Hidden Heritage

This week on Hidden Heritage, Violet Manners sits down with Patrick Galbraith — writer, journalist and one of the sharpest contemporary voices examining the British countryside.From birds, deer and gamekeeping to land access, farming and the cultural fabric of rural life, Patrick’s work explores the fault lines shaping modern Britain’s landscapes. Together, we trace his story from the landscapes that first formed him to the people who continue to define countryside life today: farmers, stalkers, ghillies, wildfowlers and land managers whose livelihoods remain deeply tied to the land.At the heart of this conversation is the government’s recent announcement to ban trail hunting, a decision that has sent shockwaves through many rural communities. Violet and Patrick unpack what this means not only politically, but culturally: for hunts, hounds, land management, jobs, tradition, and the wider sense that many countryside voices feel increasingly unheard in national debates.The conversation also explores the wider “countryside wars” unfolding across Britain: rewilding, illegal species releases, deer management, collapsing rural industries, food resilience, and whether Britain’s real challenge is not access to nature, but meaningful engagement with it.This is a conversation about heritage in its truest sense: not nostalgia, but the living relationship between people, place and the skills that shape the land.A thoughtful, provocative and deeply grounded episode on what rural Britain is becoming — and what may yet be lost.

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Filming & Events in Historic Houses: What It Really Involves

Filming and large-scale events can provide historic houses with vital income and global visibility. Yet behind every beautifully shot scene lies a complex reality of negotiation, risk management and strategic decision-making.

In this episode of Hidden Heritage, Violet is joined by Naomi Nettleton, who advises historic estates on filming and venue agreements, and Charles Lister, House Manager at Boughton House, who brings more than three decades of practical experience managing productions on site.Together they explore what owners should consider before agreeing to filming, how commercial terms are structured, and how houses can protect their long-term interests while embracing new opportunities. The conversation moves beyond the glamour often associated with film locations to examine the operational pressures, legal frameworks and reputational implications that shape these decisions.

This discussion forms part of Hidden Heritage’s ongoing collaboration with Charles Russell Speechlys, whose Private Client and Heritage teams work closely with estates and families navigating the evolving commercial landscape of historic property.

For further insight into their work with historic houses and heritage assets, listeners can explore

www.charlesrussellspeechlys.com
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In this episode of Violet Manners in Hidden Heritage, Violet is joined by designer, writer and entrepreneur India Hicks - a woman born into history who chose to build her life somewhere entirely her own.

The daughter of Lady Pamela Hicks and the legendary designer David Hicks, India grew up at the intersection of royal history and radical interior design. Her mother stood at the heart of 20th-century royal life. Her father reshaped the visual language of Britain’s great houses.

And yet India chose Harbour Island in the Bahamas.

In this conversation, India reflects on:


Growing up between tradition and reinvention


Who Lady Pamela truly was behind closed doors


The influence of Lord Mountbatten


Her father’s creative audacity


Recording the podcast conversations that brought her mother’s voice to a global audience


Life in the Caribbean beyond the postcard image


Her work with The King’s Trust


Marriage later in life


Reinvention, resilience and legacy

A conversation about identity, inheritance and choosing your own horizon.

📖 India’s books:

India Hicks: Island Style –

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0847841957

India Hicks: Island Life –

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/084784851X

Luxe Tours:

https://www.heritagexplore.com/luxe/
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In this episode of Hidden Heritage, Violet Manners is joined by antiquary, broadcaster and storyteller Steven Moore — a man whose life has been shaped by objects, and the stories they carry.

Known to millions through his appearances on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow and Antiques Road Trip, Steven has spent decades uncovering the overlooked — not simply valuable objects, but the human lives embedded within them. From early beginnings staging his own pottery exhibition at sixteen, to becoming one of the most recognisable and trusted voices in cultural history, his journey has been driven by curiosity, instinct, and an enduring belief that the smallest objects often hold the greatest meaning.

In this conversation, Steven reflects on the formative influences that shaped him, from childhood stories shared at his grandmother’s knee to the mentors and discoveries that set him on his path. He speaks about Venice, a city that has captivated him for nearly thirty years, and how its layers of craftsmanship and history have deepened his understanding of storytelling.

We also discuss his deeply personal book, The Stuff of History, a compendium of curious objects and overlooked lives, and why beauty, memory and material culture remain essential to how we understand ourselves.

This is a conversation about attention — about learning to see, to listen, and to recognise the quiet significance of the things that surround us.

Follow Steven Moore on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/stevenmooreantiques/

Discover his book, The Stuff of History:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1789294986

Join the HeritageXplore Club Waitlist:

https://www.heritagexplore.com/?mailing_signup=d26ed21a76
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