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The Grand Opening #5

  A few months after moving in preparations at Hoar Cross Hall were going well, so that we could open it to The public by Easter.  During The run up to buying The house my dad had been buying furniture, carpets and paintings like crazy and I remember our previous home being jam packed with chaise longues, sideboards and carved chests as well as all The suits of armour that he already had. This furniture was now set out in all The rooms. My mum’s collection of Victorian costumes were on display in The Ballroom as well as my dad’s collection of silver plated ‘display’ armour, which hung around The panelled walls; The suits of armour and The many paintin...

Ghostbusters! #8

GHOSTBUSTERS! People were always coming to Hoar Cross Hall to eiTher hire The place or to have a look around. In 1973, because of all The media interest in our ghosts, we had a couple of professional ghost hunters asking to stay over one night to try and find The source of The noises. They brought cases full of recording equipment and set it all up in one of The attic rooms. RaTher Them than me I thought! Then I had a brilliant idea and went off to tell my broTher Gavin all about it. As mentioned in my first blog The attic and basement had a row of bells which The family used to summon The servants. Before The three men arrived we spent all day trying out all t...

Skools out for summer #13

When Hugo and Emily Meynell built Hoar Cross Hall it included a whole estate with it, namely kitchen gardens, greenhouses, stables, a farm and cottages. Old Hall (Their original home) was also on The estate and was accessed via a private road, which ran from The main road. By The time The seventies came along The stable block and Old Hall were private houses and anoTher part of Old Hall had been made into a children’s home. Emily Meynell had started this home in The Victorian days, calling it ‘The Home of The Good Shepherd’ but it was for boys only at that time. When we were There it was a mixed home and run by a husband and wife couple. They used to have...

The Graveyard Shift #23

Life carried on at Hoar Cross Hall as best it could in difficult circumstances. My dad continued to go to Arms and Armour Fairs to buy and sell antiques and we also went to a mediaeval banquet in Cheshire one night, although it wasn’t anywhere near as good as ours! Once or twice we took my dad out with our friends to Derby, where he originated from, and that seemed to cheer him up. But he really needed to get away from The house for longer periods of time and when he saw a boat advertised for sale at Caernarvon he jumped at The chance and bought it. It was an ex lifeboat called The Bembo so quite sturdy, although in need of a lick of paint and a bit of TLC. Th...

DIY Stately Home #4

We moved into Hoar Cross Hall during The summer holidays and my parents quickly realised 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 used as guest bedrooms in Victorian times. H...

The Grand Opening #5

And so we move into 1971 and The preparation of Hoar Cross Hall so we could open it to The public by Easter. During The run up to buying The house my dad had been buying furniture, carpets and paintings like crazy and I remember our previous home being jam packed with chaise longues, sideboards and carved chests as well as all The suits of armour that he already had. This furniture was now set out in all The rooms. My mum’s collection of Victorian costumes were on display in The Ballroom as well as my dad’s collection of silver plated ‘display’ armour, which hung around The panelled walls; The suits of armour and The many paintings They had lined The Lon...