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Queen Alexandra - my family #50

...within a day of being born. Their eldest child Albert was the heir to the throne but he too died at age 28 during a flu pandemic so their second son George became the heir. He also married Albert's fiancee, Mary of Teck, after they became close in their grief at losing Albert. He went on to become George V who was Queen Elizabeth's grandfather and our present King's great-grandfather. It seems that Alexandra enjoyed photography as a hobby and in 1908 put together an album of her personal photos to be sold for charity. This is the album that I found in the Library of Hoar Cross Hall - perhaps Queen Mary brought it as a gift when she visited in the 1920s?  In i...

Bacon's 'Essay on Gardens' # 56

...at of the day, you ought to plant a covert alley about twelve foot in height by which you may go in shade into the garden”. The word 'pleach' is from the French 'plesser' which means to plait or interweave. Lime trees were considered the best tree for pleaching and as the trees grew they were trained to form a cover over the path by weaving them together. There are two such walks at Hoar Cross, one at each side of the gardens. The pleached walks of lime were regarded as one of the finest examples in England of that class of work. The pleached 'Lime Tree Walk'   In the gardens typical of this age, between the flower-beds, lead or stone vases were somet...

Midnight Pool Parties # 59

...Following on with the summer theme my mind drifted back to those halcyon days of summer when we were all young and lively and hanging out with a large group of friends.  By now Kev and I had left college and were both working but weekends were for fun and parties! Kev and the band were also getting a few gigs around the area and after singing with them for a little while I gave it up and let a more professional singer take over – I needed to work on my confidence first!   We still went to the local '76 Club' though to see live music – it was the start of the punk era and we saw the Sex Pistols there when they were just starting out – I have to say they...

Ghouls Galore! #85

...Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is even more scary!!  As we approach Hallowe'en my mind has gone back to that first winter at Hoar Cross Hall and all the scary things that happened - and that was without any trick or treaters in those days!  We quickly realised that we weren’t the only inhabitants of the house.  Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night long it kept me awake.  The next day I would go upstairs to the attics to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose.   They were all tightly shut as...

Hallowe'en Hauntings #100

...Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is even more scary!!  As we approach Hallowe'en my mind has gone back to that first winter at Hoar Cross Hall and all the scary things that happened - and that was without any trick or treaters in those days!  We quickly realised that we weren’t the only inhabitants of the house when we moved there in the 1970s.  Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night long it kept me awake.  The next day I would go upstairs to the attics to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose.�...

VENTURES NEW #10

...VENTURES NEW: We were now in our third year at the Hall and our lives were always busy keeping on top of the weeds and general upkeep of the house.  My dad expected us children to help as much as possible, which we hated, and much of our time was spent trying to hide from him to get out of doing the chores.  But sometimes we didn’t mind and we happily pulled an old trolley into the woods every now and then to collect wood for the fires and sometimes as a family we would spend a day clearing parts of the woods and grounds.  My mum had hired a lady from the village to help with the housework and we had also taken on a retired chap called Mr Hickman to do some...