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Our mansion gets a facelift #4

...rs with a Servants Hall where they all ate their meals.  Originally there had been extra rooms on one end of the house which were the kitchens and sculleries downstairs (off the basement) and  sewing/mending rooms upstairs.  These rooms had been demolished by a group of monks who were hoping to buy the Hall back in the sixties.  I’ll never understand why they were allowed to knock down part of a beautiful house before they even bought it and this end of the house was now a rough area used for parking.  You could still see the doors to the Boot Room, the Flower Room and the Boiler Room as they had opened into the kitchen corridor before it was demolished;...

What the Butler Saw! #35

...ce at the Servants’ Ball at Christmas time – most large houses had one and Hoar Cross Hall was no different. The Ball was held in the Long Gallery and this was the one time when the family mixed with the Servants. With mulled wine flowing freely and mistletoe hung here about, the young ladies of the house would be very excited to be standing near to a young, good looking footman! Let’s hope they didn’t get up to too much mischief when the butler wasn’t looking!    Don’t miss next week’s instalment: Gardeners World at Hoar Cross If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends....

Doing up a stately home #4

...rs with a Servants Hall where they all ate their meals. Originally there had been extra rooms on one end of the house which were the kitchens and sculleries downstairs (off the basement) and sewing/mending rooms upstairs. These rooms had been demolished by a group of monks who were hoping to buy the Hall back in the sixties. I’ll never understand why they were allowed to knock down part of a beautiful house before they even bought it and this end of the house was now a rough area used for parking. You could still see the doors to the Boot Room, the Flower Room and the Boiler Room as they had opened into the kitchen corridor before it was demolished; this is w...

Gardeners World at Hoar Cross #43

...party or Servants Ball – well, you couldn’t have the Servants peeking into the family’s private rooms could you? Although they must have been curious to see them!Other outdoor staff included the chauffeur who had been employed for many years by the Meynell family. They had owned a motor car since the very early years of the century and many more cars were owned subsequently. Mrs Ellen Fisher, widow of the then chauffeur, Albert, recalled how a Maudsley was delivered just after the First World War. This would have cost around £200, nearly four times the annual wage of the housekeeper and 20 times the annual wage of the housemaid! During the 1920s the chau...

What the butler saw!

...ce at the Servants’ Ball at Christmas time.  Let’s hope they didn’t get up to too much mischief when the butler wasn’t looking!   Don’t miss next week’s instalment:  Gardeners world at Hoar Cross If you want to follow my story from the beginning Click Here!...

What the Butler saw!

...ce at the Servants’ Ball at Christmas time – most large houses had one and Hoar Cross Hall was no different.  The Ball was held in the Long Gallery and this was the one time when the family mixed with the Servants.  With mulled wine flowing freely and mistletoe hung here about, the young ladies would be very excited to be standing near to a young, good looking footman!  Let’s hope they didn’t get up to too much mischief when the butler wasn’t looking!  Don’t miss next week’s instalment:  Gardeners world at Hoar Cross If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends....