When he arrived at Ballywalter Park in 1997, the new owner had a fresh eye and no fixed ideas. “This wasn’t my father’s home, so I didn’t grow up here,” Lord Dunleath says. “It had belonged to my cousin. I didn’t have any huge preconceptions about what it was like before and what was precious to maintain.”
He and Lunn, who joined him at Ballywalter in 2001, are not a couple to rattle around in a chilly old stately home with no mod cons. “There are two things we didn’t want to put up with: a basic kitchen and a cold house.”
In fact, the works necessary to restore the house went far beyond the new Aga and central heating. Originally built in the 1730s, Ballywalter was purchased in 1846 by Andrew Mulholland. The house was remodelled by architect Charles Lanyon in the mid-19th century. Various Mulhollands have left their mark since then, in the form of a wing here, a conservatory there.
But Ballywalter fell into decline after being requisitioned as a military hospital during the first world war and then used as an RAF bomber repair base in the second world war. It was in such a sorry state by the mid-20th century that Charles Mulholland, 3rd Baron Dunleath, planned to demolish it, fortunately only getting as far as removing the conservatory’s heating pipes.
In May 2000, an extensive programme of restorations began. The old, blown render was eased off the exterior walls and replaced with four coats of lime plaster, the roof reslated, the gutters overhauled and repaired and the chimney flues relined.
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There was an urgent need for modern, habitable bedrooms and bathrooms, so the “nursery” floor, out of use since the 1930s, was pressed into service. As many as 30 builders worked for 60 weeks to rebuild the entire top floor. The first phase of works left Lord Dunleath with “not much change from £750,000”.
“Friends say I am a closet interior designer,” confesses Lord Dunleath, who, with Lunn, delighted in the decoration of their home. In the early 1990s, he had been estate manager for the Duke of Abercorn at Belle Isle in County Fermanagh, and worked closely with interior designer David Hicks on its restoration. “Sadly, he died before I came here, but Hicks came up with a wonderful scheme for Belle Isle, and I kept notes and colour swatches. I almost felt I had him at my shoulder giving me ideas at Ballywalter.”
Bold paintwork and warm, colourful textiles are the Hicks-inspired touches, and Lord Dunleath’s collection of paintings by artists such as Craigie Aitchison and Elizabeth Blackadder add a modern twist to the decor. Lunn’s Scandinavian origins are also in evidence in the spare lines of lighting, and the chairs by Danish masters such as Poul Henningsen and Arne Jacobsen.
The couple are avid DIYers — changing a doorknob here, putting up new curtain rails there — and great fans of labour-saving technology. “We try and make life as easy for ourselves as possible. It’s the only way to live in a house like this,” says Lord Dunleath. “At the turn of the century, there were 25 staff in the gardens and 25 in the house. Now there are three gardeners and our wonderful housekeeper, Debbie.” He adds, “We have six Dyson vacuum cleaners around the house. It saves the whole business of having to lump them up and down stairs.”
Both Lunn and Lord Dunleath have grown-up children from previous marriages and the house is alive with “the constant coming and going of family life”. A favourite spot is the smoking room on the ground floor, decked out in berry colours and gorgeous textures, from the leather of Jacobsen chairs and sofas to the oak block flooring and reclaimed oak panelling. This was part of the Gentleman’s Wing, added in the 1860s, which also included the billiard room. The wing was chilly and unusable, having suffered fire damage and dry rot, until it was restored in the second wave of works in 2004, at a cost of about £75,000.
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Although various grants covered just over half the bill for the 2004 renovations, most of the money has come from the family coffers. Maintenance costs are steep: last year heating and electricity alone were £30,000. “Having invested that amount in the house, it seemed criminal that all that work should be done just for Vibs and myself to swan around in. We like people around and we couldn’t afford to simply live here and have parties,” says Dunleath. So the Big House became a small business.
In the family archive, Lunn discovered a sheaf of menus dated 1889-1907, describing meals that had been served during the house’s heyday. She uses the menus to create lunches and dinners for private parties and corporate clients. The first event was in June 2002 and Ballywalter now welcomes groups of between 20 and 80 guests, 15 times a year, offering food, entertainment and a bed for the night from £150 a head.
Seafood is plentiful, as Ballywalter is half a mile from the Irish Sea. The rest of the ingredients largely come from the estate itself. Ballywalter has a trout lake and the gamekeeper rears pheasant and partridge. Every vegetable you could name — from carrots to cardoons — is produced in the 19th-century walled garden. Soft fruits are grown in seven restored Victorian glasshouses. Peaches ripen at a rate of 100 a day in July; last year, the couple made three quarters of a ton of peach marmalade.
At a time when many great estates are giving up farming as not economically viable, agriculture at Ballywalter Park is thriving, and helps to support the house. Lord Dunleath has expanded the dairy herd to 450 cows and built them new accommodation. Once again, his eye for detail has paid off. Happier cows are producing 7% more milk: 4m litres per year.