Story Search Results

Moving in - to a stately home! #2

...ed with a Victorian fire pump and ladders in it – still there after all those years! The Victorian fire ladders   One day whilst on baby sitting duties my little brother went missing in the woods and we were terrified that he might have fallen into the ponds that we’d recently found – a huge search was mounted by everyone and he was eventually found safe and well in another part of the woods. I watched him like a hawk after that!   Paths full of weeds near Robert Bakewell gates   At other times we’d play tennis in the Ballroom – I’m not sure if my parents knew we were doing this but it was good fun while the room was empty – i...

The ghost of Christmas past #73

...ers up in Victorian clothes.  Their mother was helping them and they had a lot of fun pretending to be different characters.  That evening there was a knock on the lounge door upstairs and their mother, Gwynyth, opened it to see a small child standing there. “Is that you Piers?” she asked in astonishment.  She thought the children had dressed him up again for a joke.  “Get back to bed, it’s really late!” The child ran down the bedroom corridor and Gwynyth followed but soon lost sight of him as the light was very dim.  It was as though he had disappeared into thin air.  The double doors at the end of the corridor led to the West Wing apartment b...

Ghouls Galore! #85

...ck in the Victorian days – a mop cap being those white cotton lacy hats that young 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...

Ghosts of Christmas Past #88

...ers up in Victorian clothes.  Their mother was helping them and they had a lot of fun pretending to be different characters.  That evening there was a knock on the lounge door upstairs and their mother, Gwynyth, opened it to see a small child standing there. The ghost on the stairs   “Is that you Piers?” she asked in astonishment.  She thought the children had dressed him up again for a joke.  “Get back to bed, it’s really late!” The child ran down the bedroom corridor and Gwynyth followed but soon lost sight of him as the light was very dim.  It was as though he had disappeared into thin air.  The double doors at the end of the corridor...

The Grand Opening #5

...THE GRAND OPENING:       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 ma...

Victorian Courtship - fans #91

...For the next few months I will be doing a series on Victorian courtship starting in February, the month of love, as we have just celebrated Valentine’s Day on the 14th.  The Victorians used various items for flirting with, namely fans, gloves, parasols and handkerchiefs!  I imagine the Meynell family at Hoar Cross Hall held lots of dinner parties and Balls back in the Victorian days where most of the young ladies would have had their fans at the ready to signal to a secret beau.  But what were these signals and why were they used? The belief that the fan was used in society to express feelings or commands dates back to at least the early 18th century.  I...