Story Search Results

Reburbishing our Mansion #4

REFURBISHING OUR MANSION :       We moved into the 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 have been u...

Huntin', Shootin' and Fishin' #6

...ng!  One summer there were over 30 bats whizzing around the house trying to find nests for their young.  We had just had a burglar alarm installed with infra-red beams which kept going off in the night.  I think our cat set it off once or twice but the bats caused most of the upset and my poor dad had to keep getting up to see who had broken in – fortunately the only thing broken was his night’s sleep!  The bats eventually settled in a large light fitting bowl which hung over the main staircase and were left in peace to rear their young. Don’t miss next week’s instalment: Calendar Girls and Front Covers If you want to follow my story from the begin...

Eat, drink and be merry! #10

...ring that summer my parents auditioned for a King, a jester, entertainers and singers and by August they had a team of ‘am-dram’ actors ready to start rehearsals.  They also advertised for wenches and serving girls of which I became one – at 14 years old this became my new weekend job!  But the banquets were about to change all our lives - for better and for worse.   Don’t miss next week’s instalment:   New Year Jinks! If you want to follow my story from the beginning please click here and feel free to share with your friends    ...

Mediaeval Mayhem! #12

...MEDIAEVAL MAYHEM!         It was the end of the summer season at the Hall in 1973 and rehearsals had started for the new venture of Mediaeval Banquets.  All the cast would come round to the house each week for rehearsals and my mum and one or two other ladies were busy making the skirts and blouses for the wenches.   My mum also made about 200 bibs which the guests were going to be wearing as eating five courses with a dagger can be quite messy!   We had a King, a Jester, a Fire-eater, a Halberdier, an organist and various wenches and serving ladies.  To launch the banquets my parents decided to hold a Press Reception about a month before and so we al...

The Graveyard Shift! #25

...uring the summer months Kev and I would open the house to the public.  As well as a bad atmosphere between my parents there was also a bad atmosphere between me and my mum and mum and Kev, so we were all trying to avoid each other!  My mum had taken over the West Wing apartment when the tenants left, leaving my dad with one less rental income.  She was also putting Yale locks on all the rooms that she used in the house as well as any storage rooms used for the banquets.  This infuriated my dad who obviously didn’t have access to them once the locks went on.  One of these rooms was the cupboard off the Entrance Hall which held the meter boxes, so we now ha...

The tax man cometh! #29

...uring the summer months there were always a few barn dances to go to and we even put a few on ourselves.  These were usually in a local farmer’s barn with a disco and lots of real ales – they were good fun and always went on until the early hours.  All the land around there was owned by the Duchy of Cornwall estate (Prince Charles’ land) and after one of these barn dances someone set off for home down a dark lane and crashed into a garage next to someone’s house.  The car went straight through the wooden doors at the front and hit the back wall.  As the car came to a halt the whole garage collapsed on top of it.  The owner of the garage came rushing...