Broughton Sanctuary: Centuries of Heritage Meet Modern Luxury
Overview
Managed by the Tempest family since the 11th century, Broughton Sanctuary combines historic architecture with modern luxury, serving as a versatile venue and retreat center, and actively engaging in nature recovery efforts including extensive tree planting and wildlife reintroduction projects.
History
The Roman Catholic Tempest family have been at Broughton Hall near Skipton, North Yorkshire since the 11th century, and today’s custodian, Roger Tempest, represents the 32nd generation in charge. The current house was adapted in the 19th century from the 16th century building that stood on the site, and combines the work of several architects, including William Atkinson. In the 1830s the house was developed again by local architect George Webster, who built a monumental porch of Ionic columns on the front of the house – easily recognisable whenever these appear on television. The Tempests live in a wing of the house, beyond which are 17 bedrooms, each in a different design: one is in what is believed to be the old chapel, and is where the priest hole would have been found, once upon a time. During the Second World War, a school in Liverpool was evacuated to Broughton – and promptly sent away again, finding the house too cold and run-down to serve as appropriate alternate accommodation. Today, the house is more than comfortable enough, with the en-suite bathrooms and luxury furnishings required by the visitors who are prepared to pay to stay, and the house more than works to earn its keep. Available for exclusive-use, as a filming location, and as a wedding venue, it is just one part of the Tempests’ very modern estate. Beyond the house is the retreat centre, Avalon, where Fibonacci sequences are carved onto the doors, and Utopia, the bistro designed by Sir Michael Hopkins with a garden by Dan Pearson, stands in what was once the walled garden.
Best known for
Roger Tempest’s innovative estate regeneration.
As seen in…
In Channel 5’s All Creatures Great and Small, Netflix’s The English Game, and in the 1970s classic Flambards.
Future-planning
Since 2021, the Tempests have been involved in a nature recovery project at Broughton, having planted 230,000 trees and reduced the amount of sheep grazing, while the feasibility of the reintroduction of beavers in the wetlands is being assessed.
Don’t go home without seeing
The window on the stairwell inside the house depicting the Tempest family tree – it’s both beautiful and extraordinary to behold.
Drop by…
The Tempest Arms, of course, about ten minutes from Skipton, for rooms, food, and drinks.
Need another local heritage fix?
Stop off at Parcevall Hall Gardens, 16 miles away, and enjoy the exotic specimens collected in this plantsman’s garden.
Our favourite line
‘The long classical facade of Broughton Hall, framed by gentle hills, presents an appropriately proud face to the outside world, for the Tempest family, who have lived here since the 14th century, have never been afraid to stand up for their beliefs, no matter what the consequences’ – Leanda de Lisle and Peter Stanford, 1995