At one o'clock in the afternoon, ready for their trip, the Hall family drove to the Orange Manor.

Orange Manor, the Hall family's "ancestral home", was built in the early 19th century near Leeds, the capital of West Yorkshire, and is no longer inhabitable.

After giving birth to Hall, Helena moved to North Yorkshire and built her current estate, a short drive of about half an hour. Well, with the land area of the United Kingdom, it seems that there are no very far apart areas in the country.

The Orange Estate is 890 acres with a small farm that is now entrusted to a dedicated company.

It's autumn wheat season, and the soil is rolling like waves on the plains as far as the eye can see.

Hall, who was born as a "farmer" in his previous life, sat in the off-road vehicle, lowered the window, and let the breeze sweep through the faint smell of dust and dirt.

"Hugo, don't you think it's too dusty?" Helen Nadette frowned slightly, and covered her mouth and nose with her bare hands.

"Not really." Hall laughed, poked his head out of the car and shouted, "The scenery is infinitely good...... Ahem, ......"

Helena looked at her silly son with a disgusted look, and Caroline, who was driving, asked curiously: "Did you just speak Chinese?" ”

"Yes, it means a big landlord~"

The car drove around the farm for more than ten minutes, and finally arrived at its final destination, Orange Manor.

Built in the early Victorian period, the manor house was built in a period style, so that the aristocratic lord could wake up and stand on the balcony to see the land, the manor was not surrounded by walls, and was separated from the surrounding farms by a ditch.

The chapel, the towering water tower, the Gothic buildings on both sides, the abandoned power plant, the rudimentary hospital, the airstrip, and the central three-storey, white-painted main building with hundreds of windows form the centerpiece of the Orange Manor.

Power plants, airstrips, and hospitals are the products of World War II, and during World War II, Qiu Da Tiezhi called for the construction of more than 2,000 logistics and combat readiness points in China, in an attempt to pull out enough strategic depth, as a noble and large landowner, the Hall family responded to the call and built a series of war-ready buildings in their own estates.

The entire heart of West Yorkshire's heavy industry, led by Manchester, was often heavily bombed by the Germans, so the Hall family's combat readiness point was extraordinarily large.

After the war, the demolition cost was high, and it was quite monumental when you think about it, so some of the buildings that affected the aesthetics were demolished, and the rest have been abandoned to this day.

The group got out of the car, the cook and maids were busy setting up the oven, and Helena, Caroline, and Hall entered the main building of the manor to visit an elderly couple who lived there.

The husband of the old couple was the housekeeper of Grandpa Hall's family when he was alive, and Helena gave birth to Hall and moved to North Yorkshire, and the old man was reluctant to leave.

When Hale was a child, he was often brought back to Orench Manor by Helena, and the old butler would take him to every room every time, to see every object, and to tell him the history of the Hall family and the glory of the Hall family.

"Da-da-da-da."

Hall ascended the stairs to the second floor, where the sound of walking echoed in the living room, where the sunlight filtered through the lattice glass and created a beautiful spot on the white oak floor, and the tall wooden doors on the left and right sides were erected with the same ornate ornamentation.

I don't know what kind of culture and folklore originates, the ancient English manor did not have the concept of "corridor", and all the rooms in the room were only connected by one door.

Pick a wooden door at random and push it open, the first thing that catches your eye is the same wooden door erected at the end of the room, the head is to the left, the wall partition between the windows is hung with exquisite oil paintings, there is a large fireplace on the right, the low table and sofa in front of the fireplace are complete, and the floor is covered with a red carpet.

All the furnishings look very vivid, the enamel gold wire porcelain plate placed on the low table, in the sunlight reflects a little light, a hundred years ago in the winter, the host's family around the fireplace to warm up the scene of gossip as if it happened yesterday.

The "trick" for keeping all these furnishings in good condition is £250,000 a year.

The Hall family had to pay £250,000 a year for the maintenance of the Orange Manor, up from £250,000 in 1987. Even if you include the farm income entrusted to a professional company, the ancestral home of Orange is a "negative equity".

Hall came here to eat barbecue just by the way, the main purpose is to deal with this "negative equity", show off his business talent, and gain Helena's trust to persuade her to transfer financial investment assets and avoid risks.

In the morning, his first thought when he saw this negative equity in the financial report was to develop Orange Manor into a "commercial tourism project", which was very common in later generations, and the well-known "Downton Abbey (Highclell Castle)" and the Queen's Buckingham Palace all used commercial tourism projects to generate income to cover maintenance and repair costs.

After a field inspection, he confirmed his idea, Orange Manor is not much inferior to those famous manor castles, and the basic hardware facilities such as modern roads and power grids built during World War II are conducive to reconstruction and development.

In the green space in front of the main building of the manor, the chef controls two large ovens, and the large pork ribs are sparkling under the charcoal fire, and the aroma is tantalizing when they fall on the charcoal.

Caroline set up an outdoor parasol with the help of a maid and fiddled with three small barbecue grills.

"I look at the earnings report and find that Orange needs to spend more than £250,000 a year on maintenance and zero output, which is obviously a negative asset." Hall leaned in and started the conversation briefly.

Caroline, who was busy adding charcoal to the barbecue grill, explained: "Yes, since Orange Manor was listed by the government as a protected building, even a doorknob has to be reported to the government, which has increased the cost of repairs and maintenance every year. ”

"So, I'm wondering if we can break even with a certain amount of commercial operation."

Hale paused slightly, then picked up a shovel to help add charcoal: "There's a lake, green spaces, a large landscaped garden, and a well-preserved old building from the early Victorian era, oh no, a monument."

This should be very attractive to those who love nature or who love history and culture. There is also a farm where people can take their children to experience the idyllic scenery and do some parent-child interaction...... Orange Manor could be developed into a tourist project. ”

Caroline didn't respond immediately, thinking about what Hall said.

After the end of World War II, the high tax law implemented in the country made the descendants of the nobility unable to inherit the family inheritance, and in those years, the country demolished and abandoned countless manors and castles on a large scale, until 1974, when the country rose to protect the ancient buildings, and the parliamentary lords passed the relevant bills to establish a foundation to protect the ancient buildings.

Up to now, there should be nearly 100 estates in England that are maintained and managed by the Foundation, and some of them are open to the public to earn income and expenditure, which is used for maintenance and repair costs. ”

For example, the Howard Castle next door, where part of the filming of "After the Wind and Rain in the Old Garden" of the fire a few years ago was filmed. Seriously, the TV series made it so beautiful, in fact, it is far less beautiful than it is on TV, and Orange Manor is much better than it. ”

A young man dressed in a formal suit, with leather shoes and trouser legs stained with dust on his trouser legs, appeared in front of Hall and talked at some point.

After listening politely and quietly, Caroline introduced: "This is Mr. Brandon Campbell of the Campbell Family Asset Management Company, who is in charge of the Orange Farm, and has learned that Lord Helena has come here to say hello. ”

"Yes, my staff and I would love to say hello to Ms. Helena in person." Brandon looked at Helena, who was mingling with the farm workers not far away, and echoed.

In these years, the people's views on the royal family and nobles are not as radical as those of later generations, especially the local nobles are more low-key, there is no negative news, and the popularity is still quite good.

It's not lovely, it's almost the same as a mascot, and when I have the opportunity to see a group photo and send a circle of friends, it's just to join in the fun.