17/07/2025
What if I told you that the bedtime stories you thought were fairy tales... were actually TRUE? 🏰
This is exactly what happened to my latest podcast guest, Hopwood DePree.
Picture this: You're a kid growing up in Michigan with an unusual name that gets you bullied on the playground. Your grandfather tells you bedtime stories about a Hopwood castle in England, but you think he's just trying to make you feel better about your embarrassing name. You spend years going by "Tod" instead, trying to escape the name that causes you so much grief.
Fast forward to adulthood. Your grandfather and father have both passed away, and you're doing some genealogy research on Ancestry, looking for that sense of connection to something constant. To the past. One night, you come across a black and white photograph of a massive estate in England. The name? Hopwood Hall.
In that moment, everything clicked. Those weren't fairy tales. They were breadcrumbs to your family's 600-year-old legacy.
That discovery didn't just change Hopwood's understanding of his past. It completely reshaped his future. He left his entertainment career in Los Angeles, moved permanently to England, and has spent the last 12 years restoring his ancestral home. He's discovered secret priest holes, hidden tabernacles, and countless stories that were literally waiting centuries for him to find them.
But here's what really gets me: Hopwood says one of his biggest regrets is not listening more carefully to his grandfather's stories. Sound familiar? How many of us have family "tales" we've dismissed as just stories?
As I was talking with Hopwood, I kept thinking about all the family stories that might actually be family HISTORY. What if our grandparents weren't just entertaining us? What if they were trying to lead us home?
The link to episode 68 of Stories That Live In Us is in the first comment. Listen in to hear Hopwood's full incredible journey. I promise it will change how you think about the stories your own family has told you.
What "fairy tales" did your grandparents tell you? I'd love to hear them in the comments below. You never know. Your story might inspire someone else to dig a little deeper into their own family history.
