We are just a chapter in the story of this house,” comments business woman Colleen Lowry, who, along with her husband Nicholas, are turning a country estate into a thriving tourism business.

“It’s quite quirky; it’s very personal and informal and that’s part of our charm,” she tells The Impartial Reporter.

Blessingbourne Estate in Fivemiletown has been in Nicholas’ family since the 17th century. Ten years ago, Nicholas and Colleen swapped homes with his parents, taking over the estate and deciding to transform it into a bustling holiday destination. Today, Blessingbourne has become a busy facility with self catering apartments, a working farm, walking trails, fishing on the lake, a carriage and costume museum (which includes penny farthings, a genuine Romany caravan and a UN helicopter), a coffee cabin run by Pinochos, Fivemiletown and Northern Ireland’s first professional mountain bike track.

“People don’t understand the complexities and overheads involved in these old houses. But I knew we had a great opportunity to do something very special here, so I decided to devote myself full time to developing Blessingbourne as a tourist destination,” Colleen explains.

The mother of two is determined to invest her time and effort into the stately home in a bid to hand over an estate to her sons that is easier to manage and allows them to keep it within the family.

A former high-flying fashion design executive – whose customers included Marks and Spencer and who consulted on hosiery designs for clients such as Princess Diana – Colleen can now be found chatting to guests on the estate, cleaning up after the peacocks that roam freely around the farm and generally keeping everything in check.

She feels that her previous private sector experience has stood her in good stead to undertake this venture.

“It’s because of my training that we are very personable with our customers and have very good Trip Advisor reviews. I realise that, when I was working with my buying teams in London, if my customers said: ‘Jump’, I had to say: ‘How high?’. To them, tomorrow wasn’t soon enough. I was very driven.” From there, Colleen, who had studied at Dungannon High School, followed by an Art degree in the University of Ulster, worked in Adria, before being made redundant in 1999 while pregnant with her second child. Her first foray into revamping the estate was when she began to refurbish the apartments that had been added to the estate’s courtyard 35 years ago by Nicholas’ father. The apartments then won a rural cottage holiday of the year award which was a great confidence boost.

Securing a role as Craft Development Officer for Dungannon and Tyrone Borough Council for five years, meant that Colleen made important contacts from all political parties who proved to be valuable assets in driving the Blessingbourne tourism venture forward.

She secured her first grant for refurbishing the old coach house and created a party area which has been used for birthday and engagement parties and small weddings.

“My sister calls me a project junkie who is always chasing grants,” Colleen laughs.

Once the coach house project was complete, Colleen’s next project was to create more self catering accommodation, including a five star gate lodge which was completed just in time for the G8. “I would love to create more four and five star accommodation; there is a huge demand for it,” she comments.

Finding inspiration by visiting other country estates is one of Colleen’s favourite pastimes. She is not keen to follow in the footsteps of Castle Leslie in Monaghan by becoming a hotel. She explains: “I thought: ‘What can I find for Blessingbourne that will make us stand out and be different?’” Initially she thought of trekking trails but worried that horse riding would be viewed as too elitist.

Outdoor NI suggest a mountain bike trail.

“Outdoor NI have been strategic in implementing the bike trails at Blessingbourne which have probably put us on the map,” Colleen explains. “We are the first professional mountain bike trail in Northern Ireland and the trail is designed by Phil Saxena, who also designed trails for the Beijing Olympics and the Downhill World Cup. It caters for all ages and abilities from complete beginners to those searching for that all important adrenaline fix. Dungannon and Tyrone Borough Council came on as a partner which allowed the trail to get more funding support,” Colleen explains.

Almost £800,000 was invested in the mountain bike trail at Blessingbourne, funded by SWARD; the Northern Ireland Tourist Board; a significant investment from Colleen and Nicholas; the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure; Dungannon and South Tyrone District Council; and Ulster Garden Villages.

A regular guest at Blessingbourne is Colin Ross, a seven time national downhill mountain bike champion in Ireland. When he uploaded a video of his two-year-old son on a bike at Blessingbourne it went viral and Colleen had guests from the Republic of Ireland off the back of it.

Indeed, the estate is embracing the power of the internet in a big way by revamping its website to include online booking and investing in local PR services. “I love facebook and twitter but it can be so time consuming,” Colleen comments. “Things in Northern Ireland are tough at the moment with the euro but we’ve had our best summer ever. I don’t know why that is. It might have something to do with our concerted effort on PR and advertising.” With the new website, the estate is receiving more queries for accommodation and weddings.

Colleen reflects: “My aim is to make Blessingbourne survive and still retain that family feeling. I’m trying to make a future for my boys so that they can retain it.

“There’s a market there for people who love the idea of staying on a real, working country estate.” Her future plans include creating a small caravan area, more self-catering accommodation, a commemorative garden for the 56th Field Artillery Battalion of the US army who were based at Blessingbourne from December 1943 until June 1944, redecorating a room in the house which had been decorated as a country kitchen but which succumbed to dry rot and installing a biomass boiler to reduce the heating bill in the house (which is their family home).