Story Search Results

DIY Stately Home #4

...t was the seventies!   The stone balustrade near Col. Hugo's window   The Damask Room was to be open to the public and had actual damask material on the walls in a beautiful gold colour. Likewise, the Hessian Room had – you’ve guessed it – hessian on the walls, which was rather like sackcloth and not too attractive but hard wearing no doubt! We used this room as an office and general storage space but mainly only used the lounge as it was the warmest room in the house! Once we moved downstairs it meant that we had to climb the main staircase to go to our bedrooms on the first floor. This was like something out of Mission Impossible. Because we di...

Eat, Drink & Be Merry #11

...s. 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 winter months and open the house to the public from Easter to the August Bank Holiday. Around this time J C Bamford, who had a factory in nearby Uttoxeter, heard that we were planning to run banquets and booked a private one exclusively for their US division.  They also had special tankards made to give away to all their guests (see pictures below).  My parents knew Joe Bamford (the JCB owner) quite well and I think my dad hoped that I would one day marry his son! The Bamford’s banquet wa...

Skools out for Summer #16

...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 at the Hall it was a mixed home and run by a husband and wife couple. They used to...

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #17

...ss in the seventies. It is now a nursing home. Emily also owned a house in London, a villa in Florence and a yacht, which was a fully-crewed schooner of 380 tons with over 20 staff on it. She also had a small chapel made on the yacht and would often take her local vicar on trips with her so they could hold services for her and the crew. Every spring she would go on a cruise around the Mediterranean and sometimes across to the Netherlands and Germany. She loved painting and would spend much of her time doing water colours along with collecting beautiful objects to decorate the Hall and the Church of the Holy Angels. In 1890 she went on a painting trip up the Riv...

Moving Out #32

...ig in the seventies. They also owned a Ferrari between them and this was often parked in the drive, as the band shared the use of the car. My dad put Kev’s name forward to re-wire the house (as he had trained as an electrician) and he spent the next few weekends fixing up the electrics alongside builders, plumbers and carpenters. When it was all finished they put in their bills only to find out that the band were planning to leave the country – without paying anyone!   The band's Ferrari on the drive    The builders were none too pleased about this and went round to the newly finished house to take back anything they could find that was theirs –...

The War Years and Beyond #36

...re in the seventies! Enjoy!   Don't miss next week's instalment:  'Temple Newsam and the Meynells'   Follow me around my childhood home in my 'Tour of the Hall' – click here to view and subscribe to my YouTube channel. OUT NOW!!!  'My Dad Bought a Mansion' is out in book form on Amazon - all my memoirs packed with lots of photographs from the times.  Go check it out here and let me know what you think! ...