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Ventures New! #10

VENTURES NEW We were now in our third year at Hoar Cross Hall and our lives were always busy keeping on top of the weeds and general upkeep of the house. My dad expected us children to help as much as possible, which we hated, and much of our time was spent trying to hide from him to get out of doing the chores. But sometimes we didn’t mind and we happily pulled an old trolley into the woods every now and then to collect wood for the fires and sometimes as a family we would spend a day clearing parts of the woods and grounds. My mum had hired a lady from the village to help with the housework and we had also taken on a retired chap called Mr Hickman to do som...

Skools out for summer #13

When Hugo and Emily Meynell built Hoar Cross 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 couple. they used to have...

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #14

Hoar Cross was part of Needwood Forest, the 11th century lands of Henry de Ferrers. the land was passed down to Henry’s son and subsequent various people over the course of 500 years ending with the Webb family, around the 1730s, who bought the land and house known as the Manor of the Cross. This was quite a large house built on a hill near Yoxall (which is the village next to Hoar Cross). In 1740 the manor house was demolished and later the Hon. Charles Talbot bought the estate for £17,000. Eventually it was sold to Hugo Meynell, who already owned huge amounts of property all over the county. This branch of the Meynell family originated from Leicestershire,...

Our mansion gets a facelift #4

OUR MANSION GETS A FACELIFT:        We moved into Hoar Cross Hall during the summer holidays and my parents quickly realised that they had a lot of work on their hands to make the place habitable as well as to earn some money from it.  As previously mentioned, there was an East Wing and a West Wing to the house.  My dad decided to convert the first floor rooms of each wing into three separate apartments; he had done this at our previous house.  This would generate income from rents until we got the main house open to the public.  It wasn’t a big job to convert the rooms as the East Wing had four main rooms and two bathrooms already there, which would...

A New Year Calamity #34

the New Year’s Eve Balls at the Hall were usually the highlight of the year. After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party. In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal. At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes. Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into the Ballroom with his...

Eat, Drink and be Merry! #10

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY!      We were now in our third year at Hoar Cross Hall and our lives were always busy keeping on top of the weeds and general upkeep of the house.  My dad expected us children to help as much as possible, which we hated, and much of our time was spent trying to hide from him to get out of doing the chores.  But sometimes we didn’t mind and we happily pulled an old trolley into the woods every now and then to collect wood for the fires and sometimes as a family we would spend a day clearing parts of the woods and grounds.  My mum had hired a lady from the village to help with the housework and we had also taken on a retired chap ca...