Story Search Results

Things that go bump in the night #3

...ng in the attics? The haunted attic corridor   One night my mum was woken up by the sight of a little girl ‘floating’ over the bed. She said the girl was wearing a long nightdress and mop cap and seemed to be stretching her arms out to my mum as if she was asking for help. She floated all around the bed scaring my mum half to death. Frantically she tried to wake my dad while the ghoulish girl reached out - by the time he was awake the child was fading away and he missed it all! On another occasion the ghost appeared outside our lounge door one night. My mum heard a tapping noise on the door and when she opened it, there stood the little girl. She th...

The War Years and Beyond #36

...vice. The attics, which were once full of servant girls, were now empty and by 1950 the number of servants had fallen to just three or four with a few men working in the gardens. Over the next twenty years the beautiful gardens gradually fell into a state of decay, which is how we found them when we moved there in 1970.By now much of the Meynell estate lands had been disposed of. Local properties were sold to tenants and others. The Hoar Cross estate, once the pivot of the local community and a source of employment, was being considerably reduced. Colonel Meynell, who had been seriously wounded in the Second World War, was suffering from his disability and it mu...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #45

...from the attics at the top of the house to the basement at the bottom so that they could also access their bedrooms once all the work was done. Pity the poor housemaid who had to climb up three flights of stairs to go to bed after a long day’s work!  Watch my 'tour of the Hall' (link below) to see me re-create the long climb to the attic! By the 1920s the indoor staff had dwindled to about fourteen. Lady Dorothy and her husband didn’t really live a full social life as previous Meynell families had and there were few balls and dances and hardly any hunting and shooting. I think the First World War had a lot to do with staff cutbacks as society was changing...

Things that go bump in the Night #3

...ng in the attics? One night my mum was woken up by the sight of a little girl ‘floating’ over the bed. She said the girl was wearing a long nightdress and mop cap and seemed to be stretching her arms out to my mum as if she was asking for help. She floated all around the bed scaring my mum half to death. Frantically she tried to wake my dad while the ghoulish girl reached out - by the time he was awake the child was fading away and he missed it all! On another occasion the ghost appeared outside our lounge door one night. My mum heard a tapping noise on the door and when she opened it, there stood the little girl. She thought we’d dressed our brother Pie...

Panto Pranks! #76

...e haunted attics! OUT NOW!!!  'My Dad Bought a Mansion' is out in book form on Amazon - all my memoirs packed with lots of photographs from the times.  Go check it out and let me know what you think!Would make a great gift!      ...

To the Manor Born #77

...e haunted attics! OUT NOW!!!  'My Dad Bought a Mansion' is out in book form on Amazon - all my memoirs packed with lots of photographs from the times.  Go check it out and let me know what you think!Would make a great gift!  ...