SHOWING US AROUND THEIR ESSEX ESTATE — AND CASTLE DEMETRA AND JASON LINDSAY ON FRIENDLY GHOSTS, HOLLYWOOD GUESTS AND THE LABOUR OF LOVE THAT RESULTED IN A FAMILY HOME

‘We turned up the drive and I was like: “Oh, golly.” It was a bit down at heel, to put it mildly’

Demetra Lindsay remembers the first time she set eyes on Hedingham Castle. In 2001, she had only just met her husband-to-be Jason, and had no idea that he’d inherited a 12th-century Norman keep next door to a magnificent Georgian house in Essex, both of which had been neglected for many years. “On date five he said: There’s a place I want to show you,’” Demetra tells us.

“We turned up the drive and I was like: Oh, golly.’ It was a bit down at heel, to put it mildly. He said: If you don’t like the idea of this, get out now.’ It was a bit funny, as we had no plans together,” she adds. “We’d only met each other five times.” They married two years later, moved