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The Chinese Room #71

The Chinese Room is the last in the series of the rooms that were open to the public at Hoar Cross Hall during the 1970s.  It had three doorways and was entered from the Ballroom, the Long Gallery and the Entrance Hall and was originally the Dining Room of the house when the Meynell family lived there.  The centrepiece of the room is the 18th century carved wood mantelpiece, incorporating classical figures and floral decorations, with a carved and painted armorial overmantel.     As you can probably guess from the name of the room, the main theme was oriental  armour, tapestries and furniture, including a Burmese Palace Chair.  The oriental armour was a...

Meet the Neighbours - Sudbury Hall #79

Continuing the series on neighbouring houses to Hoar Cross Hall, let me introduce you to Sudbury Hall, which is about 7 miles away and on the border of Staffordshire and Derbyshire.  The manor of Sudbury was listed in the Doomsday Book following the Norman Conquest in 1086, so a lot older than the Hall, and is a Grade I listed building.  The Vernon family came to Sudbury after a 16th century marriage between Sir John Vernon, from Haddon Hall in Derbyshire, and the Sudbury heiress, Ellen Montgomery.  It seems the Vernon family have stayed in the Hall for generations right up until the 20th century when the 10th Baron Vernon transferred the Hall and its princip...

Mediaeval Weaponry #84

When we moved to Hoar Cross Hall in the 1970s, my father owned the largest private collection of arms and armour in the UK at that time!  He owned about 20 suits of armour and numerous items of ‘arms’, which is another word for weapons.  The word ‘arms’ comes from the Latin ‘arma’ which means ‘tools of war’; this word passed into the English language from the French in 1200.  Mediaeval weapons consisted of halberds, double-edged swords, daggers, battle axes, crossbows and longbows to name but a few, these being the most common.  Knives were also used but mainly for eating and repairing, although I’m sure they got to be used as weapons too...

Anyone for Tennis? #96

...including Hoar Cross Hall.  However, when we moved there in the 1970s you couldn’t see them at all as the grass had grown long and wild and it looked liked a wilderness.  In fact, we didn’t even know that there were tennis courts there until Mrs Meynell, the previous owner, told us! Mowing the old tennis courts in 1984   Of course, back in the 1930s the younger members of the Meynell family often played on them during their weekend house parties (see header picture).  One young man who became a close friend of the Meynell family made regular visits to Hoar Cross and recalled the happy times he spent there as “.....the last days of the tradition...

Join Me On A Video Tour Of My Old Home! Hoar Cross Hall

...old home, Hoar Cross Hall, to make a video of the house to show you what it looks like now. First of all I wish to thank the current owners and mangement for allowing me to do this, and also I have to say how pleased I was to find that the main house is not much different to how it was when I lived there! However, it was especially pleasing to see how amazing the gardens now look, much how they would have done back in the Victorian times! I really enjoyed visiting the house again and hope the video tour will bring my blogs to life as you follow me around!  Enjoy the vlog…….    Don't forget to subscribe to my channel!  ...

Moving Day Arrives #2

...My parents took vacant possession of Hoar Cross Hall in 1970 and the whole process of moving house was done over the summer months. We lived about 20 miles away in an old vicarage with a large garden and lots of outbuildings. This house was about 200 years old and they say Bonnie Prince Charlie marched past it on his way to battle back in the day, for all you history buffs out there! Actually I love history and I think my interest was fuelled by living in these historic houses as a child. My dad used to be a racing driver in the 1950s and before that he did motorcycle racing, often at nearby Donnington Park. During the 1960s he ran his own team, Shardlow Motor R...