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By Beverley Nielsen | Lady Pat is always busy…and not always in that highfalutin’ way you might expect of a titled lady, especially one married to the whirlwind that is Sir Digby Jones. It’s quite clear she’s not above everyday household chores and is as happy ironing her husband’s shirts as she is hobnobbing with the great and good.
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Warm welcome: the dark blue oil-fired Rayburn | She’s a perfect foil for her husband – he’s upfront, openly admitting that he calls a spade a spade, she is gracious; his enthusiasm is unbound, Lady Pat is a master of restrained sophistication; Sir Digby is no stranger to the media and certainly not afraid of controversy, Lady Pat is a quiet presence, always on hand with her rock solid support.
Her husband is well-known to many as the former Director General of the CBI. His energy is manifest - his involvements spanning the private and public sectors - and there are few people committed to such a wide range of charities. He’s currently working as an advisor to a long list of high-powered companies, including Barclays Capital, Ford of Europe, JCB, Leicester Tigers and Deloittes. He’s a Fellow of UNICEF and Chairman of the Corporate Ambassadors of Cancer Research UK. On top of this he’s found time to present a new current affairs series for Channel 4 unravelling some of the big issues facing us all.
Sir Digby and Lady Pat lead a peripatetic lifestyle – during his six and a half years heading up the CBI Sir Digby visited over 70 countries lobbying on behalf of British business.
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Working together: Sir Digby and Lady Pat | When they’re in the UK, they have a flat in Marylebone, London, which they use through the week. Their main home is in Warwickshire in the Midlands, not far from Sir Digby’s Birmingham Longbridge roots. It’s an elegant house and like the rolling Warwickshire countryside surrounding it, there’s a calm, reassuring confidence within. The front door opens into a classic marble-floored hallway. The sitting room, with its generous bay windows, leads into a comfortable kitchen with charming handmade terracotta floortiles and a welcoming dark blue oil-fired Rayburn.
“We’ve had our Rayburn for three years now and it’s a lovely feature to have in any kitchen”, says Lady Pat. “It’s always warm, providing a great focus to the room. Whilst I don’t get the chance to cook here that often, when I do I like the way there are never any cooking smells in the kitchen when you use the Rayburn.
“Digby and I both really appreciate the taste of the food we cook in it. It cooks through so evenly - quite simply food just tastes nicer. In a sense our Rayburn gives us the best of both worlds - like an Aga it cooks beautifully with that lovely radiant heat, and just like a normal cooker I can turn it on and off as I wish.
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Wonderful workhorse: the Rayburn Heatranger | “We use the Rayburn to heat the whole house and all our water; as a result I never turn it off completely. Because we’re constantly travelling between our two homes, it’s highly convenient to be able to turn the cooker on and off according to our needs, and, of course, it’s very energy efficient. I also find it handy being able to turn the heating up or down through the house - whether it’s winter or summer, or simply a hotter or colder day.”
“We’d never had an Aga or Rayburn before,” adds Sir Digby. “and we’d never be without one again. I love the way it heats our house and our water as well as cooking our food. It’s a wonderful little workhorse – practical and compact – but on top of that, stylish and welcoming. A house with a Rayburn isn’t just a house, it’s a home.” |
