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Like Father, Like Sons #21

...s!  Nowadays Gavin is freelancing in Formula 2 and the endurance series but this still means that he gets to travel all over the world, although not quite like our dad travelled!    Of course, it all sounds very glamorous but he usually only gets to see the airport, a hotel and the race track!  Still, a lot of people would be happy with that! In the early seventies I became quite interested in rallying and thought that I might like to have a go at that when I left school.  I was quite the tomboy in those days and something like that would have suited me well, although it was very much a man’s world back then.  My parents took us all to see the annual...

See you in Court #28

...p early today aren’t you?” to which we just nodded and carried on to our bedrooms! We consoled ourselves by spending a lot of time in the Meynell Arms, the local pub in the village.  When we walked in of an evening, everyone was keen to know the latest updates on the divorce and we would spend half an hour telling them all the news – it was like a real life soap opera!  On Tuesday nights a bunch of the local businessmen would all meet up for a drink.  These men were all middle aged, respectable professionals but on a Tuesday night they turned into a bunch of mad men!  We loved it of course, being young and wanting to forget our miserable home life –...

Moving Out #32

...MOVING OUT:       And so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave the Hall.  Ten years after moving in he was now moving out, leaving his dream home for my mum to live in alone.  Gavin moved with him and Piers was away at school most of the time.  It was a mammoth task as he had so much stuff to move, especially from the basement.  He had some heavy machinery too that he’d brought with him from his alabaster days, including a band saw which we used to saw up logs for the huge fireplaces in the main rooms.  He had bought a house in nearby Burton-on-Trent which had some outbuildings for a workshop and there he moved to st...

Moving on - the end of an era #33

...the next day at the Hall plus a tour of all the rooms new and old.  It was quite fascinating to see the spa and treatment rooms which are now in the old basement.  The pool is in the old Servants Hall which in turn became my dad’s workshop and the treatment rooms are in other parts of the old servants’ quarters – it was barely recognisable!  In 2005 we went back again with my mum and two of our children, Lee and Hannah.  Again, it was great fun to explore the house and grounds and show my children where I had lived as a child.  I was particularly fascinated to see the attic rooms as these had always looked so spooky and were obviously haunted – ho...

Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross #36

...GARDENERS’  WORLD AT  HOAR CROSS:       In it’s heyday Hoar Cross Hall had around 28 people employed to keep the 20 acres of grounds tidy and weed free.  In Victorian England the most common of all male servants was the gardener.   At Hoar Cross the head gardener had numerous under-gardeners known affectionately as ‘digging slaves’!  They were responsible for producing fruit, vegetables and growing luxury items in and out of season, much of it under glass.  Adjacent to the house was the carp pool and greenhouse area along with a palm house; next to these was a walled kitchen garden.  This supplied the house with all its fruit, vegetables and...

Aristocratic travels # 39

...ee them today!  The schooner was disposed of in 1897 as Emily got older and less able to travel.  The Ariadne survives to this day and was restored in the 1990s at Hamble on Southampton Water If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please share with your friends. More photos next week!...