Story Search Results

Hysterical Productions #15

...The next day, when cleaning up, we would find all sorts of things which people had left behind: scarves, perfume, money, cigarettes and even a set of false teeth left on the mantelpiece! I had found a little hidey hole in the wooden panelling in the Long Gallery; a small 6” square door which pushed open when pressed in the right place and I would keep things in there which I found – especially the cigarettes! In the middle of all this busyness my dad still found time to go to arms and armour exhibitions, one in particular in Birmingham around the time of the IRA bombings, and also the Racing Car Show at London’s Olympia. This was something we usually wen...

Like Father, Like Sons #19

...hes! 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 Lombard RAC...

Alice - the ghost in the mirror #28

...the next day, he was told that no children were staying at the hotel at that time. Again, on a separate occasion, the barman looked into the mirror and saw the child standing behind him but when he turned around she was gone. When author Graham Phillips went to the hall to research the Alice story, he took a photograph of the mirror and many people said they could see a little girls’ face in the bottom left hand corner of it. How strange! Is this the real Alice looking through the glass back at us? What do you think?   Don't miss next week's instalment:  Christmas High Jinks!   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and pl...

See you in Court #31

...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 – what be...

Moving Out #34

...MOVING OUT:      And so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave Hoar Cross 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 start a...

Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross #39

...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 herbs. The palm house...