Story Search Results

More tea Vicar? #11

...oying the dancing so much. At midnight we had a Scottish piper who would walk down the Long Gallery in full Scottish regalia complete with bagpipes to pipe in the new year. Once this was done everyone would sing Auld Lang Syne and then my dad would release a net full of balloons onto the crowd and everyone would set off their party poppers.   Kev and I at a New Years Eve Ball   Gavin’s birthday was New Year’s Day so he was allowed to come down just before midnight and everyone would sing Happy Birthday to him. Not many youngsters of that age had 500 people singing birthday wishes to them and a huge party in their house! Don’t miss next week’s...

The Ballroom #70

...Continuing my series on the rooms that were open to the public at Hoar Cross Hall, we move from the Library, through the secret door, to the Ballroom.  Overlooking the gardens and the former deer-park, this beautifully proportioned room is elegant and grand.  The lower halves of the walls are covered in carved white and gold wood panelling which is complemented by the original hand printed blue wallpaper, again over 150 years old (see photo below).  Incredibly the original wooden printing blocks for the wallpaper were in the house when we moved in and were on show to the public in this room.  The fireplaces are made of marble with carved wood overmantels wh...

A Christmas Celebration #74

...firelight dancing off the wood panelling.  Everything gleamed and shone as she looked around and heard the music starting to play.  Suddenly Albert, the footman, came up to her and asked her for a dance.  Molly blushed bright red but said ‘Yes’ as she really liked him – he was so tall and good looking, as were most footmen it seemed.  The evening was a huge success as the family mixed with the servants and estate workers and Molly found herself relaxing as she made new friends and enjoyed the food they’d spent so many long hours preparing.  Even Cook seemed to be enjoying herself as she chatted to Carter, although it could have been down to the nume...

A New Year Calamity! #75

...ests 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 properly.  The first guests that went up to help themselves took platefuls of food away so by the time the rest of the guests got their food there was hardly anything left!  This nearly caused a riot and my poor dad ended up being surrounded by all these angry men demanding their money back!  He had to give it back too – it was th...

A Christmas Celebration #89

...firelight dancing off the wood panelling.  Everything gleamed and shone as she looked around and heard the music starting to play.  Suddenly Albert, the footman, came up to her and asked her for a dance.  Molly blushed bright red but said ‘Yes’ as she really liked him – he was so tall and good looking, as were most footmen it seemed.  The evening was a huge success as the family mixed with the servants and estate workers and Molly found herself relaxing as she made new friends and enjoyed the food they’d spent so many long hours preparing.  Even Cook seemed to be enjoying herself as she chatted to Carter, although it could have been down to the nume...

A New Year Calamity! #90

...ests 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 properly.  The first guests that went up to help themselves took platefuls of food away so by the time the rest of the guests got their food there was hardly anything left!  This nearly caused a riot and my poor dad ended up being surrounded by a bunch of angry men demanding their money back!  He had to give it back too – it was t...