While most of us are concerned with noisy neighbours, traffic pollution and obsessing about the latest trend in home improvements, Jenny Knight who works for the National Trust has a very special place to call home - complete with dungeons, turrets and even the odd portcullis!
Powis Castle, Powys
©National Trust
After all the visitors have gone home, and it’s just you alone in your mansion or castle, it can be a hair-raising experience listening out for things going ‘bump’ in the night. Jenny Knight has recently been spooked by a couple of ghostly goings-on after hours at her workplace. Jenny, 26, is the Visitor Services Manager at Powis Castle, which dates back to the 11th century, and has an apartment inside the castle walls.
'Earlier this year I had two eerie experiences within a week. There’s a spiral wooden staircase which goes up all three floors in the castle, and one day I heard someone walk from the first floor to the second, but when I walked out of the living room expecting to see someone, there was no-one to be seen. I can’t quite bring myself to describe the other experience because it was late at night and it happened so quickly that I’m still not 100 per cent convinced of what I saw. Staff who’ve lived here in the past have only ever seen ghosts in the bedrooms but it only seems to be male members of staff who’ve seen them. I’ve never been scared in my own bedroom, thank goodness!'
When you live in a centuries-old castle, sharing your home with a few ghosts comes with the territory. Jenny has accepted it as part of her job, which involves managing the visitor reception staff, car park and entrance attendants and around a hundred volunteers who help out as garden and room stewards. Jenny is also in charge of organising all events at the castle which means her live-in accommodation comes in handy for evening events when she doesn’t have far to travel home, although it also means it can be difficult to get away from work.
'You do always feel like you’re on duty', she explains, 'but I make a point of trying to get away on my days off. When you live here you start to take it for granted but when I’ve been on leave and I drive in through the gates that look up through the beautiful gardens towards the castle itself, I always think ‘wow, I live here’.'
Jenny admits there are drawbacks to living in a castle. The television signal is terrible and her living floor shakes when there are visitors in the Clive Museum, which is next door to her flat. But she says the perks far outweigh the negatives.
'My flat has access up to the roof so I can sunbathe up there on my days off and the views are just fantastic. I save money on petrol because I only need to walk around the corner to get to work and there are times when you can have the whole grounds to yourself to wander around.'
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