A Deans daughter, a sister to six brothers, a wife to a wealthy merchant, an acknowledged beauty, a society A-List guest an artists model, mistress to a future king, inspirer of poetry and plays, society hostess.
Lillie Langtry went from wearing only one dress to being acknowledged leader of fashion, from being socially inept to societies "must have" and when she lost favour and was nearly bankrupt she re-invented herself as an actress and entrepreneur.
She made advertising socially acceptable, toured America with her own acting company, started a winery in America and was a successful owner of race horses. She amassed millions and spent with equal extravagance, the centre of attention wherever she went. Intelligent humorous, fascinating to both men and women she was admired and idolised by people from all walks of life.
At home in the company of Princes and Presidents, artists and poets or simply alone in her garden. Envied, respected adored and lampooned, her fame spanning over half a century.
Throughout her life she left a trail of broken hearts.
A controversial figure who challenged Victorian society's attitudes to women, but was no suffragette.
A unique individual who was years ahead of her time.
She made advertising socially acceptable, toured America with her own acting company, started a winery in America and was a successful owner of race horses. She amassed millions and spent with equal extravagance, the centre of attention wherever she went. Intelligent humorous, fascinating to both men and women she was admired and idolised by people from all walks of life.
At home in the company of Princes and Presidents, artists and poets or simply alone in her garden. Envied, respected adored and lampooned, her fame spanning over half a century.
Throughout her life she left a trail of broken hearts.
A controversial figure who challenged Victorian society's attitudes to women, but was no suffragette.
A unique individual who was years ahead of her time.
We met our tour guide Scott and off went we in the Ford Explorer with a cooler of wine and a picnic basket with boxed lunches. We went four wheeling through the vineyards, saw the original grapevine planted by Lillie herself in 1888, or so he said, then went to Lillie's actual house and ate our delicious lunch in her dining room!! I was thrilled to see the house as this wasn't part of our tour.
The estate consists of 21,000 acres, a private golf course which gets used by about 50 players over the year and costs $100,000 to keep green, per Scott. And the wine was spectacular!!
Tons of vineyards of all different grapes, making wines some of which, I confess, I had never heard of! The grapes are picked by hand by (legal) migrant workers, they get paid $30/ton and a good picker can pick a ton an hour! Hard work for sure.
After the tour we carried on to Twin Pines Casino and hotel, where Mike won enough to pay for the day!! Sweet!
 |
| Impressive entrance |
 |
| View of lake on the estate from Cellar |
 |
| Free Picnic Area |
 |
| Lilly's original vine, still trying to produce grapes! |
 |
| Just a beautiful day! |
 |
| The rows in the older vineyards are far apart, big enough to drive through. |
 |
| The fireplace in the Parlor |
 |
| Flat screen TV in the Parlor looks out of place. |
 |
 |
| The view from the master bedroom. |
