Arundells In 1985, at the age of 69, the former British Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath, bought Arundells, partly because of its proximity to the Solent, where he sailed. He engaged the renowned interior designer, Derek Frost, whose brief was to modernise the house in a contemporary fashion while paying respect to the Queen Anne original. Frost designed display cabinets to house Sir Edward's many trophies and awards. He also designed a number of custom pieces of furniture for the house that remain there to this day. It was the first time in his life that Sir Edward had owned a
Arundells political secretary in the 1960s and as Cabinet minister under both Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Major in turn serves as president of the Foundation's fund-raising campaign. Previous chairmen include Robert Armstrong, the former Cabinet Secretary, and David Hunt, also a Cabinet minister under Major. When Heath died in 2005, his estate was valued at £5 million and the Foundation opened Arundells to the public in 2008, initially for a three-year period, under planning permission at the time. Although the property has since received around 80,000 visitors, the trustees initially found it difficult to make the property self-financing, as they