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Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #18

HOAR CROSS HALL – LIFE BELOW STAIRS:   This week I’ve done a history blog about the servants who lived at the Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s when the Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> light all the fires <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> dust <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> a half...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #19

This week I’ve done a historical blog about the servants who lived at the Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s when the Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> light all the fires <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> dust <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> a half million servants; most young girls went...

See you in Court #27

The saga of my parents’ split continued as we grew up in our stately home, although their behaviour was anything but stately for most of the time! Seven years of arguing <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> fighting were about to come to an end <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the solicitors had finally agreed on a date to go to court. We carried on helping my dad to run the Hall <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> he still went to his boat in Caernarfon at weekends to get away from the house but we were all getting weary of it now. We were young adults <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> wanting to get on with our own lives. After five years together we were hoping to get married at some point so we were glad that it was finally going to be sorted out one way or another. Gavin was...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #45

This week I’ve done a history blog about the servants who lived at the Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s when the Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> light all the fires <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> dust <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> a half million servants; most young girls went in...

Motor Racing Days #9

MOTOR RACING DAYS:            Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing motor cycles in the 1930s.   Because of this he became a deSpatch rider during the Second World War <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> spent a lot of time in North Africa.  After the war he started racing at nearby Donington Park <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s.  After that he moved onto cars <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> dr...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs

HOAR CROSS HALL – LIFE BELOW STAIRS:       This week I’ve done a history blog about the servants who lived at the Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s, when the Hall became empty.  They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one.  They had to rise at 5am to clean <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> light all the fires <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> dust <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight.  No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days!  By the end of the 19th century there were nearly...