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The War years and beyond

THE WAR YEARS AND BEYOND:           During the Second World War, life in country houses changed dramatically.  It was no different at Hoar Cross.  The 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 th...

Reburbishing our Mansion #4

REFURBISHING OUR MANSION :       We moved into the Hall during the summer holidays and my parents quickly realised that they had a lot of work on their hands to make the place habitable as well as to earn some money from it.  As previously mentioned, there was an East Wing and a West Wing to the house.  My dad decided to convert the first floor rooms of each wing into three separate apartments; he had done this at our previous house.  This would generate income from rents until we got the main house open to the public.  It wasn’t a big job to convert the rooms as the East Wing had four main rooms and two bathrooms already there, which would have been u...

Here comes the Bride (Part 1) # 30

HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 1):    Now that my dad was having to move out of the Hall we had decided to bring our wedding forward so that we could get married in the church in the grounds and then have the reception afterwards in the Hall, which was after all our family home.  The wedding preparations were going quite well and as we knew lots of musicians it wasn’t hard to find a local band and a DJ to do the disco.  A friend of my dad’s offered to do the catering and the bar was set up with plenty of kegs from the local brewery in Burton on Trent.  I had two bridesmaids and we all went to Birmingham one day to choose our dresses and shoes – it was all...

Moving Out #32

MOVING OUT:       And so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave the Hall.  Ten years after moving in he was now moving out, leaving his dream home for my mum to live in alone.  Gavin moved with him and Piers was away at school most of the time.  It was a mammoth task as he had so much stuff to move, especially from the basement.  He had some heavy machinery too that he’d brought with him from his alabaster days, including a band saw which we used to saw up logs for the huge fireplaces in the main rooms.  He had bought a house in nearby Burton-on-Trent which had some outbuildings for a workshop and there he moved to st...

Our mansion gets a facelift #4

OUR MANSION GETS A FACELIFT:        We moved into Hoar Cross Hall during the summer holidays and my parents quickly realised that they had a lot of work on their hands to make the place habitable as well as to earn some money from it.  As previously mentioned, there was an East Wing and a West Wing to the house.  My dad decided to convert the first floor rooms of each wing into three separate apartments; he had done this at our previous house.  This would generate income from rents until we got the main house open to the public.  It wasn’t a big job to convert the rooms as the East Wing had four main rooms and two bathrooms already there, which would...

Here Comes the Bride (Part 1) #29

HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 1)     After the court case my dad was given 3 months to move out of Hoar Cross Hall. We had decided to bring our wedding forward so that we could get married in the Church of the Holy Angels in the grounds and then have the reception afterwards in the Hall, which was after all our family home. The wedding preparations were going quite well and as we knew lots of musicians it wasn’t hard to find a local band and a DJ to do the disco. A friend of my dad’s offered to do the catering and the bar was set up with plenty of kegs from the local brewery in Burton on Trent. I had two bridesmaids and we all went to Birmingham one day to c...