Englishman's castle is his home

If an Englishman's home is his castle, then these days he must be prepared to lower the drawbridge and admit the odd paying guest or two if he wants to keep it,

At Broughton Castle, the ancient ancestral home of Lord and Lady Saye and Sele near Banbury, there is no drawbridge as such. But there's a six-foot deep moat and, from April to September each year, around 15,000 visitors are welcomed to this exceedingly stately pile - often by Lord Saye himself.

He is an engaging and dry-witted 77-year-old who laughs easily and is quite prepared to show visitors round the place, doubling up as the most patrician car-park attendant in the country.

Lord and Lady Saye have been running the family business since 1968. As you'd expect, the great house - which has stood in its 1,800 acres of rolling Oxfordshire countryside since 1300 - has seen many changes down the centuries. Its groined passages, cool stone and dark oak provide historical signatures of the craftsmen who created Broughton. Along the Long Gallery, portraits of Lord Saye's distinguished ancestors gaze down at the visitor.

James I and Edward VIII both slept in the King's Chamber. Queen Anne of Denmark took her repose in the room which is named after her, and in the Council Chamber at the top of the west stairs, William Fiennes, the 8th Lord, and a group of his friends planned their opposition to Charles I in the years between 1629- 1640.

But Broughton Castle is much, much more than a mere tourist attraction - it is, as Lord Saye puts it, "a family home with a heart that beats".

Ask Lord Saye what it means to be an aristocrat at the fag end of the 20th century and he shrugs: "Not very much. The fact that I am the owner of this house is a great motivating force."

Like many other ancient families, the Fiennes have faced hard times. In the early 1980s they were landed with a restoration bill for a cool million. English Heritage chipped in with a 40 per cent grant, but the peer still had to find the rest. Farming, tourists and fees from film companies keen on shooting at Broughton raised the cash and saved the day. The business continues to run smoothly.

Lord and Lady Saye work for their living. And they don't have legions of staff running around the place, either.

"In 1900, there were 14 gardeners here," says the peer. "Today there's one. People have got into difficulties because they are inclined to spend too much money. If you think that just because you live in a great house you should also have a butler and a Bentley, you'll be in trouble.

"There is no reason why we should live differently from anyone else and indeed we don't. One essential in running somewhere like this is an energetic wife - and I've got one."

Lord and Lady Saye employ two cleaners, one part-time cook and their gardener - far fewer staff than you might expect, given Broughton's size.

"An Arab gentleman once told me that I needed four wives to run a place like this," he smiles.

Lord Saye is a man with a dry sense of humour and it's easy to imagine him having a little gentle fun with his visitors. He doesn't always tell them who he is, for example. "It rather depends what mood I'm in. Sometimes, when they ask if the family still live here, I'll tell them that yes, they live at the other end of the house. Or sometimes I'll just reply, 'Actually, I am the family'. I don't see myself as a tourist attraction and I don't think I look much like a lord in any case."

At this point he turns and gazes at Oxford Mail photographer Antony Moore, who is more than six foot with a silvery mane. "If there were tourists here now," he says, "they'd think he was Lord Saye."

The newly-enobled Moore basks in the flattery. "If I was a lord," he says, "I'd wear my coronet at breakfast."

The real peer's relations include the actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes and the explorer, Sir Ranulph.

So there was something of a small family get-together recently when Joseph arrived to co-star alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakepeare in Love, much of which was filmed at Broughton. The castle has played host to many TV and film companies - it's all coins in the coffers, at the end of the day.

"My wife watches them. I tend to keep out of the way," says the peer.

"But we enjoy meeting people. We should hate it if we didn't have visitors."

Broughton Castle and its friendly hosts will have visitors as long as people care about their history. This Englishman's castle is his home - and an important part of the country's heritage.

*Broughton Castle is open from 2-5pm Wednesdays and Sundays plus Thursdays in August. It is also open to the public on Bank Holiday Mondays. Groups are welcome by appointment at any time.

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