Story Search Results

Whodunit in the Library #24

When we first moved to <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan>, growing up in a stately home seemed an idyllic way to live – and lots of fun if you’re a child. This rambling old house full of empty rooms and secret doors, wild gardens and woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my father. But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation and lack of public transport was frustrating. Coupled with this was my parents' fighting and subsequent split, living at each end of the house and battling for the house and business through their solicitors. The small gardens we loved to explore   The effect this had on me, as the eldest c...

The Origins of the Stately Home #39

Why are stately homes so called? Stately home actually means 'a large impressive old house with interesting history and usually visited by the public.' Well, I suppose they do look very 'stately' for a start but these houses were also a status symbol for the great families of England, who competed with each other to provide hospitality for the royal household who would travel around England meeting their subjects. Stately homes were huge mansions which were always beautiful and the epitome of perfect architecture, often designed by famous architects of the day. The gardens too would be perfectly landscaped to show balance, variety, sequence and colour. One of t...

The Schoolroom Maid's Story #36

THE SCHOOLROOM MAID’S STORY:    For the first 75 years of <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan>’s history about 50 servants were employed by the Meynell family in the house and grounds. Among these was a young girl of fifteen who started work in 1920 as a Schoolroom Maid. Her name was Miss Inez Sophia Large and she had connections to <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> through her grand-parents, William and Mary Tooth, who lived in the village where William was the blacksmith; his smithy was just along from the Meynell public house. He had worked on the ironwork of the <span class='highlight'>hallspan> during its construction in the 1860s. Inez’s aunt, Constance Madeley, was the wife of the landlord at the Buffalo Inn, in nearby...

The Long Gallery #67

I thought that a little series on the different rooms in <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan> might be quite interesting, taking a deeper look at what these rooms were used for and a bit of history surrounding them.  The main ground floor rooms were open to the public during the 1970s when people wandered around our home admiring the fine paintings and furniture followed by a walk in the grounds trying to imagine how it looked in days gone by.  The house was entered through two huge oak doors which led into an Entrance <span class='highlight'>hallspan> - this was our cafe area and the Butlers Pantry just off there was what we used as a kitchen to bake scones and sell snacks and ice creams.  Leading off the E...

Ghouls Galore! #85

Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is even more scary!!  As we approach <span class='highlight'>hallspan>owe'en my mind has gone back to that first winter at <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan> and all the scary things that happened - and that was without any trick or treaters in those days!  We quickly realised that we weren’t the only inhabitants of the house.  Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night long it kept me awake.  The next day I would go upstairs to the attics to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose.   They were all tightly shut as...

Alice - the ghost in the mirror #28

ALICE – THE GHOST IN THE MIRROR:     (Based on true events)    In 1865 Lewis Carroll wrote another story about Alice following on from ‘Alice in Wonderland’. It was called ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’. In this story Alice climbs onto the mantlepiece over the fireplace in her lounge and finds that she can climb through the mirror into another world which is reversed, just like a reflection. Once again, she encounters strange figures in a world dominated by a chess set and nursery rhyme characters, among others. But what inspired Lewis Carroll to write about a little girl having lots of adventures? In the 1850s Charles Dodgson (Carroll’s rea...