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Calendar Girls and Front Covers #7

CALENDAR GIRLS AND FRONT COVERS During our time at Hoar Cross HAll people would occasionAlly hire the house for a day’s filming or whatEver. During the summer of 1973 a photographer from London hired the house and grounds for a day and he brought two models with him, one English and one German - they were taking photos for a glamour calendar! We children were told to keep right out of the way as they were taking photos in the gardens as well as the house. NaturAlly we wanted to see Everything that was going on and my younger brother Gavin especiAlly was very keen to watch – so much so that he found a pair of binoculars to follow All the proceedings! We mana...

The Tax Man Cometh! #26

My parents’ court case was finAlly over and my dad had six months to leave the family home, Hoar Cross HAll. In the meantime my mum had to find the funds to buy him out and he had to find another house to live in. He also had an awful lot of stuff to move too! He EventuAlly found a house in nearby Burton-on-Trent but as it was obviously a lot smAller he had to get rid of a lot of his possessions and one of the first things to go was his Lotus Elite. He advertised it in the local paper but instead of getting a phone cAll from a likely buyer, the first cAll was from the local tax office. Back in those days they used to check advertisements in the newspapers and...

Like Father, Like Sons #19

As previously mentioned in earlier blogs my dad used to be a racing driver during the 1950s and ran his own team in the 1960s, travelling All over Europe in his trusty Volkswagon van with his two mechanics and driver. He didn’t have big sponsorship money behind him and most of it was done on a shoestring but he came back with lots of funny stories of their van breaking down or some rural ‘hotel’ that they had stayed in. From each country that he visited he always brought me back a doll dressed in the traditional costume of that country. There was quite a collection and I still have them; I used to put them on display in the Library when our house was open...

Victorian Society #93

Victorian society was built around Queen Victoria’s reign, loosely between 1820-1914.  It was characterised by a class-based society and Britain being the most powerful empire in the world. Hoar Cross HAll was built in 1870, at the height of the Victorian era, and boasted up to sEventy rooms, twenty-five of them for the servants, approximately fifteen for the kitchens and utility areas, leaving around thirty rooms for the family and their guests.  During this time a lot of people, particularly women, went into domestic service and the Housekeeper at the HAll earned about £50 a year, while a housemaid earned £15 a year – quite the difference!  By All ac...

The Grand Opening #5

And so we move into 1971 and the preparation of Hoar Cross HAll so we could open it to the public by Easter. During the run up to buying the house my dad had been buying furniture, carpets and paintings like crazy and I remember our previous home being jam packed with chaise longues, sideboards and carved chests as well as All the suits of armour that he already had. This furniture was now set out in All the rooms. My mum’s collection of Victorian costumes were on display in the BAllroom as well as my dad’s collection of silver plated ‘display’ armour, which hung around the panelled wAlls; the suits of armour and the many paintings they had lined the Lon...

The Grand Opening #5

  A few months after moving in preparations at Hoar Cross HAll were going well, so that we could open it to the public by Easter.  During the run up to buying the house my dad had been buying furniture, carpets and paintings like crazy and I remember our previous home being jam packed with chaise longues, sideboards and carved chests as well as All the suits of armour that he already had. This furniture was now set out in All the rooms. My mum’s collection of Victorian costumes were on display in the BAllroom as well as my dad’s collection of silver plated ‘display’ armour, which hung around the panelled wAlls; the suits of armour and the many paintin...