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Join Me On A Video Tour Of My Old Home! Hoar Cross Hall

...oar Cross Hall, to make a video of the house to show you what it looks like now. First of all I wish to thank the current owners and mangement for allowing me to do this, and also I have to say how pleased I was to find that the main house is not much different to how it was when I lived there! However, it was especially pleasing to see how amazing the gardens now look, much how they would have done back in the Victorian times! I really enjoyed visiting the house again and hope the video tour will bring my blogs to life as you follow me around!  Enjoy the vlog…….    Don't forget to subscribe to my channel!  ...

NEW YEAR JINKS #26

...‘To the Hall’ sign round so that it pointed into a field next to the road to the Hall and everyone had been parking their cars in there.  How embarrassing!  We had to ring a local farmer and ask him to tow all the cars out of the mud – not a good start to a ‘happy’ new year! However, the evening soon livened up and guests were dancing to the band which happened to be Kev’s band this year.   They seemed to go down well and looked completely different in their dinner jackets, even though they still wore long hair!  When the buffet was served later on the caterers put all the food out at once but there weren’t enough people around to staff it...

Whodunit in the Library? #24

...WHODUNIT IN THE LIBRARY?      When we first moved to Hoar Cross Hall, growing up in a stately home seemed an idyllic way to live – and lots of fun if you’re a child. This rambling old house full of empty rooms and secret doors, wild gardens and woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my dad. But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation and lack of public transport was frustrating. Coupled with this was my parents fighting and subsequent split, living at each end of the house and battling for the house and business through their solicitors. The effect this had on me, as the eldest child who perhaps s...

Becoming a Rock Chick #17

...round the Hall, please click here to view my Tour of the House video on youtube.    ...

Things That Go Bump In The Night! #3

...  THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT: Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is even more scary!!  That first winter at the Hall was like that.  Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night long it kept me awake.  The next day I would go upstairs to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose.   They were all tightly shut as they had been for 20 years.  I remember standing there in the attic rooms, the hairs prickling the back of my neck and quickly legging it back downstairs!  On other nights I would hear peopl...

HUNTIN’, SHOOTIN’ & FISHIN’ #6

...HUNTIN’, SHOOTIN’ & FISHIN’: As with most stately homes there was hunting, shooting and fishing.   We participated in none of these but the Meynell and South Staffs Hunt used to meet locally to do a spot of fox hunting.  They would all gather at different venues around the area and enjoy a drink before setting off.  One of their usual places was the Meynell Ingram Arms Public House at the bottom of the village.   In February 1972 they had their ‘meet’ at the Hall.  We, as the host family, got all dressed up to meet and greet them and local helpers served drinks, usually sherry. (See header pic: Me with my Mum and brothers, Gavin and Piers)....