Mary Berry's Country House Secrets

(gentle music) - Britain is world-famous for its stately homes, and when it comes to food, our country houses were the taste-makers.

Curry and cockles, that's an absolute first for me!

In this series, we'll sample delicious dishes- - They look wonderful, Mary.

- [Mary] And enjoy the lavish hospitality that these homes were celebrated for.

- You look absolutely stunning.

- [Mary] I'll show you how to cook tasty modern recipes, inspired by the history of our great houses.

- This is actually Napoleon's chair from Waterloo.

- Mind you, I could do with a cushion.

Join me as I meet the families who own these exceptional homes.

- The best thing about the staircase, obviously, is going down on a tray or on your bottom.

(Mary gasps) - And find out what it's really like to live- That looks quite saucy!

Work- Oh, it's very like cutting a hedge.

- I think you're better at baking!

(sheep bleats) - And party in the nation's most beautiful stately homes.

- I'm not gonna drop it!

- So many layers!

- This week, I'm visiting Goodwood, home to a unique family of innovators in sport and farming.

Hello, my little beauty.

And I'll be baking for a classic English cricket tea at one of the oldest cricket clubs in the world.

Do you like strawberries?

- Yes.

- There we are.

This is your invitation to dine at some of Britain's grandest tables, in some of the most beautiful houses in the land.

(gentle music) I'm on my way to Goodwood House in West Sussex, home to the Dukes of Richmond since 1697.

The Earl of March and Kinrara, Lord March himself, is here to meet me.

- Mary, hi.

- Lord March.

- Hi, lovely to see you.

Welcome to Goodwood.

It's great to have you here.

- Thank you.

- What a grand car!

- Oh, it's lovely, isn't it?

- Rolls-Royce, no less!

- Well, they're all made at Goodwood, the Rolls factory is at Goodwood, so, yeah, I thought you'd better be picked up in one.

- Good gracious, and it's so shiny, too!

Sheer luxury.

Lord March took over the running of Goodwood from his father, the 10th Duke of Richmond, in 1994, after a career as an advertising photographer.

You've taken on a great legacy, but how did it all start at Goodwood?

- Well, Mary, the first Duke was the illegitimate son of Charles II, and he bought a house here in 1697, and he bought it for the hunting.

- [Mary] Set in 12,000 acres, Goodwood occupies a magical position against a backdrop of the Sussex Downs.

Just look at that.

Isn't that amazing?

- It's a great house for entertaining.

It's got these two very big wings, which you can see, one of them we're facing, and the private, the private wing's over to the left, but it was, of course, built to entertain.

(gentle music) - [Mary] The original house has been added to by successive Dukes, and for 300 years, it's been the family's primary residence.

- Here we are, Mary.

Welcome.

- Hard to think that this was a hunting lodge.

- Well, the hunting lodge was sort of, was sort of in the middle.

- So, the first duke was descended from royalty?

- He was, and he had many privileges, too, being the King's son.

He had a fantastic allowance, which enabled him to do much of this.

- With its distinctive copper domes and flint walls clad in scented magnolia, Goodwood House has splendid state rooms, but it's also the family's home, where Lord March lives with his wife and their children.

It must be really difficult to keep something of such magnitude going.

It must be very expensive.

- Well, it certainly, it requires quite a bit of effort, for sure, but we're very lucky, we've got all these activities, all these sports.

- Lord March and his family come from a long line of innovators.

For the last 350 years, they've made their mark on everything, from horse racing to cricket, motor sports and farming, and I'm here to discover how their pioneering history has shaped Goodwood as it is today.

- We've got a very big thing going on down at the motor circuit which I've got to disappear to in a mo, so I've asked Monty to come and look after you.

- [Monty] Hello, Mary, good to see you.

- Nice to be here.

- Welcome to Goodwood.

- Great, Mary, so I'll catch up with you later at our big party tonight.

- Thank you very much.

- Fantastic, I hope you have a good afternoon.

- Come on through.

- Thank you.

My visit coincides with a banquet tonight in honor of the start of the motor racing season, and it will end with a cricket match, naturally accompanied by a sumptuous cricket tea.

Thank you so much.

You know, I could get used to this!

- I'm sure you could.

- Do tell me, what are the main duties of a butler here?

- Well, the main duty for me is to look after Lord March and the family.

That's why they employ me.

I'm here to make sure that their life runs smoothly.

The other side is to make sure that all the guests that he invites, they have a great time when they come and stay with us.

I know it can be really intimidating, coming to a house like this, and being invited- - I can tell you, coming up those steps, and you come into here, with all these wonderful pictures, you need a little bit of comfort behind you.

- You do.

- These pictures that I'm looking at all seem to have horses in them.

- I'll just put my glasses on and I'll explain to you a little bit.

Whilst I've been here, I've had to learn a little bit of the history of the house.

- Right.

- Because, invariably, Lord March is late.

- Is he?

- Yes, so- - He's got a lot on his plate, and no wonder.

- He has.

He certainly has.

So I thought it would be poignant if I learnt a little bit about the house, and then I can tell the people while they're waiting.

So, they're all by the master painter, Stubbs.

These three paintings were commissioned by the third Duke, who'd met Stubbs in London and invited him up to stay at Goodwood, and he actually stayed here for nine months.

"The Charlton Hunt", which is the first one that he painted, which was a little village just over the back of the racecourse, and anybody who was anybody in society went to that hunt.

And all the hounds there, there's ten pairs of hounds, and if you were here in 1759, you'd be able to recognize every hound.

He painted it individually.

- Did he?

- Yeah.

- [Mary] Well, he obviously loved animals, horses, mainly, but dogs as well.

- [Monty] Yeah.

- Now, there's one thing that I want to see.

There's a banquet tonight, and I want to know what's going on.

- Right, let's go this way, then.

Follow me, Mary.

- [Mary] I love a party, and so I'm delighted that on my first evening here, Lord March is throwing a dinner for 300 of his motor-racing chums.

- Just watch your forks there.

We just want to reverse them slightly.

It looks fabulous.

- Thank you.

- It looks great.

Well done.

- The dinner's a bit bigger than I'm used to hosting, but I imagine, if you've got 48 staff beavering away behind the scenes, it's no problem.

Good gracious, that looks like real, wait a minute.

Real, it is real grass!

- It is real grass.

- Straight on the table, or a little bit of plastic underneath?

- A little bit of plastic underneath to protect the tablecloth, but hopefully we can recycle that and put it back in the ground.

- It's so original.

How on earth do you work out where everybody's going to sit?

- Well, that's a good question.

And the person who sorts that out is young Jo here.

Let's go and meet her.

- What a task you've got.

- It is.

- How do you do it?

- Well, Lord March does all the table plans himself.

- What, for 300 people?

- Yep.

- [Mary] So, do you know where I'm sitting?

- [Jo] You're just down here, next to Lord March.

- Next to Lord March?

- Next to Lord March.

- Oh, I'd better mug up on my racing.

Now, I'd like to see the kitchens.

Do you think they're quite ready?

Just a few steps from the grandeur of the dining room, the chef in charge of tonight's menu, Mike Watts, and his team are hard at work.

What are we having tonight?

- So, we've got some mackerel, which is great, down from the south coast of England.

And then, for the main, we've got some pork belly, which is from our own farm, which is very nice.

- So, the pork belly, is that, is it very slowly cooked?

- We cook the pork belly for about 24 hours overnight.

A bit of crackling, some black pudding, some apple sauce, very classic.

- And what about the pud?

- And then the pudding is a chocolate marquise, which has got some pear running through it, a little almond paste on the bottom, and then that's going to be served with a poached pear and a salted caramel, kind of, mousse.

- [Mary] I think everyone's going to be chuffed to bits with all of that.

- Fingers crossed.

- [Mary] Mike's clever to have chosen a cold first course.

It's a trick I always use at home.

It means you can spend more time with your guests.

- Right, come on in.

I'll get in behind you.

- [Mary] I've been promised I can try my hand in one of the house's three kitchens, and Monty is taking me down to his domain in a lift that has linked the main house with the servants' quarters for almost 90 years.

This is a very grand lift, and beautifully polished.

- Here we are, Mary.

Out we go.

- Right.

- Just this way.

- This is your butler's pantry.

It feels really cozy in here.

- It is lovely and cozy, and I knew you'd like to cook, so here we are, the ideal place to come and cook.

- Do you know, I can't wait to get going.

Inspired by tonight's big do, I'm going to show you how to make a cold starter of smoked salmon, asparagus and quails' eggs, which is one of the quickest ideas I know.

First of all, I'm going to cook the asparagus, and I'm going to do the eggs in the same pan so I cut down on the washing up.

So, this asparagus, I want it in slightly shorter pieces, and I want it all tender, so you can eat the whole thing, so I'm just going to break these off.

I can hear that coming to the boil, so I better be quick.

In it goes, in one go.

I'm going to put just a little salt in there, too.

That's it.

They only need a couple of minutes to soften.

And look what a wonderful bright green those are.

Then run under cold water to keep that vibrant color.

I'm boiling the quails' eggs using the same water for just two minutes so the yolks stays soft.

Now I'm going to make the dressing, and the dressing is very easy, but it's very piquant.

First of all, I'm going to have some lemon juice.

The dressing really makes it.

In go pepper and salt, lemon juice, light muscovado sugar, Dijon mustard and oil.

What's lacking is the tarragon, so let's pop that to one side, and I expect I shall be using about three sprigs, like that.

Finely chop, and in it goes.

Remove the shells when the eggs are still warm.

It's much easier.

Roll them with your hand, like that.

And you can feel the little crack.

And then just get your nail underneath.

Gently pinch it to start.

Now, look, that comes off like a dream.

I've got some lovely, beautiful smoked salmon here, and rather than putting it on flat on the plate, which is boring, I'm going to put it just like that.

So that's the start.

Now bring it all together.

Finish the whole thing off with a drizzle of that flavorsome dressing and a sprinkle of celery salt.

So, there you have it, a very elegant way of having smoked salmon.

Fit for a country house.

(upbeat music) (orchestral music) Since the 18th century, the magnificent staterooms at Goodwood have been the scene of some glittering entertaining.

Before dinner begins, I sneak off for a moment to look at some of Goodwood's treasures.

- Hello, Mary.

Are you enjoying our Canalettos?

- I am indeed.

- I'm James Peill, I'm the curator here.

- Hello.

- Lovely to meet you.

They're our best work of art, so you picked a good spot to stop.

Now, I've got something I want to show you.

- Right.

- Which has a vague relation to food.

Let me show you quite an interesting piece of furniture that we've got in the house.

- [Mary] How old is it, whatever it is?

- It's probably from the Regency period, but any ideas what it is?

- Well, I see weights there, so I imagine that somebody would sit there and you'd put the weights there and add until you got to the actual weight of the person.

I'm not sure.

- Exactly, yeah, no, it's a weighing chair, and if you were a guest here, you'd actually have your weight recorded.

This is one of the more famous guests that used to stay here, the Prince of Wales, future Edward VII.

- [Mary] Only, just 12st 6?

- 12st 6, so this was in his youth.

- Very creditable.

- Yes.

- Now, tell me, does this happen at other great houses?

- Yes, there obviously was a tradition of weighing, a bit like people signing the visitors' book.

They had fun just weighing each other.

- I think I'd rather sign the visitors' book!

- [Lord March] Hi, Mary, hi.

I'm so sorry I abandoned you.

- [Mary] That's all right.

- Have you been all right?

Has he been looking after you?

- He has indeed.

Have you had the opportunity to be weighed yet?

- My weight is between me and my maker, and there's no way I'm going on that.

- Quite right, we've all avoided it for years.

Anyway, the party beckons.

We need to go through.

- I'm ready.

- Can I grab you?

- I'll take my drink.

- Okay.

- Thank you.

- Come with me.

- [James] See you later.

(orchestral music) (people chattering) - [Mary] I don't know much about motor racing, but there are some famous faces here, and even I recognize David Coulthard on the table next to me.

And you love entertaining?

- Entertaining's always been a hugely important part of what goes on here at Goodwood, and perhaps the most famous party of all was given by the fourth Duchess, actually in Brussels, not here, because they had a house in Brussels at the time, and it was just before Waterloo.

And they knew Napoleon was on his way, and it was actually during this famous party that the messenger arrived and gave them the news that Napoleon had crossed the border, and the officers then left their wives- - In all their kit?

- They were in their party clothes, and they left, and they fought Quatre Bras that night in their tail coats and their dancing shoes, and they went straight on and fought Waterloo the following night.

And many of them were found dead on the battlefields, still wearing their white tie.

Then, in appreciation of that, amazingly, Wellington then gave the family Napoleon's campaign chair, which actually I still sit in.

- You've got it here?

- [Lord March] I've got it here, yeah.

No, we're very lucky.

- Promise me I can go and have a look.

- You can have a look, you can have a sit in it.

- Oh, good!

(gentle music) With a day at the motor circuit ahead, Lord March always starts with a good breakfast, and I've got just the thing.

My race day breakfast is a savory feast of mushrooms and tomatoes topped with a Welsh rarebit, made from the estate's own cheese.

I've got four mushrooms here.

A little butter in the pan first, to melt.

That's it.

So, I'm just going to rub those round, to see that they're really covered in butter all the way round.

- They've always had big breakfasts here at Goodwood, and way back into the Edwardian house party.

In fact, I've got a quote from one of the guests about what they ate at breakfast.

And it was, "Tea and coffee, bacon, grilled kidneys on toast, fish, kedgeree, eggs of all sorts, poached, boiled, scrambled and fried, and done up in every way.

For those who preferred a solid and appetizing second course."

- Good gracious!

- "There were deviled bones."

- Deviled bones?

Could you please tell me what deviled bones- - I have not got a clue what deviled bones are.

- So, you can see that just a little bit of juice is coming out from them, so that's the time to lift them out.

And again, knowing that you're very busy here, you can do this amount all ahead and just assemble it at the end.

In the same pan, fry the tomatoes a minute on each side.

Then whisk two eggs, adding Dijon mustard and a splash of Worcester sauce.

Add 100g of cheese, and mix.

Now we can assemble it.

First of all, start off with the mushrooms, like this.

On top of each mushroom, place the fried tomato slice, then a generous spoonful of the cheese mixture.

There we go, all done.

- Looks an absolute treat.

- So, that'll be absolutely delicious and not too heavy, and you won't need any of those deviled bones afterwards.

- We certainly won't.

- [Mary] To finish off, grill for 6-8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and lightly golden.

- [Monty] There we go, Mary.

They look a treat.

- Don't they just!

- There we go.

- Right, so I'll start plating up.

- Oh, I'll just get my cuffs down, ready for serving.

That's lovely.

Look at that, then!

Perfect.

Right, now, that plate's very hot.

- [Monty] Okay.

- So, how long will it take you to get up those stairs?

- Just a couple of minutes.

- Well, off you go.

I might say, I like the idea of having a butler.

He's very efficient, and I know he'll do it well.

- [Monty] Good morning, my lord.

One racing breakfast.

- Ah, Monty, fantastic.

- There we go.

- Thanks a lot, it looks delicious.

- [Mary] I do hope it's going down well with Lord March.

I'm going up to join him in the family dining room, which gives me a chance to use this fabulous lift again.

- Mary, hi.

Lovely to see you.

That was absolutely fantastic.

- Come and, come and sit down.

- Has it built you up for the day?

- Delicious.

God, it certainly has, I've eaten far too much!

- Monty's been telling me about the Edwardian breakfasts that seemed to go on forever, for Glorious Goodwood, but now you have many more sporting events.

- We do, yes.

I mean, Goodwood's very unusual.

We have all these sports that have been going on here for over 300 years.

Various members of the family have been kind of developing their own passions, and those passions turned into these great sports we have here.

Horse racing, motor racing, golf, flying, shooting and cricket is our kind of mantra.

- Is that all?

And golf is not your favorite sport?

- That's very unkind!

- Come on, come on.

But the motor racing is, isn't it?

- Well, cars, I've always loved.

My grandfather built the racetrack here after the war, and it became, you know, a big, big event each year over Easter.

And he sadly closed that in '66, much to my fury as a small boy.

Well, let me just show you, it was an amazing, I wish I'd been there, sadly I wasn't.

So, that's my grandfather there, at the very first Goodwood meeting, September 18th, 1948.

- Oh, look at them, they look like little toy cars.

- Yeah, these are little 500cc.

That was like the first car Stirling Moss ever drove.

In fact, Stirling won that actual race.

It was his very first motor race ever, and he won it here in one of those little cars.

It was pretty hairy stuff, you can see the crowd are incredibly close.

- [Mary] And there's, sort of, no bales of straw or anything to stop them hitting the crowd.

- My grandfather was a good artist.

He loved drawing little things in his albums and his books.

Let me just show you these.

These are rather, these are rather charming.

- [Mary] Oh, yes, all black-and-white, of course.

- You know, he left Oxford early, and much to his parents' horror, he started racing fairly seriously.

And this, this is a really, some of these are really charming.

This is one of my favorite pictures of him.

He was about nine here.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah?

And he was mad about flying.

You can see he's built himself a little airplane out of boxes.

And he's sitting in it, pretending he's flying.

- How lovely.

- Charming.

- [Mary] And also, in his own handwriting here.

That's lovely.

- So, he was a very good designer, too.

This was a Wolseley Hornet he designed.

Perhaps the nicest car he designed.

I've actually got one of those.

It's an AC, a 1930s AC, lovely thing, and I hope that I might be able to take you for a ride in it later.

- That would be most exciting!

Gracious, thank you.

(upbeat music) (engines roaring) Just a mile and a half away lies the motor racing circuit.

Thanks to the vision of Lord March's grandfather, it became one of the world's most popular racetracks.

Jackie Stewart, Graham Hill and Jack Brabham have competed here.

Since 1998, when Lord March restored the circuit, people have come in their droves to celebrate the golden age of British motor racing.

This weekend is the annual members' meeting, where the Goodwood Road Racing Club get together to share their passion for motorsport.

(engine roars) - [Lord March] So, I'm gonna pop you in this lovely old AC of my grandfather's.

- Oh, isn't that fantastic?

- It's lovely, isn't it?

It's a 1934 AC that he designed.

So, come in, pop in here.

In you go.

- Wow!

I think I'll ditch that.

I'm gonna take the roof off in a second, I think, so if you've got a scarf, that might be good.

- I have.

Just room for one!

- It's quite a squeeze.

- A little one.

Thanks.

- So, find the keys now.

- I feel a bit like the Queen with her scarf, when she's dressy.

I haven't worn one of these for years.

There we are.

Do I have a prayer here?

- Yeah, we hope it goes.

(engine purrs) - You just sort of tickle it a little bit and it goes.

- Yeah.

(engine roars) - Oh, that roar is lovely, isn't it?

Great.

There we are, we're off!

(upbeat music) And there we are, up there, look.

- There we are.

(engine roars) (jazz music) - The big cars, they're doing, they're doing 100-and-something through here.

And I'll show you in a minute, on the main straight, they're doing, like, 170.

- I'd rather not.

- You can have a go if you want.

- Lord March has brought motor racing back to life at Goodwood, and two events - the Festival of Speed, and the Goodwood Revival - are now an essential part of the motorsport calendar.

I think many people would like a lap at Goodwood.

- Well, we survived.

That was fantastic.

- Survived!

It's one of the most exciting moments I've had.

- Good, no, it was fun.

- Wait till I tell the grandchildren.

A lap at Goodwood!

(gentle music) I've heard lots about the innovative Dukes of Richmond.

What about the women of Goodwood?

I'm about to meet Lord March's sister, Nimmy, or to give her proper title, Lady Naomi Gordon-Lennox.

- Oh, Mary, how lovely to see you.

- Lovely to see you.

Nimmy, is that right?

- Nimmy, that's right, yes.

And I hear you've been having a bit of a speedy time, so I've brought a slightly quieter, slower vehicle to show you around our home.

- I've been with your brother, and he's been telling me how the Dukes made their mark here.

But, I have to say that the women, too, found all sorts of innovative and creative ways to amuse themselves.

And I am going to take you on a little mystery tour, and show you some of the secret places that the public don't get to see.

- Oh, that's right up my street.

Were you brought up here?

- Well, we moved from the Midlands when I was seven years old.

But Mum and Dad adopted myself and my older sister, Maria, in the late '50s, early '60s.

- Gosh, that must've been, caused a bit of a stir.

- Extraordinary.

My understanding is that my mother was once told that she was sullying the British aristocracy by adopting black children.

But I think that they felt really strongly that they wanted to share their good fortune, and if they were going to do that, then they wanted to adopt children who stood less chance of being adopted.

- [Mary] And what about your education?

- Ah, well, that's interesting, because when I went to my secondary school, children used to really enjoy calling me a bastard, and I told my father about this story, and he said, "Oh, darling, don't you worry.

If they ever say something like that to you again, you just tell them that the whole family is descended from a long line of right royal bastards."

(people laughing) - The teachers would have loved that.

- Yes, absolutely.

So, here we are.

- [Mary] This is one of your secret places?

- Yes, secret, secret.

So, if you'd like to come down here?

That's it.

And it's a shell house.

It was decorated by the second Duchess and two of her daughters in the 1740s.

- And here it is tucked in the corner here?

- Yes.

Here we go.

- Goodness gracious!

That is quite magical.

All shells from all over.

And in an amazing shapes and patterns.

(gentle music) There are clams, limpets.

- Yes, yes.

- Winkles.

Mussel over there.

- Uh-huh.

- But there are a few very huge, exotic ones.

- Yes, and those were collected by friendly sea captains who used to bring back shells for the Duchess and her daughters to do this.

- Around half a million shells were used to create this exquisite shell house, some from the South Seas and some from nearby Sussex beaches.

The workmanship is so perfect, it's thought that professional craftsmen had a hand in the most intricate shell work.

Can you imagine what the floor might be made of?

- [Mary] Well, it looks like marble.

- [Nimmy] Well, it's not.

It's horses' teeth.

And it- - I mean- No.

- Yes, horses' teeth.

- Do you know, it's rather strange to be standing on horses' teeth.

They must be back teeth, and you've sort of got shards of them.

- [Nimmy] Yes.

- [Mary] And they're absolutely flat.

- And the lovely thing is that, if we look over here, you can see that they put their initials, so you have SR, Sarah Richmond, and then you have Emily here, Kildare, her married name.

And then over here, we've got Caroline, and there is Charles Richmond.

- They're very intricate and very tiny.

It's sort of a bit like hunt the thimble to find the initials, but you've found them.

- It is, absolutely.

Speaking of innovative women, I would really love to take you to meet my mum, who is the current Duchess of Richmond, as you know.

I know she's looking forward to meeting you for tea.

- Well, she's the same era as me, but I ought to do a bit of baking before we go.

I'll take something with me.

If I'm having tea with the Duchess, who better to help me than Nimmy?

We've decided to make a tea loaf, flavored with the Duchess' favorite tea, Earl Grey.

So, here I've got 175g of currants.

- Mm-hmm.

- So, in they go.

Really, you could use mixed fruit, but I quite like to put quite a lot of sultanas in, too, so that's another 175 going in there.

And then you just simply pour the tea over the top and let it soak overnight.

That's it.

- Lovely.

- So I'll, I'll pop this at the back.

So, this has been soaking overnight.

Now, that's really plumped up.

- [Nimmy] Gosh, look at that.

Juicy.

- Especially if you make it, sort of, mid-summer, and you had fruit you'd bought in for Christmas cake, you know, it gets a bit dry, so it's very good for plumping it up.

To make the batter, add 275g of self-raising flour, and there's no need to sieve.

In goes 225g of light muscovado sugar and one large egg.

And then it's a matter of just mixing this together, and it's easier to do it by hand, because you can't use a mixing machine with all that fruit.

Transfer the mixture into a greased and lined two-pound loaf tin.

And then I'm just gonna shake that for a level.

- Mm-hmm.

- Now, can you go and pop that in the oven for me?

- [Nimmy] Absolutely.

It'll be a pleasure.

That goes in at 150 fan for about an hour and three quarters.

- So, I've popped it in the oven and I've brought some photographs.

- Oh, good, let's have a look.

- That I thought I might show you, of how it was.

Here we've got, this is a picture of me with my brother, Charles.

That's the present Lord March?

- That's correct, yes.

- He was a nice little chap, wasn't he?

- He was, he was such a lovely, well, he still is a lovely brother.

And there's my younger sister, Louisa, who's five years younger than me.

And there we are, rocking in front of the house.

- What are your memories when you were young with your mother?

Well, I don't know whether it was an instinct, but she was already by that time wanting to use organic and healthy and as unadulterated, the food needed to be as unadulterated as possible.

I realized that, if it weren't for the organic seed that she planted, then we wouldn't have this beautiful farm that we have at Goodwood.

- And this is Mum?

Right.

- That's my mother.

- [Mary] Lovely.

- [Nimmy] She was also very stylish.

That's my dad.

Oh, it smells wonderful.

There we are.

- Right, I'll pop that on top.

- [Nimmy] Ah!

- [Mary] One, two, three.

- [Nimmy] Hooray!

- I'm going to just tip it.

- [Nimmy] Okay.

- It's still quite warm, obviously.

That's it.

There we go.

So, there's no chance, you're not gonna have any now.

We've got to let that get cold and then it needs cutting, and lots of unsalted butter on it.

- [Nimmy] Oh, lovely.

I know Mum will love it.

- She and her husband, the 10th Duke, now live in the dower house on the estate, but I'm lucky enough to be having tea with the Duchess in the magnificent library at Goodwood, which for centuries the family has used as their drawing room.

- If you'd like to just come through here.

Ah, Monty, wonderful.

Mary has something for you.

- Can I leave that with you?

- You certainly can.

Lovely.

- Thank you.

I'd love to introduce you to my mother.

Mummy, Mary Berry needs no introduction.

- How lovely to see you.

- Super thrilled.

- I'm thrilled to be here.

- Come and sit down.

- Gosh, that looks quite high up with my short legs.

- Well, I think it'll give way.

(people laughing) - Wow!

Oh, talk about sinking into it.

Lovely.

- It's getting out of it that's the problem.

- I'm going to leave you fine women to get on with it.

I'll see you later, okay?

- Oh, Monty, that looks really nice.

It looks wonderful.

- Have a taste of the loaf and see what you think.

- We must taste that.

Mm.

Really delicious.

- So, this room is so beautiful.

Is it exactly the same as when you lived here?

- Yes, pretty much.

And it's, it's a very favorite room.

Strangely, used to do yoga once.

We had a yoga class here, when I was here.

- So, push back the sofas?

- We used to lay on the floor, yes, and then look at the pictures, so I got to know them all quite well.

It's quite a good way of studying them.

- So, when you and your husband arrived, what sort of state was the house in?

- Well, it hadn't been lived in for 12 years, so it was fairly dilapidated.

Everything had been stuffed in cupboards in any order, so I would open a cupboard door and find a blanket, cups and saucers, saucepans, a mixture of everything.

- How very daunting.

- It was very daunting.

I ended up having nightmares about cupboards opening and things falling out.

But the serious things, like the roof and the wiring and the water pipes, all those things had to be renewed.

- Nimmy was saying that the farm, it is you that started it to be organic, and that was well before any of us thought about it.

- Yes, well, it was something I got very interested in.

I read a book called "Silent Spring", by Rachel Carson, which has become a very famous book, saying how we were depleting the land and how desperately important it was we kept feeding the land and didn't just put fertilizers on it.

And I decided that it would be the way I would go in my garden, so I started my garden like that.

And then, gradually, and then I heard of the Soil Association, and joined that, fairly early on in its history.

- I would love to see the farm at some point, if I may.

- Well, I'm sure we can arrange that.

I do have some rather pretty bantams.

I don't know whether you'd like to come and see them first?

- I'd like to come right now.

Is that possible?

- Yes, that's possible.

- Okay.

- Let's go.

- [Mary] My family kept chickens when I was young, so I'm looking forward to seeing the Duchess's.

They're clearly her pride and joy.

- [Duchess] Come and we'll see whether they've laid any eggs today.

- [Mary] It's a positive palace for them.

- [Duchess] Well, it's lovely, isn't it?

I think they might be a little bit spoiled.

- [Mary] They've got sort of feathered feet.

- Yes, they have, very feathered feet and they don't like getting them wet.

Well, let's see how many they've laid today.

Oh, we've got five today.

- [Mary] They're very little.

- [Duchess] They are, aren't they?

I reckon they're about two to one hen's egg, so, if you're cooking- - That's very useful, because I plan to make a sponge cake.

And the yolks are a good color, aren't they?

- They're wonderful, the cake will be a really superb color, I can promise you.

- And it will all be for the cricket tea.

- That's a wonderful idea.

Do you think they'll come over?

Where have they gone?

Come on, girls!

Come on!

(Duchess clucks) Come on!

Come on!

Good girls.

Come on.

- I always believed that you can use an egg as soon as it's laid, and the white holds together and you get more volume from it.

- Yes, I think you do.

Is that right, when you want to have a hard-boiled egg, and you want the shell off for a picnic?

- That's another- - That's another story, isn't it?

- [Mary] There we are, shall I just hold that while you open the gate?

- That's lovely.

- I'm really looking forward to seeing the farm.

I've heard so much about it.

The Duchess has arranged for farm manager, Tim Hassell, to show me around the 3,500-acre farm.

It's had organic status since 2004 and now produces award-winning milk, cheese, meat and even beer.

(cow moos) - So, we- - That's a bit of a welcome!

- So, Mary, these are our Sussex cattle.

Born and bred on the farm and only eat the food that we've produced on the farm.

Obviously, all of our grass is organic, but we've got the downs as well, which are natural shortland grasses that have been there for centuries, and that's where the Sussex have been thriving for all those years.

- [Mary] They all look so contented and happy.

- That's how we like to treat our animals from birth to finish, really, it's the quality of their life while we're looking after them that's paramount to what we do.

(piglets grunting) We move our pigs quite often, so the pigs in our system do a very good job of fertilizing and also eating all the weeds and docks and things like that, so we move them from one field to the next on a regular, constant basis.

- [Mary] It's the flock of Southdown sheep which have been here the longest, almost as long as the family themselves.

- [Nick] There you go.

- Hello, my little beauty.

(sheep bleats) Oh, they smell lovely!

Nick Page started as shepherd here when he was just 16.

She's got quite a different little face here.

So, what are you up to with this?

- I'm just getting her ready to take her showing.

We're just teasing the wool out and then, what we'll do is, we'll come along with the shears and we'll take the loose ends off.

- Right, now you've shown me, I'll have a go.

- Yeah.

And hold the shears flush to the sheep, and just take those loose ends off.

- Now, old girl, I'm gonna be very careful, because we've got, I don't want to spoil it.

You don't want a hole in the side, do you?

- Don't take any chunks out.

- You're dead worried I'm going to take a big lump.

I promise you, I'll be very, very careful.

Just along there.

Oh, it's very like cutting a hedge.

- [Nick] I think you're better at baking!

- Now, that's cheeky.

Now, that's cheeky!

I've had more practice at baking.

You've been doing this for, how many years have you been here?

- I can't cook.

- The meat from the farm travels less than a mile to supply Goodwood's four restaurants.

The final piece in the puzzle to achieving that is the on-site butchery, which ensures the quality of the slow-grown livestock down to the final cut.

John Hearn is the master butcher.

I like the red kit.

- Well, it doesn't show the blood as much, you see.

- Oh, don't!

(John laughs) Now, that doesn't sound a very local accent to me?

- [John] No, that's from Wales, South Wales.

- So, what brought you here?

- Got offered a job here and thought, "No, not for me, too far away."

And then I met the Duchess.

I met all the different people on the farm and saw what really went on here.

I couldn't go home.

- And her principles are very high.

- She loves the animals, and in return, they give us what they do.

And it's a chance for us to see the animals being born and being cooked right the way through.

- Income from the farm and the estate's sporting events have enabled Lord March to build on the work his parents started, returning Goodwood House to its former splendor after years of neglect following the Second World War.

I must say, it's wonderful to see the house restored in such style, yet it feels like a home.

Oh, hello, James!

- Hello, Mary.

- What have you got in store for me there?

- Well, now you're in the yellow drawing room.

- It is absolutely amazing, isn't it?

- It's lovely, isn't it?

- Totally yellow, but very subtle.

- Yes.

And we've got a brand-new carpet which we've had delivered literally a few weeks ago, so, you're one of the first people to tread on it.

It's so pretty, but it's, unlike a tapestry, you're sinking into it.

- Well, it's got 32 different colors and it's an exact copy of the original, which you can actually see in this photograph here.

This is the room in 1904 and, as you can see, the arrangement of the furniture was a lot more cluttered then.

Anyway, we're just pausing it here, but the place I really want to show you is the dining room.

- Talk about gilding the lily!

- Well, this is the Egyptian dining room.

And this is the main dining room in the house.

- So, why Egyptian?

- In 1803, when the room was built, the Egyptian style was the most fashionable style.

It all stemmed back to Napoleon going to Egypt, and he took artists with him who recorded what they saw, and everybody in Europe went Egypt crazy.

- In Edwardian times, however, the room was deemed so unfashionable, it was completely dismantled.

It remained a plain classical dining room until almost 100 years later.

Lord March decided to recreate the striking Egyptian scheme.

It is enchanting.

It's quite different to the rest of the house.

- Yes, it is, it's very unusual, and it's also one of the first Egyptian rooms in the country, so it is historically very important as well.

- Talk of Napoleon has reminded me that Lord March promised to show me a unique piece of furniture which is still in use in his private study.

(door knocks) - Come in.

Hello, Mary.

- James said I'd find you in here.

- Great to see you.

Good.

Did you have a good time?

- I've been in the Egyptian dining room and you've restored it recently, and it is quite amazing.

- It's amazing, isn't it?

Yes, all around Napoleon's invasion of Egypt.

And this is Napoleon's chair, actually.

- Well, you told me all about that when we were having dinner.

- Absolutely.

This is his campaign chair from Waterloo.

- That is quite amazing.

And you can see it is well-worn, well-used, well-loved.

- Yeah, many, many family bottoms have been in there.

Have a try.

Everybody does.

- I feel very, I feel very honored.

I'm sure it gives you much inspiration.

Mind you, I could do with a cushion.

It's quite hard.

- It's quite comfy.

It's surprisingly comfy.

Anyway, talking about my inspiration, I've got something I just want to show you.

This is the small library, we call this.

- [Mary] It's better than library steps, isn't it?

The small library was built by the third Duke and its staircase and balcony were much admired and copied.

- We used to tear up and down here as children.

- I can just imagine.

I can imagine things being thrown from above and thrown up.

- Lady Muriel Beckwith wrote this.

She was my great aunt, and she was the grandchild of the sixth Duke, and this is about the sixth Duke.

- So, that's not so long ago?

- Not so long ago, no, absolutely.

And this was about the sixth Duke's famous French chef, Monsieur Rousseau.

And she says here, "I remember him as a sweet old man with a faint French accent, who always wore his cap at a jaunty angle.

His sole Colbert was a thing to dream of," she says.

And then she also wrote this rather marvelous little book about her travels around Europe, cooking.

And it's called "Tell Me Chef".

And I thought it just might be, we just might find something very French and very inspirational, I hope.

- Well, can I borrow it?

- Yes, please, please do.

- Well, I planned to go to the kitchen, and I would love you to be my sous-chef.

- I'm probably not the best person, but our chef, Lee, who's cooked all sorts, he's cooked at Buckingham Palace, all sorts of fantastic places, much better than me, so I think he'd love to help you.

- I think it's a safer bet.

So, can you lead me the way?

- Good plan, yeah.

- I want to cook something smart, but traditional with the family's private chef, Lee Clark.

And I'm hoping Lady Muriel will provide me with inspiration.

- Hi, Mary.

- Hello.

- I'm Lee.

- You must be Lee.

- Yes, good to meet you.

- I've heard so much about you.

- Oh, God!

(laughs) - And you have actually cooked at Buckingham Palace?

- Yes, yeah, 14 years.

- Well, I'm the one that's nervous now.

I've just been looking at the recipe, from Lady Muriel Beckwith, for coq au vin.

- Yeah.

- And I was talking about that with Lord March and it sort of gave me a bit of inspiration that I would like to do my coq au vin.

- [Lee] Okay.

- Coq au vin is the classic French dish.

Rich and warming, it's made with chicken, a hearty red wine, mushrooms and shallots.

What could be better?

So, let's feel, like our grandmothers used to, I can feel that's getting hot.

I'm going to put that down.

A bit of a sizzle.

I can even turn it up higher than that.

And so, when you were cooking for Buckingham Palace, did the Queen ever come down and talk to you and say, "I want this," or "I want that"?

- Not at the Palace, because that's really a working environment for the family.

But when we traveled to Balmoral, she would come down to the kitchen and the Duke of Edinburgh, most evenings, when I was there, would come down, because he'd organize a barbecue.

So, he'd come and talk to the chefs and find out exactly what we've got, whether we've got a saddle of venison or a filet of beef, anything like that, and just create a menu from that.

- Once the chicken is golden, remove it from the pan.

Fry the bacon, then add the mushrooms.

Right, Lee, with a nice big spoon, if you could lift those out, put them on the second plate, and then I'll add those sort of 15 minutes before the end, and I think that will give the best flavor.

Brown the shallots and celery, then add 60g of flour to create a roux.

Pour in the reduced red wine and warmed chicken stock.

Add a small bunch of thyme, and season.

So, how am I doing?

- I think you're doing brilliant.

If you want a job at the Festival of Speed, when we've got all those people in the house- - I'd be employed, would I?

- Yeah.

You can come and help me out.

- Transfer the coq au vin to a casserole dish to finish cooking.

Then we'll put the chicken in, so we've got all that, and also you see there's a little bit of that lovely juice from the chicken, so I'll tip that in.

There we go.

With the lid on, bring the casserole to the boil, then reduce the heat and gently simmer for 30 minutes.

When you were at Buckingham Palace, did you do your own sort of specialties and bring them here?

- Yes, yeah, there was one that I brought from the Palace and brought here and I'd like to show you that.

- I want to taste it.

No showing it to me.

- [Lee] Come this way.

- Goodness!

Goodness gracious, I feel as though I'm going into the lions' den.

- Yes.

So, here we go, Mary, this is where I keep my secret stash.

We've got flavored alcohols here.

The one I'm looking for, let me just see if I can find it.

Oh, there it is.

That is the recipe that I've brought from the Palace.

Here you go, that's the one.

- Let me see.

"Goodwood Damson whisky."

It looks as clear as a bell.

That must be very potent.

- It's lovely.

It warms your cockles.

- [Mary] And do you make it in the autumn?

- Yes, and we leave it about a year.

It's lovely.

We should go back and- - [Mary] Well, I ought to see how my coq au vin is doing.

So, you come and help me.

The casserole's been cooking for 30 minutes, so it's time to add the mushrooms and bacon.

We'll just leave that for the flavors to mellow.

- How about, are we going to taste that?

- I think we should, shouldn't we?

So, this is the Duke of Edinburgh's favorite tipple.

- [Mary] Is it?

- [Lee] So- - And so, did you give him that when you were at the Palace?

- So, this would have been made specifically for the Duke and they would have, sort of, had that on the bar.

Lord and Lady March recently went up to Sandringham and they took a bottle of this as a gift to give to him, which apparently went down a storm.

- Wow.

- So, let's try some.

- Gosh, it's a beautiful, rich, ruby color.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

- So, here's to many more years for you at Goodwood.

- Yes, let's hope so.

Thank you.

- Gosh, it knocks you back on the smell, doesn't it?

- [Lee] It's lovely.

The smell is fantastic.

- I see what you mean.

(chuckles) It's a real- - That warms you up, doesn't it?

- It certainly does.

One sip wasn't enough.

Mm.

As my visit draws to a close, preparations are beginning on the pitch in front of the house for this afternoon's cricket match.

I'm told it's the earliest sport played on the estate and I want to find out what role the family had in the origins of the game.

I'm serving my coq au vin to Nimmy and Lord March for lunch at one of his favorite spots, known as Carne's Seat.

It was built in 1743 and only family and close friends ever get to use it.

I always love eating in here, actually.

- It's such a great space to eat in.

It was, of course, built for exactly that.

It was built as a banqueting house and so it's got quite a history for having very special meals in.

All teenagers of the family always want to live here.

Everybody comes up with a plan of how they're gonna come and live here.

It's always, "hmm, no".

- [Mary] So, what do you think of this, then?

- It's absolutely perfect, Mary, we might have to steal the recipe off you.

So, Mary, we've got some rather wonderful documents and stories about cricket in here.

The first, perhaps the most exciting of all, I'm gonna pass to Nimmy.

- Ah, yes!

Wonderful.

- And the one I wanted to show you is a rather wonderful financial account done by Mr Bradley, the second Duke's servant.

These are all various bits and pieces he bought for the Duke for cricket, but the end one is rather wonderful because it says, "Paid for brandy when Your Grace played cricket with the Arundel men, one and six".

This is 1702, so that's, it's really early.

- It's an awful lot of brandy!

I think they needed fortifying.

- And it also, it says here that "there will be 12 gamesters" and that there will be "one umpire of each side" and also that "the wickets shall be pitched in a fair and even place at 23 yards' distance from each other".

- That's the earliest written rules of cricket in the world.

1727.

- So, this is immensely precious.

Well, since Goodwood has the first written rules of cricket, I'd better come up with something suitably spectacular for tea.

I've enlisted the Duchess to help me.

I'm making a special cake for the cricket teas and I've tried to make it as special as possible because I know they'll be starving.

My cricket cake is four layers of light lemon sponge, sandwiched together with double cream, strawberries and a zesty home-made lemon curd.

I'm gonna make lemon curd straight in the pan.

So, to start with, I'm going to break these eggs.

You have to really bash them You're right!

Golden.

Just look at that.

And then I'm going to whisk those with a nice balloon whisk.

(gentle piano music) Add 300g of sugar, then add butter and stir before mixing in the juice of four lemons.

This is the rind going in there.

Thanks for that.

Stir continuously over a medium heat until the curd is coating the back of a spoon.

Shall we have a little taste?

What do you think?

- Really good.

- I'm going to just pour it straight in, and I hope I don't slop it all over everywhere.

There it is.

The lemon curd will thicken as it cools in the jar.

So, we'll just leave that and we'll let them get cold and we'll get on with the sponges.

So, I've got my eight bantams' eggs.

Can you pass over, I've got some flour and some sugar.

If you're using ordinary eggs, use four large ones.

Add two 25g each of caster sugar, self-raising flour and softened butter.

In goes a teaspoonful of baking powder and the lemon zest.

Then, beat until smooth.

That's beautifully creamy.

Then, take two 20cm greased sandwich tins, lined with nonstick paper, and fill with the mixture.

Bake in the oven at 160 fan for 25 minutes.

Then, leave the sponges to cool completely.

Right, I'm going to assemble this, so I'm going to start off by tipping the top of the first one in the center of the dish here.

And I've already whipped the cream.

I'm going to spread that over, right to the edge.

That's it.

Then I'm going to take some of your strawberries and I'm just letting those peek out of the side so that people can see that it's strawberries and cream.

And then to our wonderful lemon curd.

I'm going to sort of drizzle it.

It's rather a thick drizzle, but that will just, sort of, add to the flavor.

Then I'm going to put the next one on top of that.

Repeat the layering of sponge, cream, strawberries and lemon curd and finish off with strawberries and cream on the top.

Goodwood not only played a part in laying down the early rules of cricket, it was the first estate in the country where the game was regularly played.

300 years later, the home team made up of Goodwood staff is playing the Chichester All-Stars.

And, of course, it being Goodwood, they've got the most glorious cricket tea to look forward to.

- I'm not gonna drop it!

- So many layers!

Isn't that beautiful, ladies?

- I've got a special place here.

And best of luck when we come to cut it.

- That's absolutely fantastic, Mary.

Well, we've done our best, and the lemon curd is made with your eggs, your bantam eggs.

- With the bantam eggs?

- [Mary] And you've never seen a brighter yolk.

- It's an absolutely amazing color.

- We had great fun with it.

- Gosh.

- So, quite a spread.

- It is.

All these children behind me have their eyes on this.

- [Duchess] They all want to eat it, I'm sure.

(gentle music) (cricketers shouting) - [Mary] So fresh.

If it falls apart, it's not my fault.

It's your bantams' eggs!

- There we are.

- Thank you very much.

- Do you like strawberries?

- Yes.

- There we are.

- Oh, you've got lots in there, haven't you?

- Are you ready?

I've had an unforgettable time, from my thrilling lap of the circuit to seeing the Duchess's organic principles in action.

This innovative family have kept their passions for sport and farming bang up-to-date, keeping Goodwood full of life and excitement.

- Bye, Mary.

- Thank you.

- No, thank you.

- I've had such a memorable time, thank you so much.

- It's been lovely seeing you.

- Come back.

Come back when you're not doing anything.

(people clapping) (gentle music) Wow!

Over the course of the series, I've enjoyed a magical insight into our stately homes.

And the whole place lights up.

And their legacy of delicious food.

It is really, really, really good!

(gong chimes) From the glamorous house parties of Highclere to the royal heritage of Scone, from the secret passages of Powderham.

I can't imagine what it's going to reveal.

To the sporting triumphs of Goodwood.

And it's wonderful to see how the families who care for this heritage are keeping it alive for the future.

(gentle music)