Lady Ingilby is the daughter of Major Richard A. Thompson, a military officer, and Pamela Margaret Baker, a school teacher.
[1][2][3] Her parents met in Hong Kong, where her father was serving in the British Armed Forces, shortly after World War II.
[11] They gave commercial leases to an art gallery, a pub, cafés, a gin-tasting room, a small clothing boutique, and a florist in Ripley.
[4] Lady Ingilby originally cooked the meals for formal dinners and events at the castle, for sometimes up to a hundred guests.
[6] She hosts weddings and other formal events at the castle, and opened a 25-room hotel, called the Boar's Head, in one of the estate's listed buildings.
[14] Lady Ingilby grows coffee, palms, bananas, oranges, cacti, and orchids in Ripley's gardens.
[16] She met Sir Thomas Colvin William Ingilby, 6th Baronet of Ripley Castle, at a dinner party when she was 18 years old.