Guardian of Eden

Profile MARK HOLDENHINDLEY

Guardian of Eden

He’s the paragliding former showjumper and Polar explorer who helped recreate Shackleton’s voyage on the Endurance and has friends in Hollywood but Mark Holden-Hindley’s home and heart will always be at Edenhall WORDS MICHAELA ROBINSON-TATE 54 / SEPTEMBER 2018 / CUMBRIA LIFE

PHOTOGRAPHY PHIL RIGBY

Mark at the landmark stone pillars at the entrance to the long drive to the former Eden Hall house which was demolished in 1934 CUMBRIA LIFE / SEPTEMBER 2018 / 55

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he courtyard, imposing sandstone buildings and clock tower all appear exactly as you’d expect the headquarters of a 1,000-acre historic Cumbrian estate to look.

But the inside of Mark HoldenHindley’s office, from where he runs the Edenhall Estate, is a surprise. Framed posters of characters from the madcap world of Dr Seuss, unusual art, wood plank cladding and a surfboard propped up in one corner give the room a decidedly quirky, industrial chic feel.

Neither does Mark himself play to type. Wearing jeans, T-shirt and a Belstaff biker jacket, Mark doesn’t look like one of the “Cumbrian gentry” – as he was once memorably described by a national newspaper.

But if his appearance doesn’t give away his heritage, then his warmth and charisma do and it’s clear that he’s inherited buckets of each and a strong work ethic from his beloved late mother, the successful theatrical agent Aude Holden-Hindley and his maternal grandmother, the actress Jean Anderson, best known for her role in TV’s Tenko.

Meanwhile, he credits his father, Airlie, who is in his nineties and still living on the estate, with passing on the importance of doing things properly.

Mark’s career path has been unexpected too, taking him from the USA to the Polar regions, where he still travels regularly to work as a guide. But he’s anxious that his varied CV doesn’t give the impression that he’s not focused on what he’s doing now.

Since losing his mum in 2014, Mark has been based in Cumbria, working hard to make the estate a success and ensure its future. He’s passionate about looking after the land, which is bordered on two sides by the Rivers Eamont and Eden and ensuring it’s in a good condition to be passed on. He’s also been keen to spend more time with his dad.

“I see myself just as a guardian, a caretaker for the next generation,” he says. “It [the estate] never feels any more mine than the people who work here and I do just feel that it’s a guardianship to keep the estate sustainable and moving it forward for the next generation. I’ve got such a cracking team of people who work here. It’s very much a family and in my mind it’s as much theirs as it is mine.”

He’s thrown himself into an intense period of work on the estate, converting some of the distinctive red sandstone buildings – where he also has his home - into offices for himself and three other businesses.

Realising that tourism is a growing sector, he’s created six holiday homes – with another underway - beginning with an authentic log cabin called The Lodge, which he built at his favourite childhood spot on the River Eamont (see a feature on The Lodge in

‘I do just feel that it’s a guardianship to keep the estate sustainable and moving it forward for the next generation’

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Mark Holden-Hindley Mark at The Lodge, a log cabin at his favourite spot on the River Eamont on the Edenhall Estate

Rustic wood panelling, unusual art and a surfboard propped in the corner are distinctive features of Mark’s office at Edenhall’s HQ

‘I see a lot of my mum’s life round about the place. It definitely feels she’s still here and keeping me in line’

Home magazine, published with this month’s Cumbria Life).

A major development has been a wedding and events venue, called High Barn, on the highest point on the estate, with lovely views of Cross Fell to the east and the south west Lake District. There’s a barn for celebrations and plenty of space for teepees or marquees. High Barn has its own holiday cottage, decorated in the rustic, eclectic and comfortable style which Mark has used in all the accommodation on the estate.

The estate is also home to a dairy farm, which is run successfully by tenant farmers, and there are several miles of fishing rights on the rivers. Mark has been hands-on with all the work, putting a team together to build The Lodge and designing the interiors for the holiday lets himself, drawing on his travels for inspiration.

Mark says his work has built on what his dad had already achieved. He has a lot of admiration for the work Airlie carried out when the family arrived to live at Edenhall: “Especially when he moved here in 1975 and the great work he had started with the farm, land and buildings and that he set the precedent in his guardianship that I carried on from and adapted in a different era.”

Mark describes growing up at Edenhall with his parents and sister, Emma – who lives with her family in Vancouver - as incredible: “The sheer expanse of space and freedom to roam and play was great.”

He spent his time outside, exploring the woods, building dens and getting muddy. He loves to see his own daughter, six-year-old Ella-Jean – who is named after Mark’s grandmother – do the same when she visits Edenhall from her home in France, where she lives with her mum.

His mum was a major influence: “I miss her dreadfully and have always been, and still am, CUMBRIA LIFE / SEPTEMBER 2018 / 57

Mark restored the stone steps near his home on the estate, incorporating engravings of his parents’ first names; below: Mark (right) took part in an expedition retracing Shackleton’s voyage on the Endurance; during his years spent showjumping in the USA

exceptionally proud of her. For 45 years she ran a business on her own and she managed to find a wonderful balance between running a theatrical agency mainstream company up here and in London and travelling around the world.”

He says home and family always came first: “She might be on the phone to the head of Warners but if you walked in the office she would put them on hold and always give you time.”

Aude’s influence continues for Mark: “I see a lot of her life round about the place. It definitely feels she’s still here and keeping me in line.”

M

ark met lots of famous people through his mum’s work and is discreet about the wellknown actors he got to know, such as Rik Mayall, Ben Elton and David Suchet.

His mum’s clients and other friends – for example the food writer and broadcaster Matthew Fort – regarded visits to Aude at Edenhall as an opportunity to get away from it all: “I think it’s true of anyone who’s stayed here for a while or visited frequently that Edenhall has a special place in their heart. So many friends have been visiting us for years. It’s peaceful here, away from it all, an escape.”

One dear friend is the Lord of the Rings actor Billy Boyd, who was among Aude’s clients.

The pair are best friends and godfathers to each other’s children. Mark coincidentally came to know the actor Orlando Bloom, who was also in the Lord of the Rings films, and through visiting the film set he met their co-stars Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood, with the men all becoming firm friends.

Mark’s career before he came back to Cumbria

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‘It’s true of anyone who’s stayed here for a while that Edenhall has a special place in their heart’

full-time was action packed. When he left boarding school, his parents put him in touch with some friends in Los Angeles, one of whom had a showjumping stable. Mark moved to the States and trained at the stables, competing in the sport on the west coast for about a year. He moved stables to work with Anthony D’Ambrosio, a former world champion in puissance, or high jump, spending another four years riding, training and competing on the circuit. It was a great experience, he says, and a good way to see the country.

He credits his mum and dad with allowing him time to try different jobs - providing he gave 100 per cent to whatever he did.

“I consider myself very fortunate to have had parents who looked outside of purely a formal education and supported and encouraged me to do a diverse range of things and have an education from the world around me and also instilled a very strong work ethic. That’s the way I wanted to be myself.”

He was back home from the States when a friend, George Butler, who was known for the book and

CUMBRIA LIFE / SEPTEMBER 2018 / 59

Mark Holden-Hindley

The legacy and the luck of Edenhall

Since moving back to Edenhall full-time Mark has focused on diversifying the estate to ensure it’s in good shape to pass on; below: at High Barn, the wedding and events venue he created at Edenhall

docu-drama Pumping Iron, which helped make Arnold Schwarzenegger famous, invited Mark to join his team in making a documentary IMAX film, retracing the voyage of Sir Ernest Shackleton on board the Endurance.

Mark jumped at the chance and travelled with the team from South America to South Georgia Island and the Antarctic peninsula. During the trip he became good friends with Dave German, who runs an expedition company called Fathom Expeditions, organising small ship trips into the Arctic, Antarctica and South Georgia. Mark continues to work with Dave, regularly leading trips as a Polar guide. His company biog says he’s a marine safety officer and an expert on polar bears, gun safety and wilderness travel standards on shore.

He also worked as a stuntman in the USA and Canada for which the estate’s clocktower came in handy: “I used to practice jumping off the clocktower onto cardboard boxes.”

He has other business interests – there’s a watersports company and an eco-cosmetics company, both based in France - and he loves sports including skiing and a relatively new hobby of paragliding. But his future is at Edenhall, running the estate. He says each decision he takes has to be rooted both in the now and 50 years in the future, which can be “a bit mind-boggling at times”.

He loves Cumbria and says the moment when he passes the Howgills and the heart-shaped wood in the Tebay Gorge engenders the same excitement that he experienced when he was a schoolboy on his way home for the holidays.

After his success with the log cabin, he says he’d love to build a treehouse that could be accessed by people with disabilities: “I’m always dreaming and always fantasising about the next project.”

See Cumbria Life Home for more on The Lodge log cabin at Edenhall. www.edenhallestate.com 60 / SEPTEMBER 2018 / CUMBRIA LIFE

‘I used to practice stunts by jumping off the clocktower onto cardboard boxes’

The Holden-Hindley family were originally from Lancashire where they were involved in the textiles industry and cotton mills.

Their association with Edenhall dates back to the Fifties, when the family bought the estate and farmed and managed the land while continuing to live in Lancashire.

Mark’s father, Airlie, moved to Edenhall in 1975 with his wife, Aude and their daughter, Mark’s older sister, Emma, before Mark was born.

Mark says: “When he first arrived the courtyard and buildings still had pigs and farm animals occupying them, so the first phase of restoration took place.”

The estate had a mixed farm which they operated themselves but after the 2001 foot and mouth outbreak, the family brought in tenants to run a successful dairy farm.

The estate once had a mansion house, Eden Hall, which was built for the Musgrave family in the 1820s but demolished in 1934. The stone pillars at the entrance to the long drive are still standing and are a familiar sight to local people, each topped with a pair of gauntleted arms holding an annulet or ring.

One of the most famous stories associated with the estate is that of the Luck of Edenhall, a 600-year-old drinking glass that’s still intact and is owned by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

It has a centuries-old legend attached to it about its power to protect the good fortune of its owner’s household. Made in the Middle East in about 1350, it came into the possession of the Musgraves and was known as the Luck of Edenhall by the 17th century.

The legend was mentioned by Anthony Trollope in his 1864 novel The Small House at Allington, in a scene in which guests must drink from the Luck despite the fear that: “If the Luck of Edenhall should be shattered, the doom of the family would be sealed.”

The Luck of Edenhall was loaned to the V&A in 1926 and acquired by the museum in 1958.

Mark with his late mum Aude, dad Airlie and sister Emma

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