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Skools out for Summer! #58

...s package holidays were becoming very popular my parents decided to book a two week holiday abroad. We always went around the beginning of August as soon as the schools were out for the summer. My dad had always wanted to go to Greece to see all the temples but was a bit disappointed when he got there. Most of the temples were in ruins and once you’ve seen one ruin you’ve pretty much seen them all! The Acropolis was quite impressive though. I loved being abroad – the weather was so hot and the sea was always warm. Cold climes don’t seem to suit me and I would always be outdoors as soon as the sun was out - most of my summer holidays were spent in the gar...

Queen Alexandra - my family #50

...ing their holidays – a rare insight into how the royal family spent their leisure time, which in those days would never have been seen before. It also shows their travels on ships to Norway and visits to Alexandra's family in Denmark. Photos of boat trips down the Thames and tea parties with Lords and Ladies of the day are in abundance in this album along with pictures of her grandsons, the future Edward VIII who abdicated and his brother George, who later became the King George VI and grandfather to our own King Charles. Even more fascinating are photos of the former Empress of Russia with her four grand-daughters on board the Emperor's yacht 'Standart' –...

RAGS TO RICHES! #15

...uring the holidays after leaving school my parents gave me a little project to do – painting the bedroom corridor ceiling!  We had a little scaffold unit which I climbed onto every day and carefully painted all the intricate mouldings on the ceiling, highlighting the flowers in different colours.  I thoroughly enjoyed doing this and felt I could launch myself onto the world as a female Michelangelo but it was not to be!  Instead I went to the local college and did a secretarial course.  Starting college completely changed my life – I also met a young boy there who introduced me to sex, drugs and Pink Floyd!   If this is your first visit to my blog sit...

Rags to Riches #15

...uring the holidays after leaving school my parents gave me a little project to do – painting the bedroom corridor ceiling! We had a little scaffold unit which I climbed onto every day and carefully painted all the intricate mouldings on the ceiling, highlighting the flowers in different colours. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this and felt I could launch myself onto the world as a female Michelangelo but it was not to be! Instead I went to the local college and did a secretarial course. Starting college completely changed my life – I also met a young boy there who introduced me to sex, drugs and Pink Floyd!   Don’t miss next weeks’ instalment:     'Hys...

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...

Eat, Drink & Be Merry #11

...the bank holidays though we didn’t get huge amounts of visitors and my parents started to think of other things they could do. They had heard about mediaeval banquets being run at a place called Coombe Abbey near Coventry and went along one night to see what it was all about. It was a banquet serving four or five courses with mediaeval entertainment while you ate. The whole thing was overseen by a King and his court. Well they seemed so struck on this that they decided to have a go themselves. In the seventies mediaeval banquets were becoming the ‘in thing’ so they started planning how they would do this. It was decided that they would run them during the...