Story Search Results

Moving Out #31

...esting ‘lots’ it had, quite a few of our well-to-do friends were there too. My dad was also there and told us he’d bought an oven for our new house. He couldn’t wait to tell us that it had only cost him £1. Even in those days £1 was ridiculously cheap, especially for an oven! He said it was in one of the outbuildings so we didn’t actually see it until the end of the auction. By then my dad had gone home so we set off to find our oven, congratulating ourselves on getting such a bargain. But when we saw it standing in the corner of a shed covered in cobwebs and full of rust our hearts sank. It must have been at least twenty years old and probably didn�...

Moving Into a Mansion #67

...As summer turns to autumn my thoughts have gone back in time to 1970 when my family moved house at this time of the year - not to any old house, but to a 70-roomed stately home in Staffordshire!  The whole process of moving  was done over the summer months as 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 1...

Moving On - the end of an era #32

...e will be lots more photos on the website at some point in the near future. In 2000 we moved down to Devon to start a new chapter in our lives, running restaurants and festivals and creating a whole new bunch of stories! For years we have been telling people all about my eccentric family and the crazy life we lived at the Hall, especially during the divorce, which is why I decided to write this blog. I would like to dedicate it to the memory of my parents, without whom this story would not have been possible. Against all the odds, they went out on a limb to buy this amazing old house and try to do something with it. Thank goodness for people like them who mak...

The Kitchen Maid's Story #34

...THE KITCHEN MAID’S STORY:     If you were young, free and single – oh, and very well-to-do – the 1920s were the decade to be a part of. The upper classes had lots of time on their hands and enjoyed post-First World War delights such as the theatre and jazz clubs. Not so for the lower classes, in particular a young girl who was to become the kitchen maid at Hoar Cross Hall in the 1920s. The ‘depression’ after the First World War brought stark poverty to her home and many like her. Her name was Jean Rennie, and she was extremely intelligent having won a scholarship to Glasgow University to study French and music. However, the £5 bursary she got (equ...

Christmas High Jinks #72

...ards with lots of food, mince pies and mulled wine along with a group of bell-ringers to finish off the evening.  The thought of nice Christmas fare was enough to mollify them but they were already thinking up tricks they could play on the unsuspecting parishioners! The day of the Carol Service arrived and as they approached the church Gavin and Viv went to show their mother where the grave was.  But as they got nearer they couldn’t find it. “How strange,” said Viv.  “I’m sure it was here, just round the corner from the front door!” They looked around but couldn’t see anything but overgrown grass and crooked headstones.  Their mother bustled...

Hysterical Productions #15

...here were lots of funny things that happened. Myra (the fire-eater’s wife) and I always did the cloakroom and one time this lady took her coat off and as she did so her halter neck top came undone and she stood there in her bra and skirt for all to see! The banquet menu Once the banquets started we would join in with the singing, even standing behind the main act and pretending to be the backing group.  My dad would wear a sombrero and shake maracas to a Latin song while we threw petals all over him – don’t ask me why! The next day, when cleaning up, we would find all sorts of things which people had left behind: scarves, perfume, money, cigarettes...