Story Search Results

Growing up in a stately home #1

...llRoom, a Drawing Room, a Chapel and a Library with secret doors! How I loved it – I was a big fan of The Famous Five in those days and it really did feel like I was in the middle of one of their mysteries! There were about 15 basement Rooms, some of which had had the floors removed due to damp rot, but the main passageway was made of flagstones so you could still walk through it – this was where the indoor male servants had slept and it was also where the wine cellars were along with linen storage cupboards. In the attic a similar number of Rooms were bare and empty and had once housed all the female servants. Two spiral staircases joined all the floors tog...

A Bit Of Background #1

...llRoom, a Drawing Room, a Chapel and a Library with secret doors!  How I loved it – I was a big fan of The Famous Five in those days and it really did feel like I was in the middle of one of their mysteries!  There were about 15 basement Rooms some of which had had the floors removed due to damp rot but the main passageway was made of flagstones so you could still walk through it – this was where a lot of the male servants had slept and it was also where the wine cellars were along with linen storage space. In the attic a similar number of Rooms were bare and empty and had once housed all the female servants.  Two spiral staircases joined all the floors...

My Dad Bought a Mansion #1

...llRoom, a Drawing Room, a Chapel and a Library with secret doors! How I loved it – I was a big fan of The Famous Five in those days and it really did feel like I was in the middle of one of their mysteries! There were about 15 basement Rooms, some of which had had the floors removed due to damp rot, but the main passageway was made of flagstones so you could still walk through it – this was where a lot of the male servants had slept and it was also where the wine cellars were along with linen storage cupboards. In the attic a similar number of Rooms were bare and empty and had once housed all the female servants. Two spiral staircases joined all the floors t...

Alice - the ghost in the mirror #32

...Here is another ghost story for the Christmas season associated with Hoar Cross Hall. By an amazing co-incidence Lewis Carroll and Emily Meynell (who built the Hall) became acquainted when she was a child. This is their story - In 1865 Lewis Carroll wrote another story about Alice following on from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. It was called ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’. In this story Alice climbs onto the mantlepiece over the fireplace in her lounge and finds that she can climb through the mirror into another world which is reversed, just like a reflection. Once again, she encounters strange figures in a world dominated by a chess set and nursery rhyme c...

SKOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER! #13

...SKOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER! When Hugo and Emily Meynell built the Hall it included a whole estate with it, namely kitchen gardens, greenhouses, stables, a farm and cottages.  Old Hall (their original home) was also on the estate and was accessed via a private road, which ran from the main road.  By the time the seventies came along the stable block and Old Hall were private houses and another part of Old Hall had been made into a children’s home.  Emily Meynell had started this home in the Victorian days, calling it ‘The Home of the Good Shepherd’ but it was for boys only at that time.  When we were there it was a mixed home and run by a husband and wife co...

RAGS TO RICHES! #15

...RAGS TO RICHES:  My parents were married in Derby in July 1952.  Mum was 19 and dad was 36 so quite a bit older.  They both lived in Derby and were very arty; my dad went to the Derby Sketching Club in his free time and my mum attended art college.  I’m not sure where they met but it was either at something art related or at a dance, as was usual in those days.  My dad was a sculptor by trade; I think his interest was sparked by seeing all the beautiful alabaster in Italian churches during the war.  After the war he set up his own business making alabaster lamps, bowls and candlesticks among other things (see header picture).  He would go to the alabast...