Northants, Leics &amp; Rutland

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="807" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Duchess-Rutland-001.jpeg" alt="Emma Manners Duchess of Ruatland Belvoir Castle" class="wp-image-62675" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Duchess-Rutland-001.jpeg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Duchess-Rutland-001-300x242.jpeg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Duchess-Rutland-001-768x620.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



Wellness is the buzzword on everyone&#8217;s lips, with a product or a treatment seemingly claiming to cure all ills. But at Belvoir Castle, stylish, witty and singularly driven, Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland, the matriarch and CEO of Belvoir Castle has been embracing a more pared back and thoughtful approach to health and wellness, one that focuses on calm, and on less, rather than more. Which is why Belvoir Lodge, part of the the Belvoir Estate has been transformed into a nurturing, luxury retreat space for detox, yoga and healing, hosted by Kate Tyler, a therapist with over twenty years of experience who is lauded for her considered approach to wellness. We spoke the Duchess of Rutland about how she sees her role at Belvoir and her personal interest in health and wellbeing. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/BelvoirLodge-SamChurchill-0710-1024x683-1.jpg" alt="Belvoir Lodge luxury Wellness Retreats leicestershire" class="wp-image-62680" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/BelvoirLodge-SamChurchill-0710-1024x683-1.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/BelvoirLodge-SamChurchill-0710-1024x683-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/BelvoirLodge-SamChurchill-0710-1024x683-1-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Belvoir Lodge</figcaption></figure>



You&#8217;re passionate about preserving the heritage of Belvoir Castle and have been at the helm of an array of projects. What drives you to keep the estate evolving? I&#8217;ve only been here for the last thirty years, but generations of Duchesses have done it before me so, just for this little moment in time, there is enormous responsibility. You don&#8217;t take it lightly and it&#8217;s not a job, it&#8217;s a way of life. It&#8217;s not dissimilar from my roots &#8211; I grew up on a farm &#8211; and if you&#8217;re in the farming world you never feel you&#8217;re working, it&#8217;s just a way of life and so it&#8217;s the same for me. It&#8217;s the way of life.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="832" height="1024" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Emma-Manners-832x1024.jpeg" alt="Emma Manner Duchess of Rutland" class="wp-image-62687" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Emma-Manners-832x1024.jpeg 832w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Emma-Manners-244x300.jpeg 244w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Emma-Manners-768x945.jpeg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Emma-Manners.jpeg 1000w" sizes="(max-width: 832px) 100vw, 832px" /></figure>



You&#8217;ve been quite open in the past about the challenges of preserving a heritage estate on the scale of Belvoir, but what do you love most about life at Belvoir?



I love doing something that feels like a vocation. I&#8217;m not paid to do my job, I do it from my heart and I do it because I believe in preserving the heritage, not just for my son and family but for generations of people throughout society. We have nearly a hundred volunteers who work in the library and gardens, for example. I couldn&#8217;t do it without all of the people who invest their time and efforts to keep everything together. We&#8217;re deeply invested in the local community, and raise around a hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year for local charities through events. You become integrally woven within the community &#8211; it&#8217;s a symbiotic relationship between the two. 



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1024" height="683" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Belvoir-Castle-vineyard-1-1-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-62679" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Belvoir-Castle-vineyard-1-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Belvoir-Castle-vineyard-1-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Belvoir-Castle-vineyard-1-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Belvoir-Castle-vineyard-1-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/Belvoir-Castle-vineyard-1-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></figure>



You&#8217;ve recently launched wellness retreats at Belvoir Lodge in the Castle grounds, what was the inspiration for that?



Belvoir Lodge was the home of my mother-in-law for twenty-five years and before that it was the home of the ninth Duchess during the second world war when the family moved out of the castle after it was requisitioned by the British Army. There are majestic gardens around the lodge, created by the Duke&#8217;s grandmother and long before that it was the site of a Benedictine Priory. We&#8217;ve restored it and used furniture and paintings from the castle and created a dedicated room for yoga and meditation as part of that. There&#8217;s a real sense of history, inside and out, with the gardens full of roses and flowers that have been planted here for the last hundred years, and when you&#8217;re visiting for a retreat it feels very much as though you&#8217;re part of the castle.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="1000" height="667" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/BelvoirLodge-SamChurchill-2399-1024x683-1.jpg" alt="Belvoir lodge gardens" class="wp-image-62684" srcset="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/BelvoirLodge-SamChurchill-2399-1024x683-1.jpg 1000w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/BelvoirLodge-SamChurchill-2399-1024x683-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/northantsleicsrutland/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2025/10/BelvoirLodge-SamChurchill-2399-1024x683-1-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px" /></figure>



I met Kate Tyler, who runs Platinum Healing, around eight or nine years ago. I went to one of her detox retreats which was amazing, though I&#8217;ve long been interested in alternative medicine and am also trained as a Reiki Master and attend a Panchakarma Ayurvedic retreat in Kerala. I&#8217;ve recently installed a stone circle and we also have a labyrinth which is a walking meditation and we do forest bathing. It&#8217;s about embracing health and wellness on a holistic level. 



What&#8217;s next on the agenda for Belvoir? Do you have any big plans going forward? 



We&#8217;re really excited about creating wellness at Belvoir now and there&#8217;s an old courthouse on the estate that we&#8217;re going to renovate to create more space for meditation groups so that is a big focus at the moment. We&#8217;ve also recently done up the Manners Arms in Knipton, which is part of the estate and has been closed since 2022, so that will be re-opening soon. There&#8217;s a plenty to keep us busy.



Learn more about <a href="https://www.platinum-healing.com/retreat-leicestershire/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Luxury Wellness at Belvoir Lodge</a> and visit Belvoir Castle this autumn and winter to experience their <a href="https://www.belvoircastle.com/whats-on" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">programme of events</a>, including <a href="https://www.belvoircastle.com/event/cG9zdDoyODM=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pumpkin Picking</a>, a <a href="https://www.belvoircastle.com/event/cG9zdDoyMzg=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Halloween Trail</a>, <a href="https://www.belvoircastle.com/event/cG9zdDoyMjg=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bonfire Night</a>, <a href="https://www.belvoircastle.com/whats-on/events" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Santa&#8217;s Grotto </a>and <a href="https://www.belvoircastle.com/christmas" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A Magical Night Before Christmas</a>.

Muddy meets Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland

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