HELEN LESLIE:HELEN LESLIE, who has died aged 79, was the widow of Desmond Leslie of Castle Leslie, Glaslough, in Co Monaghan.
Glaslough has been owned by the Leslies since 1665 when it was bought by John Leslie, bishop of Clogher. The estate had come down through the family, until Sir Shane Leslie, whose mother was the sister of Winston Churchill’s mother, refused his inheritance. After his brother was killed in the first World War, and his eldest son decided to live in Italy, the place was taken over by Desmond Leslie, Sir Shane’s younger son. Helen came to live at Glaslough in the 1960s.
She was born in London, the daughter of Col Ian Strong, and grew up in the village of Wiveliscombe in Somerset and then in Hereford, receiving no formal education until she was 14. She went on to train as a primary school teacher, but after a short time decided that this was not for her, and went to Gibraltar.
From there, she made occasional forays in a speed boat to take whiskey over the border to sell in Spain. She eventually moved to Torremolinos, then a small fishing village, where she lived between intervals of running a florist business in London.
One winter, she was in Kitzbühel, Austria, to ski. Before a tea party given by a friend, she was told there would be present a man whom she should steer clear of, as although “he was fascinating, he already had a 100 volt wife and an exotic mistress”.
This was Desmond Leslie, and between them there grew a deep attraction. At the time, he was married to the actress Agnes Bernelle who had come with him from London to take over the management of Castle Leslie and the estate.
Helen came to Dublin. She had a flat in Terenure, and eventually moved into Castle Leslie with her and Desmond’s two daughters, Samantha and Camilla.
The Leslies as a family are distinguished individuals who delight in eccentricity. Desmond had written several popular books including one on UFOs (unidentified flying objects) titled Flying Saucers have Landed, and claimed he had seen one over California. He also composed electronic music, known as musique concrète which was a success in some circles.
But in the 1970s, he was desperately looking for ways to keep the castle and demesne in the family.
It was Helen, a keen horsewoman, who thought of inviting young European aristocrats to come to the castle to ride and learn English. She then decided that other adults might enjoy Glaslough, and so she started the equestrian centre in 1974 and a cross-country course of 40km (25 miles) of different rides containing 200 varied fences – there was always a discreet gate for non-jumpers.
This became popular, especially with riders from the North, and north Europeans. The house that Desmond had run as a nightclub called “Annabel’s on the Bog” became “The Hunting Lodge” with a club bar called “Fence 50”, which he said was “the one fence that has never known a refusal”.
There were plans for a golf course and a hotel, and to make the estate an outdoor tourist attraction, but none of this materialised and the Troubles in the North impinged more and more. Though Castle Leslie was not touched, one of the estate walls that had been built during the Famine as part of famine relief works was the Border between the North and the South.
The two adjacent properties in the North were Caledon, which was burnt, as was Tynan Abbey, and its owner, old Sir Norman Strong, who had been the speaker in Stormont, murdered with his son. Helen found it very hard, being English, to be living so close to this conflict and spent short spells in France and Switzerland.
The equestrian centre was sold. With money difficult to come by, she did much of the work in the house and garden. She kept the four-acre garden with its greenhouses and the family was self-sufficient in vegetables and fruit.
As Desmond grew older he found he had to spend the winters abroad. Helen had inherited a property from her mother in the hills above Nice and they spent more and more time there, moving there officially in 1987.
Desmond died there in 2001. Castle Leslie was leased from other members of the family by their daughter Sammy who has made it a successful luxury hotel set in 1,000 acres and attracts visitors from all over the world.
Helen Leslie is survived by her daughters Samantha (Sammy) and Camilla.
Helen Leslie: born December 3rd, 1931; died April 15th, 2011