Up and down the UK, the National Trust looks after hundreds of houses, vast areas of coastline, swathes of countryside and close to a million objects. It’s also home to 10,000 employees and 44,000 volunteers who are passionate about the charity’s conservation work.
But perhaps none are as passionate about the National Trust than the select, lucky few who get to call these incredible places home. For nine years, Kat Croxford has had possibly one of the most impressive addresses going: Lyme Park, Cheshire. But she’s not part of the landed gentry - she’s the house and collections manager, a job that means she gets to live in a grand house and among luscious gardens, moorland and a deer park.
READ MORE:
“Everyone in the local area knows Lyme Park and most people think I live in one of the cottages, so when I say I live in the main mansion they’re like ‘wow’,” she says. “But being able to talk to people about where you live and what it means to you is really lovely. You’re kind of a custodian and you’re connected to your workplace and the history behind it - that’s what I like the most.”
Kat, her partner and eight-year-old son live on the top floor of the main house in an area converted into flats for the National Trust's live-in staff. The space used to be the schoolroom, nursery and a suite of rooms for the governess.
“We look out on the garden and the Reflection Lake so our neighbours are the geese in the garden and they can be quite noisy, but that’s OK,” she jokes.
Lyme Park is a gem in the Trust’s portfolio boasting acres of glorious parkland. Rather unusually, it remained in the sole ownership of a single family for six centuries, having been gifted to the Leghs in 1398, who then passed it on to the charity in 1946.
“To know you’re part of that process and history, it’s probably the best thing. There’s a sense of continuation,” says Kat of her own contribution to keeping family life at Lyme going. But her unusual home set-up has also given her another unique experience: maternity leave in a mansion.
“My fondest memory is bringing my son home from hospital and walking him into the garden for the first time and the volunteers all cooing over him. I felt really lucky because not every new mother has 150 volunteers and 15 members of staff willing to have you cry on their shoulder or ask them what to do," she says.
“People don’t [usually] have all these surrogate grandparents, [for example] there’s a lady in the office my son has grown up with and they have a really special bond.”
Kat says she spent much of her maternity leave pushing a pram around the park, which is on the western edge of the Peak District and about six miles from Stockport, exploring parts she’d never been to.
“Come rain or shine everyone knew I’d be walking up and down the drive and people would offer me lifts and having that [felt like] a community. And that’s what we miss from not having neighbours in a street - we have it in a different way.”
Lyme Park is the only home Kat’s son has known, something that has had a hugely positive impact on their family life.
“It’s a great privilege to live somewhere with a 1,400-acre park on your doorstep and grand gardens and my son goes round to his friend’s houses and understands we’re not normal in that way. During lockdown he learned to ride a bike in the park when there were no visitors which was great.”
But for all its beauty and space, there are a few trade-offs to living somewhere that’s open to the public much of the year. While there’s no traffic or commute involved in getting to work, leaving the site at busy times has to be carefully planned to avoid the enormous queue of customers entering and leaving the park. There are also myriad minor inconveniences, like not having the garden to yourself on a summer's day, or being able to park outside your own front door to unload your shopping.
“You’re there carrying a load of toilet paper or cat food through public spaces to where you live, nothing really is private,” she says.
And there is the one major, glaring downside to living in a National Trust property.
“If you take the job out of the equation you lose your home, so in the back of mind I’m thinking of retirement and thinking, gosh I have to find somewhere to live because when it comes to retirement I won’t be able to retire in a grand country house,” says the 36-year-old.
“It’s a long way off but it’s still there. I’m constantly thinking I need to get on the property ladder. But at the same time the benefits of living somewhere like this far outweigh the negatives.”
It’s almost hard to imagine Kat living anywhere other than a Trust property since she has spent her entire career in them. The day after she graduated from Durham University 15 years ago, she drove the length of the country to start a year-long placement at Dunster Castle near Somerset, where she lived onsite. She then spent two years at Buckland Abbey near Plymouth and three at Plas Newydd in Anglesey, before moving to Lyme Park in 2013.
“When I consider all the experiences I’ve had, it’s just been a real privilege and it’s shaped who I am,” she says, before attempting the near impossible task of picking a favourite.
“Each had their pluses and minuses but I loved living at Plas Newydd because it was right by the sea and it had views of the Welsh mountains from the bedroom which was amazing. It was a lovely place to live and it’s where I met my partner. But each one holds a special place in my heart and I love where we are now [too] because this is where my son was born.”
Kat is equally as passionate about her job as she is her surroundings. She’s responsible for conserving the inside of the main house and the items within it.
“Our job is to slow down the rate of deterioration of the interior and collections. We can’t stop it but we can care for it in a way that is less damaging. From the coving to a fork on the table, we look after it the same way, regardless of its value,” she explains.
As well as frequently opening up the house on a daily basis, Kat also leads a time of five to deliver the visitor experience.
“People bring the place to life and without them being inspired by the place, the collections and the stories, the visitors wouldn’t get as much out of it. I love what I do and if I can inspire others to love this place as much as I do, if visitors go away understanding the spirit of Lyme, then I’ve done my job - that’s the idea anyway.”
Read next:
