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See you in Court #31

SEE YOU IN COURT:     The saga of my parents’ split continued as we grew up in our stately home, although their behaviour was anything but stately for most of the time! Seven years of arguing and fighting were about to come to an end and the solicitors had finally agreed on a date to go to court. We carried on helping my dad to run the Hall and he still went to his boat in Caernarfon at weekends to get away from the house but we were all getting weary of it now. We were young adults and wanting to get on with our own lives. After five years together we were hoping to get married at some point so we were glad that it was finally going to be sorted out one wa...

Ghouls Galore! #18

One of the great things about living in a stately home is that you can have a wild party with the loudest of music – and no-one will hear it! I was now going out with Kev, whom I had met at college. Mum was a bit disappointed that my sensible boyfriend and I had parted company after 18 months of an on/off relationship but she accepted Kev into the fold and eventually met all the other members of the band. I think she wanted to put her mind at rest that they were a bunch of nice lads and not a drug crazed rock band eating bats! Which of course they were! No – I’m only kidding! After the awful split up at Christmas my parents were now living at each end of t...

Moving Into a Mansion #67

As summer turns to autumn my thoughts have gone back in time to 1970 when my family moved house at this time of the year - not to any old house, but to a 70-roomed stately home in Staffordshire!  The whole process of moving  was done over the summer months as we lived about 20 miles away in an old vicarage with a large garden and lots of outbuildings. This house was about 200 years old and they say Bonnie Prince Charlie marched past it on his way to battle back in the day, for all you history buffs out there!  Actually I love history and I think my interest was fuelled by living in these historic houses as a child.  My dad used to be a racing driver in the 1...

Gardeners World at Hoar Cross #43

...hing with stately homes as the farm supplied the house and staff with all the produce that they needed. The carp pool provided fish and the regular pheasant shoots provided game for the table. All very self sufficient! In addition to the farm workers and gardeners were all sorts of other workers on the estate: a stone mason, brick makers, foresters and thatchers, carpenters, a joiner, plumber and an electrician. They looked after the maintenance of the house and workers’ cottages, and the tenanted properties. The carp pond in front of the greenhouses   If the butler was an important figure inside the house, the head gardener had as much authority outsi...

Get me to the church on time! #30

...My dad was having to move out of Hoar Cross Hall and we had decided to bring our wedding forward so we that we could get married in the church in the grounds and then have the reception afterwards in the Hall, which was after all our family home. The wedding preparations were going quite well and as we knew lots of musicians it wasn’t hard to find a local band and a DJ to do the disco. A friend of my dad’s offered to do the catering and the bar was set up with plenty of kegs from the local brewery in Burton on Trent. I had two bridesmaids and we all went to Birmingham one day to choose our dresses and shoes – it was all kept very simple really as I had no...

New Year jinks! #11

...dent in a stately home near Lichfield back in the 70s when a ceiling moulding had fallen on somebody’s head.  Imagine the looks on our faces when we realised it was my own stately home he was referring to – this inspection cost us £1500 - and all because of my dad! Happy New Year!!   Don’t miss next week’s instalment:  Mediaeval Mayhem If you’d like to follow my story from the beginning, please click here and feel free to share with your friends    ...