Story Search Results

Ghostbusters! #8

GHOSTBUSTERS!      People were always coming to the Hall to either hire the place or to have a look around.  In 1973 a couple of professional ghost hunters asked to stay over one night to try and source the noises we heard in the attic.  They brought cases full of recording equipment and set it all up in one of the attic rooms.  Rather them than me I thought!  Then I had a brilliant idea and went off to tell my brother Gavin all about it.  As mentioned in my first blog the attic and basement had a row of bells which the family used to summon the servants.  Before the two men arrived we spent all day trying out all the bells to see which ones were which....

Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross #36

...previous blog ‘Life below stairs’).  By 1952, when the  Meynell family left, the number of servants had reduced to three or four, and the outside staff comprised a head gardener (Mr Robert Madeley) and three under-gardeners – a sad end to the glory days of the Victorian age.   Don’t miss next weeks’ instalment:  The Hall: World War II and beyond  If you would like to follow my story form the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends.    ...

Ghostbusters #8

...People were always coming to Hoar Cross Hall to either hire the house or to have a look around. In 1973, because of all the media interest in our ghosts, we had a couple of professional ghost hunters asking to stay over one night to try and find the source of the noises. They brought cases full of recording equipment and set it all up in one of the attic rooms. Rather them than me I thought! Then I had a brilliant idea and went off to tell my brother Gavin all about it. As mentioned in my first blog the attic and basement had a row of bells which the family used to summon the servants. Before the three men arrived we spent all day trying out all the bells to see...

Motor Racing Days #9

...Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing motor cycles in the 1930s. Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa. After the war he started racing motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a Cooper 500cc (which is the...

The War Years and Beyond #36

...rought my blog full circle and if you would like to read it from the beginning (with new added stories, since remembered) please click here and feel free to share with your friends. I will also be writing a few more history blogs over the next few weeks plus I will be putting up more photos spanning the many decades at the Hall from the Victorian era right through to our time there in the seventies! Enjoy!   Don't miss next week's instalment:  'Temple Newsam and the Meynells'   Follow me around my childhood home in my 'Tour of the Hall' – click here to view and subscribe to my YouTube channel. OUT NOW!!!  'My Dad Bought a Mansion' is out in book form...

Hickleton Hall and the Meynells #38

...ory in my blog 'Alice - the ghost in the mirror' which can be found on my website).  Emily Meynell Ingram   Talking about ghosts, apparently Hickleton Hall was just as haunted as Hoar Cross Hall.  Perhaps they followed Emily when she left to get married!  Lord Halifax has written a 'ghost book' of true stories which include ghostly warnings from beyond the grave - even the current owners can hear people whispering as they walk about the house.  If you would like to read more on this, click on the book below.     Lord Halifax's Ghost Book A collection of 'true' ghost stories collected by Lord Halifax, a Victorian English Viscount with an i...