Personality profile For the past seven years, Victoria has lived on the


estate with husband Sean and daughters Emily (13), who attends Maidstone's Invicta Grammar School, and Georgia (8) who goes to school in Bearsted. And Victoria is in no doubt that Lord Conway was spot on when he described Leeds as the "loveliest castle in the world". "I work in a beautiful environment. It's hard to feel


miserable driving up the track. whether it's a trick of the light, a rising of the mist or different birds flying across. It's just magic. It makes it all worthwhile." Victoria sees herself as a "sort of custodian," always


available if a problem arises. "If there was a fire or flood you need someone on site


to deal with it. Someone has to keep an eye on things. It's a big place, with lots of moving parts and most of them can't be easily compartmentalised. But with the joy of living on site, it is not too disruptive." Reflecting on the attraction of Kent generally, she


said: "There is something very powerful about this part of the world. It's so well located. If you come from here it's hard to settle anywhere else."


‘Castle is part of our heritage, not just a stately home’


UPON her death in 1974, Lady Baillie left the castle to the Leeds Castle Foundation, a private charitable trust whose aim is to preserve the buildings and grounds for the benefit of the public in perpetuity. In accordance with her wishes, the castle is kept as a living house, with bedrooms that regularly accommodate guests at weddings, conferences and banquets. In the last 30 years, more than 10m people have visited the castle. The charity generates income almost entirely from


visitors and events. Generally, it receives no grant funding or government support. Every penny donated is ploughed back into long-term preservation projects. Chief executive Victoria Wallace is clear about the


castle's role in the wider community. "It is not just a rich family's stately home but part


of the national heritage and it's important that the nation can use it. It is not just about private wealth; it should be used for the public benefit.”


Victoria said: "It is at a time when we are always very busy anyway. What we don't want to do is forget our loyal customers. "The Olympics does give us the chance to make some


capital but we must still keep the standard show on the road."


She added: "It's not just about whether the ‘Olympics could pay for our


stonework’ LEEDS Castle has been chosen to host the Olympic Flame on July 19 as it makes its way to London, from Dover via Maidstone. Not surprisingly, Victoria Wallace and trustees of the 40-bedroom castle want to make the most of this once- in-a-lifetime occasion, especially with the Games park being just 40 minutes away. Victoria explained: "It could be a fantastic opportunity. It is well known that we would like to get a high-net letting of the estate to a group or an individual. That is something the trustees wanted to explore, and if, as a result, we can create an Olympics legacy it will be worthwhile; something that would help fund our long-term stonework programme. We have a 14-year programme and we are five years through it. Each winter we spend £1/2m on stonework. "Kentish ragstone is quite porous and it does degrade


every time the frost comes. The Canterbury Cathedral stonemasons look every year to see what absolutely needs doing, to ensure the buildings' stability. It's more than just a lick of paint, but we have to do that as well, of course!" The danger is that the Olympics, which only last for a fortnight, will skew the commercial focus of 2012.


Rocking good times - daughters Emily and Georgia at their new home a few years ago.


Mid Kent Living 5


shareholders will make a penny but whether it will fund the charity that pays for the castle's upkeep and raise money for the stonework and preserve the castle's fabric.


"On a standstill basis we spend £2.7m a year. That's


why we have to run it quite hard as a business, diversifying our streams of income. "We employ 220 people, not all full-time. Our annual


turnover is £8m. We run a £2m catering business; the hospitality side is the same as a reasonable sized hotel. And we have 1,000 acres of grounds to look after." Victoria remembers the exposure that Beijing and


South Africa got from the last Games and football World Cup respectively. "Part of the Olympic legacy will be getting pictures of the castle all over the world. Billions of people will watch it, a global audience." She continued: "It's important that, with TV cameras


covering all the fluffy stuff around the Olympics, we get the TV crews down here. For Britain as a whole that will be the long-term legacy of the Olympics, having the chance to show what we have to offer centre stage." Meanwhile, Victoria finds it difficult to assess the


impact of the recession on 2012. "It could be a difficult year, with the general economy taking its effect on people's spending. But maybe people won't be taking foreign holidays and will stay to watch the Olympics, and come here. I don't know, we will have to see."


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