Simon Bennett, is the owner and director of Augill Castle in Kirkby Stephen, which he has operated for the last 18 years and visited Iraq and Gaza as part of an international assignment.

Mr Bennett was speaking to inTheBay as part of our “Ten minutes with” series where a local business person spends ten minutes talking about the big headlines of the week.

The hotelier also discussed his latest venture, a non-profit company designed to share stories from young people across the world to share experiences and lessons together.

So, who is Simon Bennett?

“I’m the owner and director of Augill Castle and we’ve been here for 18 years, we bought the castle in 1997 as an empty shell and we’ve built it into a 15 bedroom country house and hotel and wedding venue.

“We’ve just received a Cesar Award from the Good Hotel Guide, we specialise in our family friendly offering and the award reflects that side of the business.

“The family friendly side of our business grew organically, my experience in business has shown that the best ideas come naturally.

“The business also grew along with our children, so as they became more visible as we live on site, it made more sense as we were trying to do the same things as the families that were coming to visit which was to come away and have a good time while looking after the kids.”

Storm Desmond’s effects on the business

“In the last six weeks, like the whole of Cumbria, we’ve spent repairing the damage done by storms to our building and then repairing the repairs.

“Since Storm Desmond, the last six weeks have felt like the previous 18 years in one. The castle is a Grade II listed building and that takes a lot of upkeep as well as being very rewarding.

“Because we run a castle, the people we meet often aren’t from Cumbria, so while we don’t have the world right outside, we do find that the world comes to us.”

Expedition to the Middle East

“I recently went on a trip to the Middle East as part of a delegation of Bishops from across the world, to go and see the Holy Land Coordination which has been established to show the christian population in these areas that they haven’t been forgotten.

“I was invited to go as non-denominational representation, as someone who is extremely involved in education in Cumbria, as a school governor for the last 15 years and I believe that it’s possible for you to be able to broaden people’s minds.

“We met a lot of people over there, people displaced by war, refugees from Iraq and we went to Gaza as well, we were speaking to people on one side of the Israel-Gaza barrier and I am sure that on the other side we would be having a similar conversation.”

New non-profit business

“So I’ve come back and set up my own non-profit called Bridges Not Borders to try and encourage young people to engage in education and share their experiences.

“I really want to explore the fact that without politics, religion and external forces that children and young people are all the same, with the same thoughts and ideas and have lots in common.

“I think that might be a little step to creating a better world and to get a discussion out there that there are so many stories that people in these areas and refugees have stories that we're not hearing.”

You can find out more about Mr Bennett’s latest project, Bridges Not Barriers, on the official webpage http://www.bridgesnotbarriers.com/ or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BridgesNotBarriers/.