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Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs

...cut by a horse-drawn mower, although this was the chauffeur’s job surprisingly.  The kitchen garden also supplied the house with flowers and during important functions at the house they would bring across masses of palms and pot plants to decorate the rooms.  Home Farm supplied the estate with as much produce as was needed.  In addition to the farm workers, the estate employed bricklayers, a stone mason, foresters and thatchers, carpenters, a joiner, a plumber and an electrician.  They looked after the Hall and the workers’ cottages and all tenanted properties.  The head gardener had a lot of authority outside the house and even the mistress would have...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #39

...cut by a horse-drawn mower, although this was the chauffeur’s job surprisingly. The kitchen garden also supplied the house with flowers and during important functions at the house they would bring across masses of palms and pot plants to decorate the rooms. Home Farm supplied the estate with as much produce as was needed. In addition to the farm workers, the estate employed bricklayers, a stone mason, foresters and thatchers, carpenters, a joiner, a plumber and an electrician. They looked after the Hall and the workers’ cottages and all tenanted properties. The head gardener had a lot of authority outside the house and even the mistress would have to seek h...

Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross

...cut by a horse drawn mower, a task carried out by the chauffeur of all people!    We heard that back in the early days the head gardener was pushed around in a wheelchair when he was older inspecting the lawns – apparently if he saw a weed amongst the grass blades he would tell one of the gardeners to pluck it out straightaway! Emily Meynell Ingram employed a Mr Rowley especially to carry out her plans of planting the yew hedges, of which there were many.  At each side of the garden was a yew tree walk which ran down to the ha-ha wall at the bottom.  Across the bottom of the gardens were smaller square gardens (including the stepping stone pond) all bor...

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #13

...having 30 horses stabled at its height. In 1758 he became High Sheriff of Staffordshire and Member of Parliament for Lichfield. When his son, Hugo, died in 1800 he sold Quorn Hall to the Earl of Sefton and left to live in Derbyshire; although the family owned large amounts of property all over the Midlands in at least five shires. The Meynell family claim to be descendants of the Norman baron, Hugo de Grand Mesnil, who came over with William the Conqueror. He is said to have died in Leicester in 1093 and his descendants settled in Derbyshire and Yorkshire. The sons of Hugo went off to the First Crusade and a representation of Hugo’s shield can be seen in one...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #18

...cut by a horse-drawn mower, although this was the chauffeur’s job surprisingly. The kitchen garden also supplied the house with flowers and during important functions at the house they would bring across masses of palms and pot plants to decorate the rooms. Home Farm supplied the estate with as much produce as was needed. In addition to the farm workers, the estate employed bricklayers, a stone mason, foresters and thatchers, carpenters, a joiner, a plumber and an electrician. They looked after the Hall and the workers’ cottages and all tenanted properties. The head gardener had a lot of authority outside the house and even the mistress would have to seek h...

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #14

...having 30 horses stabled at its height. In 1758 he became High Sheriff of Staffordshire and Member of Parliament for Lichfield. When his son, Hugo, died in 1800 he sold Quorn Hall to the Earl of Sefton and left to live in Derbyshire; although the family owned large amounts of property all over the Midlands in at least five shires. The Meynell family claim to be descendants of the Norman baron, Hugo de Grand Mesnil, who came over with William the Conqueror. He is said to have died in Leicester in 1093 and his descendants settled in Derbyshire and Yorkshire. The sons of Hugo went off to the First Crusade and a representation of Hugo’s shield can be seen in one...