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Our mansion gets a facelift #4

...my first blog that the basement rooms were the servants’ quarters with a Servants Hall where they all ate their meals.  Originally there had been extra rooms on one end of the house which were the kitchens and sculleries downstairs (off the basement) and  sewing/mending rooms upstairs.  These rooms had been demolished by a group of monks who were hoping to buy the Hall back in the sixties.  I’ll never understand why they were allowed to knock down part of a beautiful house before they even bought it and this end of the house was now a rough area used for parking.  You could still see the doors to the Boot Room, the Flower Room and the Boiler Room as t...

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...

The Grand Opening #5

...out later blogs for more of our tricks! Don’t miss next week’s instalment:  Huntin’, Shootin’ and Fishin’ If you would like to follow my blog from the beginning click here and please feel free to share with your friends.          ...

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.      ...

Midnight Pool Parties # 59

...previous blogs that my brothers and I would walk along the window ledges when we were children (with perhaps smaller feet) but this was a fully grown man who’d had a few drinks and thought it was hilarious to stand outside the window jigging up and down at us!  We all ran to the window and tried to entice him in without scaring him too much – he had no idea that we were 3 floors up and there was a 30 foot drop to the dry moat below!  He finally came in and promptly passed out when he saw how high up we were!  What a carry on!   Don’t miss next week’s blog:  "Race Day Parties"   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click he...

Panto Pranks! #76

...t month's blog -  "To the Manor Born"   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, please click here and feel free to share with your friends.  Join me on a Tour of the Hall - click here to follow me on my YouTube channel and see all the rooms mentioned in my blogs - including the secret doors and the haunted attics! OUT NOW!!!  'My Dad Bought a Mansion' is out in book form on Amazon - all my memoirs packed with lots of photographs from the times.  Go check it out and let me know what you think!Would make a great gift!      ...