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The ghost of Christmas past #73

...d how the servants complained about sleeping up there.  Then she told them about someone knocking on their bedroom doors in the middle of the night.  After that she told them about a little girl that used to run around the house, who could be heard giggling, of a room in the basement where the door always got stuck and the handle could be seen moving on it’s own.  So many stories!  Viv sat listening in amazement, enraptured. “Did you find out who the little girl was?” she eventually asked. “Oh yes,” answered Mrs Meynell.  “She lived here during the Victorian days and had been left alone in the west wing nursery one evening after she’d been p...

Ghouls Galore! #85

...girls and servants wore! On another occasion the ghost appeared outside our lounge door one evening while we were still living in the old caretaker’s rooms on the first floor (it looked a lot like the header picture).  My mum heard a tapping noise on the door and when she opened it, there stood the little girl.  She thought we’d dressed our brother Piers in a gown and mop cap and she told him to get back to bed!  The apparition floated away and she ran down the bedroom corridor to check our rooms, all the time wondering what on earth was going on!  However, when she got there we were all fast asleep!  The child appeared at the top of the stairs on seve...

Ghosts of Christmas Past #88

...d how the servants complained about sleeping up there.  Then she told them about someone knocking on their bedroom doors in the middle of the night.  After that she told them about a little girl that used to run around the house, who could be heard giggling, of a room in the basement where the door always got stuck and the handle could be seen moving on it’s own.  So many stories!  Viv sat listening in amazement, enraptured. “Did you find out who the little girl was?” she eventually asked. “Oh yes,” answered Mrs Meynell.  “She lived here during the Victorian days and had been left alone in the west wing nursery one evening after she’d been p...

LET THE BANQUET COMMENCE! #11

...hose poor servants did 100 years before!  Apparently they had to get up at 5am to polish the floors before Lady Dorothy came downstairs at 9am. During December we always had the banquets on Friday and Saturday night to accommodate Christmas parties, which were many.  It was hard work and the house took a bit of a bashing with all those people coming in every week.  On top of that, we had to clear away all the tables and benches to get the house ready for the annual New Years’ Eve Ball.  They all had to be carried down to the basement and the cast would come round to help – they were a good bunch of people and every week after the banquet had finished, w...

More Tea Vicar? #12

...MORE TEA VICAR?   During the long summer holidays it was easy to get bored.  As there was no public transport from Hoar Cross and no children living nearby, we three children had to make our own entertainment and we were always having adventures and getting up to mischief – a bit like the Famous Five, but without a dog!  We would roam around the village or explore the basement.  My dad was a hoarder and had kept all sorts of stuff over the years including gas masks and field phones from World War 2.  The old servants Hall was now my dad’s workshop and he spent a lot of time down there restoring antiques to sell.  He had one of the field phones in his...

The Kitchen Maid's Story

...� For the servants it must have been quite exciting being in the big city and seeing all the sights and one of the benefits was that on their half day they would be allowed out until 10pm instead of 9.30pm! Once the season was over and Jenny returned to the Hall she was busy in the kitchen straightaway.  She tells how there were visitors arriving and her statement below shows the implications for the staff of a large country house:- “I don’t know who they were, but they were a lady and gentleman, a valet and lady’s maid, a grown-up daughter, and a very young child.  Young enough to have a nanny. That meant three extra in the dining room, two extra in t...