Sledmere House: Mum of teen Elise Thomas opens up 'secret world' of her wildlife photos to raise funds in her memory

But now, each time she enters, she greets Elise Thomas with a warm hello, taking some comfort from the teenager staring back at her, with a treasured camera clasped in hand.

All around are examples of Elise’s work, framed prints of the area’s abundance of wildlife, which she captured so beautifully in their natural habitats.

“She used to spend hours outside, sometimes getting up before dawn so she could see all the deer and hares,” Jo says.

“She liked being outdoors and she liked animals. She did move later to discover bands and music and went off to that side with her photography.

“But she was talking about getting another lens to go back to her wildlife. I think that’s where her passion lay.”

Elise was a media and photography student at the East Riding College in Beverley when she sadly lost her life following a motorway accident back in 2023.

The 17-year-old had developed a love for the thrill of live music and was travelling with friends to see pop group The Vamps at a concert at Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster when tragedy struck. She sustained serious injuries and passed away in hospital a week later.

Elise’s talent had already seen her win the RSPCA Young Photographer of the Year award in 2021 but it wasn’t until after her death that Jo and husband Nick Clark discovered the full extent of Elise’s passion and a highly-promising career in the making.

More than 13,000 photographs, and details of commissions and collaborations, came to the fore, in what the couple now affectionately call ‘The Secret World of Elise’.

“She was very quiet, very unassuming, quite shy,” says 54-year-old Jo, of her daughter. “She hid her light under a bushel really. She only showed us one or two pictures of the thousands that she took that she was particularly proud of or pleased with.

“We didn’t see hardly anything so to find all these has been like uncovering The Secret World of Elise. It’s been really interesting to see all these pictures that she’s spent hours editing and putting into albums.”

It wasn’t until she was 15, during the first Covid lockdown that Elise first picked up a camera. She started taking photographs around the farm where she lived with her family on the Sledmere estate in Driffield.

Elise’s confidence and passion only grew, as she joined online groups and sought advice from people in the field.

The results were striking images of the wildlife on her doorstep, from deer and hares to owls and birds of prey.

Last March, an exhibition of Elise’s work was launched in the Courtyard Room in the grounds of Sledmere House, having been spearheaded by the estate family’s Christopher Sykes.

It was originally due to run for a number of weeks but after that time moved to a dedicated exhibition room where the images are still on display more than a year later.

“It’s amazing,” Jo reflects. “We knew she was a good photographer but we are by no means photographers ourselves and we didn’t know the degree of talent that she had.

“You get people coming in and saying how fantastic it is. It’s lovely to hear people talking of her work like that and saying how brilliant she was and what a dreadful loss it’s been because her talent is just superb.”

Boxing Hares and Other Sledmere Animals by Elise Thomas is a collection of around 50 of her images showcasing her love of wildlife photography in particular.

Around 13.500 people, from all over the country, have visited the exhibition in the last 12 months, Jo says - and she’s grateful for all those who have volunteered to help with manning the space or working on administrative tasks behind the scenes.

“If we hadn’t had all these people helping us, we wouldn’t have been able to do it,” she says. “We know people are enjoying seeing the photographs. It’s something positive that’s come out of something so horrific.”

Elise’s work is also available to purchase at the exhibition and online. Items for sale include prints, cards, bookmarks, calendars and mugs, with all proceeds going to the Elise Thomas Memorial Fund set up in her name.

Already, £5,000 has been given to East Riding College to support students of photography and media with equipment and coursework trips. Money has also been donated to the local Young Farmers group, of which Elise was a member.

This is all to be Elise’s legacy, says Jo, who now focuses much of her time on making it happen.The images are also a way in which she can feel connected to her daughter.

“Sometimes it gets a bit much and I have to switch off from it all. But it’s quite therapeutic.

“When I go sit in there on a morning, it’s very quiet and I always say hello to her - there’s a big picture of her with her camera and she’s looking straight at you. It took me a while to be able to look at that head on but I can now and it’s quite therapeutic.”

“I hope we can continue,” she adds. “We’ve built up a good customer base and have returning customers coming to buy things from us.

"I feel like we’re part of the estate now and we are very grateful to the Sykes family for letting us stay for as long as we have done.”

To view and purchase Elise’s work online, visit elisethomasphotos.co.uk