Story Search Results

Our mansion gets a facelift #4

...ys in the mornings. Where children were to be seen and not heard, servants were to be neither seen nor heard by members of the family and all the areas to the house were accessed via the spiral staircases and then inner hallways and corridors so they could go about their duties quickly and quietly. My dad spent a lot of his time at auction houses buying and selling antiques and so he went back there again to source carpets and kitchen equipment. He also installed huge electric heaters to keep our new tenants warm. The West Wing was smaller than the East Wing so was made into a two-bedroomed apartment. The tenants entered the house through the basement entrance...

Mediaeval Mayhem! #11

...30 in the morning; as the day wore on the organist started playing a few of the songs we would be doing at the banquets, and everyone started dancing and singing along – it was 4pm by the time we finished! And so arrived the day of the first banquet. All the furniture and costumes from the Chinese Room and Ballroom had been removed and put into storage elsewhere in the house. A local carpenter had made long tables and benches to seat about 200 guests in the Ballroom, which was now known as the Banqueting Hall. We had employed caterers to do the food and the Chinese Room was used as a food preparation area next to the kitchen/café. A bar had been built in the...

Ghouls Galore #18

...on in the morning, the windows would all be shut tight in the empty rooms. Because of these stories, someone suggested a seance in the attic itself as they fancied a spot of ghost hunting by candlelight, so we dared them to try it! Well, they certainly found them! They all sat around in a circle on the bare wooden floors and joined hands; the candle was placed in the middle of the circle creating an eerie glow and making shadows dance in the corners. The more experienced people did a bit of chanting and then they all waited to see what happened. We carried on partying downstairs turning the music up loud – to be honest, I didn’t really want to know what was...

What the Butler Saw! #37

...ng in the morning so that they could be clean and properly dressed for breakfast. From midday they would be dressed in their livery, fully-tailored outfits from London firms. With their plush breeches, silk stockings and powdered hair, they were the ‘peacocks’ among domestics. Footmen were responsible for answering the door, delivering messages and waiting-on in the evening. There were numerous footmen in the large houses but probably only two or three at Hoar Cross. They were constantly leaving to better themselves as butlers were usually picked (or ‘head hunted’) from the footmen, but they would only consider men who were tall and well built. John Barn...

The origins of the stately home #43

...room and morning room The first floor - drawing room The second floor - bedrooms Top floor/attic - nurseries and female servants bedrooms   Most houses had a 'still' room, something used since the Middle Ages. This was an area off the main kitchens used for distillery, food preserving, making medicines and herbal remedies and brewing beer. It was also used as a pantry. It had it's roots in Roman and Greek culture when they used a room to make medicines and distill oils from plants etc. In the 16th century people found that they needed an extra room separate from the kitchen for distilling and preserving and so the 'still' room was invented! Of course, peo...

Ghouls Galore! #18

...on in the morning, the windows would all be shut tight in the empty rooms. Because of these stories, someone suggested a seance in the attic itself as they fancied a spot of ghost hunting by candlelight, so we dared them to try it! Well, they certainly found them! They all sat around in a circle on the bare wooden floors and joined hands; the candle was placed in the middle of the circle creating an eerie glow and making shadows dance in the corners. The more experienced people did a bit of chanting and then they all waited to see what happened. We carried on partying downstairs turning the music up loud – to be honest, I didn’t really want to know what was...