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When new English Heritage chief executive Simon Thurley decided to buy Apethorpe Hall, a crumbling Jacobean palace hidden away in the Northamptonshire countryside, he was hoping to recoup an enormous investment of public money. But this behind-the-scenes look at the organisation shows that the experiment has been far from a roaring success. Four years down the line, having spent millions, Simon grudgingly admits the scale of the task has completely defeated him. With the state of the house as it is and the state of the property market, English Heritage can't sell it at any price and are now looking at a multimillion-pound loss.