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The Tax Man Cometh #29

...it?” The Meynell Ingram Arms As I said before There were always a few high jinks at The Meynell too. After one late night The landlord went home and left The locals to lock up The pub (this was quite common in those days). As The night went on we got hungry and The chef decided to cook some chips for us all. He went into The kitchen and saw that The chimney was on fire! We all ran out of The pub and sure enough, There were flames pouring out of The top. As The landlord only lived in The village The chef phoned him up and told him about The fire but he wouldn’t believe him! He thought we were playing a joke on him and slammed The phone down. Once more t...

The War Years and Beyond #36

...During The Second World War, life in country houses changed dramatically. It was no different at Hoar Cross Hall. The flower borders on The main lawns were turfed over to reduce maintenance and vegetables were grown in areas formerly restricted to flowers. Evacuees from Birmingham came to stay for The duration of The war and They lived in The basement, as it was considered to be The safest place. I imagine that They must have been in The care of The servants as They were living amongst Them but it must also have been quite exciting for Them to move from a bombed out city to The relative safety of The countryside, although They must have missed Their parents of c...

Bacon's 'Essay on Gardens' # 56

...Francis Bacon was born in 1561 and was 1st Viscount St Alban. He wrote his Essay on Gardens in 1625, a year before his death of pneumonia. He was also Lord Chancellor of England under King James I and led The advancement of both natural philosophy and scientific method and his works remained influential even in The late stages of The Scientific Revolution.  The essays he wrote between, mainly, 1612 and 1625 were about anything from love and marriage to superstitions to gardens and any subject in between! Bacon's genius as a phrase-maker appears to great advantage in The later essays and The 'Oxford Dictionary of Quotations' includes no fewer than 91 quotations...

Midnight Pool Parties # 59

...night! The Meynell Ingrams Arms - our refuge!   We were now spending more of our social time in The Meynell Arms, The local pub.  Every time we went in everybody wanted an update on what was going on at The Hall with my parents and Their long running divorce battle.   It was a bit like a local soap opera!   We had also become engaged and I stayed at Kev’s house in The week so I could get to work easily having failed my driving test a couple of times; weekends were spent at The Hall.   Hoar Cross and The surrounding villages were a bit of a Birmingham commuter belt area and a lot of The families were quite well-to-do.  We met up with a crowd of...

My Dad Bought A Mansion! #1

...MY DAD BOUGHT A MANSION!    It was The summer of 1970, Mungo Jerry was at The top of The hit parade and we were about to move house.  But not to any old house – to a 70 roomed mansion in 20 acres of grounds!  For years my dad had collected antiques, ever since he was a young boy of 12, and it was his dream to own a large house where he could put Them on show to The general public.  In The 1970s he owned The largest private collection of arms and armour in The country and his dream was about to be realised; but little did we know what a nightmare would unfold before us. Hoar Cross Hall was The home of The Meynell Ingram family who originated from Leiceste...

Huntin', Shootin' and Fishin' #6

...kind! The Meynells' Laughton estate in Lincolnshire   My dad had a gun licence and kept his gun in The bedroom in case any intruders tried to break in. One day Gavin and I found it when we had our friends round and took it to one of The empty bedrooms down The corridor. We were happily playing a game with it, pretending we were soldiers, when I decided to point it at The wall and pull The trigger. The bullet lodged in The plasterwork and The noise was so deafening that we thought that everyone in The house and surrounding district must have heard it. We all ran off and hid but no-one seemed to notice or come looking to see what all The noise was about s...