Story Search Results

Moving On - the end of an era #33

...few more history ones and there will be lots more photos on the website at some point in the near future. In 2000 we moved down to Devon to start a new chapter in our lives, running restaurants and festivals and creating a whole new bunch of stories! For years we have been telling people all about my eccentric family and the crazy life we lived at the Hall, especially during the divorce, which is why I decided to write this blog. I would like to dedicate it to the memory of my parents, without whom this story would not have been possible. Against all the odds, they went out on a limb to buy this amazing old house and try to do something with it. Thank goodne...

Hickleton Hall and the Meynells #38

...ent: 'The history of the stately home' If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends.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' book is available on Amazon.All my memoirs packed with lots of original photographs from the times. Go check it out here and let me know what you think!As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.     ...

The Kitchen Maid's Tale #41

...terature, history, philosophy, and drama. She graduated in 1984. In 1991, she paid a visit to Hoar Cross, spending a pleasurable week as a guest in the Spa Hotel, above stairs! What a strange experience that must have been for her, albeit enjoyable!Her life had now come full circle which just goes to show that you should never give up on your dreams and you’re never too old to do something new!   Don’t miss next week’s instalment:   'What the Butler Saw!'   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends. Follow me around my childhood home in my 'Tour of the Hall' – click here...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #45

...This week I’ve done a history blog about the servants who lived at the Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s when the Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean and light all the fires and dust and polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one and a half million servants; most young girls went in...

Moving on - the end of an era #33

...few more history ones and there will be lots more photos on the website. In 2000 we moved down to Devon to start a new chapter in our lives, running restaurants and festivals and creating a whole new bunch of stories! For years we have been telling people all about my eccentric family and the crazy life we lived at the Hall, especially during the divorce, and this is why I decided to write this blog.  I would like to dedicate it to the memory of my parents, without whom this story would not have been possible.  Against all the odds, they went out on a limb to buy this amazing old house and try to do something with it.  Thank goodness for people like them...

The Schoolroom Maid's Story #34

...THE SCHOOLROOM MAID'S STORY:       For the first 75 years of the Hall’s history about 50 servants were employed by the Meynell family in the house and grounds.  Among these was a young girl of fifteen who started work in 1920 as a Schoolroom Maid.  Her name was Miss Inez Sophia Large and she had connections to Hoar Cross through her grand-parents, William and Mary Tooth, who lived in the village where William was the blacksmith; his smithy was just along from the Meynell public house.  He had worked on the ironwork of the Hall during its construction in the 1860s.  Inez’s aunt, Constance Madeley, was the wife of the landlord at the Buffalo Inn, in ne...