Story Search Results

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #17

...sometimes across to the Netherlands and Germany. She loved painting and would spend much of her time doing water colours along with collecting beautiful objects to decorate the Hall and the Church of the Holy Angels. In 1890 she went on a painting trip up the River Nile on her yacht and filled 10 books of diaries and logs, all illustrated with her drawings and photographs. There were many more trips that the Meynells went on as you can see from the photograph below. One of Emily's paintings   So that the Meynell name continued, Emily’s brother changed his name from Wood to Meynell upon her death in 1904, thus keeping the name in the family. This was qu...

Mediaeval Mayhem! #11

...ng apples across the room, instead of eating them with their cheese. Then four ladies stood on the tables and started dancing and provocatively swinging their scarves around. The silver armour, which was hanging on the Ballroom walls, was knocked off and people were trying it on for fun. It was complete mayhem! And just to add to the madness, halfway through the evening I had my big acting moment when I ran from one end of the room to the other with a bear chasing after me, while I screamed the house down (don’t worry, it was a man in costume!). Eventually people calmed down a bit when the coffee was served and watched Dave the fire-eater do his performance. B...

Here comes the bride (Part 1) #27

...vicarage across the road from my house and booked the date. The vicar told us in no uncertain terms that he would expect us to be there when the banns were read. However, as we never got up before lunch on a Sunday, try as we might, we never actually managed to hear our own banns being read! It was almost as bad at the wedding rehearsal. I went to the church with my dad and the two bridesmaids but Kev never managed to get there as he was fitting a shower for someone! I don’t think the vicar was very impressed with us! The nearer it got to our wedding date the more we worried about my mum turning up. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her there but that my dad...

Whodunit in the Library #24

...vicarage across the road. The vicar answered my knock and told me that my dad had collapsed on his doorstep earlier that day and was now in the local cottage hospital! The 'weapon' which was covered in blood   So now it had come to this. I later found out that my dad had gone into the Library to rip up and sabotage the mediaeval banquet costumes and my mum had found him there – an argument had ensued which became violent. My dad had an awful temper and would sometimes attack my mum during these rows (I once found him in the kitchen with his hands round my mum’s throat) so she had grabbed the nearest thing to her, which was the truncheon, and hit him...

The Chapel #68

...would go across to the church which was situated nearby.  However, the family would walk from the back door of the house leading off the Garden Hall and follow the path down to the church while the servants were expected to walk around the boundary of the grounds to avoid being seen by the family. We changed the name of the Garden Hall to the Chapel Hall when we were there as this corridor led to the chapel at one end and was the only room that the visitors could enter.  At the other end of the corridor was the back door leading to the gardens plus doors to Lady Dorothy’s Boudoir and the Library.  The Boudoir (which means 'ladies dressing room or private...

A Christmas Celebration #74

...he looked across at Molly and winked.  Jenny had been working at the Hall for a few years now and was used to Cook’s temper.  It was only because there was a lot to do and she got easily stressed; also, she was getting on in years and her feet hurt a lot from long hours of standing so it was no wonder she got irritable! The party was the highlight of the year for most members of staff.  The Meynell family treated their servants and workers quite well compared to some families and always hosted a party just before Christmas for the indoor and outdoor staff as well as the estate workers who lived in the cottages nearby.  The party was held in the Long Galle...