A COUPLE who delight in sharing tales from the history of a Mere stately home are themselves a vital chapter in its story.

Jim and Jean Whitlow are as much a part of Arley Hall as the furnishings as they answer questions in their role as guides – a role they have each occupied for more than 25 years.

Jean started working there as a room minder around 27 years ago, and was followed by her husband Jim when he retired, aged 65.

Jim celebrated his 90th birthday in September, but the pair have no plans to stop helping at the hall, which was built by Rowland Egerton-Warburton in the early 1800s to replace an earlier house on the site.

It is currently owned by Lord and Lady Ashbrook.

“It’s interesting, and meeting new people keeps you going – that’s what keeps your brain working,” Jean said.

“We’ve been lucky because we’ve got our health – that’s a lot in our favour.”

The couple, who live in Mobberley, have a long-standing connection with the Arley estate through Jim’s family, who have been tenant farmers there for generations.

It was this connection that led to Jean’s invitation to join the team as a room guide, and her first experiences in post were certainly memorable.

“One of the early times I was on it was teeming with rain and water was coming down on the landing – down the walls where the pictures were hanging,” she said.

“We were busy snatching them off the walls to help to save them and putting buckets underneath.

“I always remember that – what a start it was.”

Jim, a founder member of Cheshire Young Farmers, farmed at Walton and Pickmere before becoming a ranger at Tatton Park.

“When I retired I thought I may as well help at Arley with Jean because we only had one car,” Jim said.

“I already knew a lot of the history because I’d heard all about Arley since I was seven.

“My grandfather farmed Garland Farm on the estate and my uncle after him.

“He was quite friendly with the Ashbrooks and my grandfather used to go curling with one of the ancestors on the frozen mere.”

The couple both started off as room minders, which required being an expert on their room, its pictures and artefacts, as well as the hall and family in general.

As guiders they show tours of visitors around the hall, often with Jim covering the downstairs rooms and then handing over to Jean who guides groups upstairs.

Frequently-asked questions include whether the Egerton-Warburton family are any relation to the bread-making Warburtons, which they are not, and whether the hall is home to any ghosts.

Jean said: “Some say there are ghosts but we don’t believe in them.”

Jim added: “I would like to have met one though, so I could sit down and have a chat with them.”

The house may not have any resident ghosts, but its rooms are pervaded a sense of the family who lived there.

Jim said: “My favourite room is the library, I could spend hours in there reading if I was allowed.

“It looks so cosy and gets nice and warm with the log fire, it looks very encouraging.

“First thing in the morning when you open the door you can smell Rowland’s tobacco, it must be in the paper.

“The drawing room is also quite interesting.

“The walls were decorated with silk and it looked lovely but during the war they got evacuees in and they pulled it down.

“Lady Elizabeth at the time was quite upset about it and said they would have to go, so they went.

“She was quite an authority in the Red Cross and turned the room into a hospital for soldiers, and people who have been in say ‘I remember I was in that bed there, and so-and-so was in that bed there’.

“Everyone is very taken with the place and that’s its secret, it’s a family home.”