{"id":247158,"date":"2026-01-23T03:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247158\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T03:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T03:00:07","slug":"at-home-with-the-marchioness-of-bath-when-the-society-style-maven-and-reluctant-role-model-opened-the-doors-to-longleat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247158\/","title":{"rendered":"At home with the Marchioness of Bath: when the society style maven \u2013 and reluctant role model \u2013 opened the doors to Longleat"},"content":{"rendered":"

But with a new year comes the opportunity for a fresh start \u2013 for her and for Longleat, which she wants to use in \u2018the most diverse way possible\u2019. It\u2019s clear she is bursting to begin again. \u2018I have my list,\u2019 she says, clapping animatedly. \u2018Dolce & Gabbana launched a jungle collection recently. Could you imagine a fashion<\/a> show at Longleat?\u2019 She has modelled for the brand before, in 2018 at Lake Como alongside her best friend and Henry\u2019s godmother, Lady Kitty Spencer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another project keeping her upbeat is Emma\u2019s Kitchen, a caf\u00e9 and shop on the estate that draws on its historic recipes<\/a>, which she hopes to reopen soon. \u2018I want to bring everything back to Longleat: the Capability Brown-designed kitchen garden; I\u2019d love a floristry. And pineapples. They used to grow them in huge quantities because they were such a status symbol.\u2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear she misses the days when Longleat was a social hub, as it was originally intended to be. \u2018The last party we had before we closed the house was for my Strictly partner, Alja\u017e [\u0160korjanec],\u2019 she says mournfully. Have they stayed in touch? \u2018He\u2019s been a real rock through lockdown,\u2019 she says. \u2018We all had Strictly Zoom quizzes to keep our spirits up.\u2019 Given her past foray into acting, would she have another go? \u2018I think I\u2019m more suited to presenting,\u2019 she says. But if offered the role of Bond girl, she concedes with a grin, she would \u2018definitely say yes\u2019. In the meantime, she\u2019d like to follow in Mary Berry\u2019s footsteps, and hopes one day<\/a> to have her own cookery show.<\/p>\n

In years gone by, a marchioness of Bath would hardly have been expected to pursue her own career. But Ceawlin is \u2018very supportive\u2019 of Emma\u2019s ambitions, and as the first lockdown eased, she was delighted to get back to work, filming a show about black history in schools<\/a>. She was also moved to be asked by her \u2018role model\u2019 Doreen Lawrence to appear in a campaign for the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, commemorating Doreen\u2019s murdered son.<\/p>\n

Lockdown lows have been eased by the quiet tranquillity of animals on the estate, though Emma is worried the sea lions have become lonely since visitor numbers dropped. And what of the late Lord Bath\u2019s colourful effects? The Kama Sutra room, she says, will probably remain. \u2018It\u2019s always fun<\/a> choosing who can stay in that room.\u2019 The rest will be \u2018up to Ceawlin to decide\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But with a new year comes the opportunity for a fresh start \u2013 for her and for Longleat,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,337,4974,111,139,69,1249,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-247158","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-features","10":"tag-magazine","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-textaboveleftsmall","15":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}