The Bridgerton effect: Stately homes are having a moment

From castles to country manors, Jen Stevens meets the people keeping our historic properties alive 

James and Joanna Fennell outside one of the holiday aparrtments t for rent on the grounds of thier home at Burtown House near Athy, Co Kildare. Photograph Moya Nolan

Whether you long to live in the grand mansions of Bridgerton with their beautiful occupants and dramatic floral arrangements, or you love the upstairs, downstairs relationships of Downton Abbey, you have probably had a couple of daydreams over the last few years about living in a magnificent ancestral home.

While the National Trust in the UK maintains over 500 historic homes, castles, and gardens, the OPW’s Heritage Services looks after just 93, including Castletown House in Kildare and Doneraile Estate in Cork.