Ceawlin...

Sliding down these was a favourite as a kid.

.. who's moved back in with his new wife.

Sort of a tingling feeling because it doesn't really feel real.

They are nobility, they own this joint.

They are of a standing and a breeding in society.

Grand houses like this aren't easy to manage.

Stop! - Steady, steady, steady.

Hundreds of people now depend on them.

Many of you will notice a lot of changes this year.

I wouldn't say Ceawlin got off to the best start ever.

And having two lords under one roof creates its own tensions.

They live in separate parts of the house so they do like to live reasonably separate lives.

I try not to do anything to irritate him.

Now they must try to make a home in this most extraordinary of houses.

He's inherited a massive responsibility and a huge amount of history.

We have to just not be scared to use it.

There's no point in having anything if you don't enjoy it.

We haven't done this before.

Sunday morning in June.

Visitors make their way towards Longleat,

one of the finest private estates in the country.

The grounds are filled with wild animals from around the world.

The house was built in 1580

and it's been owned by the same aristocratic family for 14 generations.

Hi, good morning! Do you have anything booked online?

Yeah? And your reference?

Do people ask about the Marquess of Bath?

They do, they say, "Is he in?" I say,

"Yeah, you go down for a cup of tea then! In the front door!"

Much of the house is now shared with the general public.

- Good morning. - Good morning!

But the Marquess of Bath himself is still very much in residence.

BELL RINGS

He's on the top floor

in a self-contained apartment with its own front door and a butler.

BARKING - Good morning, Lord Bath.

Good morning.

Good morning, how are you?

- I am well. - What have you been up to this morning?

Um, just working through some of the things I can find on the desk.

This desk is a bit of a challenge, is it not?

The filing system is urgency there,

um, long-term storage there.

- OK. - Or longer term.

Right, OK.

Lord Bath lives alone. He has an open marriage and his wife,

Lady Bath, divides her time between Longleat and a house in France.

Trudy is a long-time wifelet...

Come on, Douglas.

.. who visits Lord Bath when his wife's not there.

You still enjoy the company of women?

Yes, I do.

As you'd expect. I'm not older than....

A discard on the shelf yet.

At 82, Lord Bath is winding down his activities.

He has handed the running of his estate to his son Ceawlin.

I'm really content to just sort of think, "I'm now in retirement."

My hand is still on the tiller, but only...

in a...

A safety valve sort of way.

Ceawlin lives on the floor below, in a separate flat of his own.

Hello. - Morning. - Good morning.

Carlos is the housekeeper.

This flat is where Ceawlin grew up.

Now it is home to him and his new wife Emma.

Ha-ha! Hello.

- How are you? - Good. How are you? - Nice to see you. Fine.

Hello. Ready.

- Ceawlin joining us? - Yeah, yeah, he's just putting his belt on.

Now in control, the couple can put their own stamp on the house.

Going forward, I want to do more events here.

You know, we used to have concerts here,

The Rolling Stones played here once. You know, we used to have

a sort of last night of the Proms thing here.

And I'd like to do more charity events, more art events

and concerts, I think that would be fun.

Today the couple are hosting a party for the Rainbow Trust,

one of their charities, down in the public gardens.

Oh, sounds like they're having fun.

- You are sort of living within a tourist attraction. - Yeah.

Completely. Living in a...

Theme park. Ha-ha-ha!

Which is great.

It's a dream, isn't it? Living with all these fun things to go and do,

right outside the door.

Ceawlin is the heir to this £190 million estate.

Hi, there. - Morning. - How are you?

- All right, how are you? - Good, thanks.

Nice to see you.

Hi, there. How are you?

- So, Sunday. Shouldn't you be...? - Watching telly.

Asleep!

- Reading the papers. - Yeah.

Well, we've done a bit of that

and...

Now it's the Rainbow Trust event.

They do early tours, don't they?

I mean, people are, literally,

passing by your front door, aren't they?

Mm. Every day.

You get used to it.

As well as the estate, Ceawlin inherits a title.

He and Emma are Lord and Lady Weymouth...

.. but they've asked their staff to drop the traditional formalities.

Lord Bath is Lord Bath, so he is My Lord.

- How do you feel about that? - I feel fine, absolutely fine.

- Does he like it? - I think so.

It's all part of the house.

And it's, obviously with the new generation, with Ceawlin and Emma,

they like to be called by their first names

and that equally is as comfortable to me.

In formal situations, I will use their titles.

Jeff is the house steward,

in charge of protecting the house and maintaining its contents.

I'm just going to go into the private side now and just check the private side of the house.

There's no-one home anyway.

Just to make sure everything's where it should be.

He's a regular visitor to the family's private apartments.

Lady Bath and Lord Bath.

Lord Bath has made Longleat House quite unique

for his colourful character and his lifestyle.

- Do you get to see him much? - Yeah, I see him every day, every other day.

Does he come down to supper?

Sometimes he comes down, depending on who's home. He will come down for lunch and dinner,

depending on who's home.

Depending on who's home? - Yes.

- What does that mean? - I can't possibly tell you.

OK.

Although Lord Bath is open about his wifelets,

Jeff is used to being discreet.

Sorry, have I hit a problem?

No, no, not at all. I just can't discuss Lady Bath

and it is Lady Bath who will affect where he is.

Every family have things that go on

in their lives that they like to keep private.

So, just being up to make a judgement call on things

that do happen in the house from time to time,

and ensure that it is dealt with appropriately and discreetly

and the people that need to know know,

and the people that don't need to know definitely don't find out.

Early Monday morning

and the residents of Longleat are already up.

House steward Jeff is heading in from his cottage on the estate

to open up for today's visitors.

Morning. - Morning. - You OK?

BARKING

- Bye! - Bye, darling. See you later. - Have a good day.

Bye, Monkey, see you later.

- See ya. - Bye!

Ceawlin's now responsible for a workforce of more than 400 people.

This house has been in my family now for nearly 400 years

and you do feel this responsibility on one...

to keep it going, to preserve it.

It was Ceawlin's grandfather who started the safari park.

It was the only way he could afford the upkeep of the fragile old building and its priceless art.

Although I'm fairly comfortably off in money ways,

I would certainly not have had enough money to keep the house up.

His lions became famous...

.. and soon the park was paying for the house.

But running the estate was a full-time occupation,

which he hoped his descendants would carry on.

You were close to your grandfather?

Yeah. I used to... I used to work for him.

Um, so, uh, I think that the rate of pay was £1.20 an hour.

The one experience that really stands out,

there was a tree that had ivy all over it.

My job was to get this ivy off the tree.

And it was a day not too dissimilar to this one,

it was a hot, sunny day.

And for a period I was just pulling it with one arm

and he had been parked in his Subaru

just behind the church wall, watching me,

and, uh, he crept up behind me, I had no idea he was there.

And then said, "Use both fucking hands, you lazy little cunt!"

I don't know if you can show this or not!

Anyway. Um, I learned never to be at risk of looking lazy

in front of him again.

He wanted you to have a work ethic.

Yeah, he wanted me to have a work ethic, absolutely.

These days there are many new animals,

but the famous lions remain a draw.

And one of the most popular characters in the park

dates back to Ceawlin's grandfather's time.

Now, Nico is a western lowland silverback gorilla.

He's a very special gorilla indeed.

He's got an outdoor heated veranda, he's got a fully heated house.

At 53, Nico is believed to be the second oldest male gorilla in the world.

Whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner,

he does like a mango fruit yoghurt.