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See you in Court #27
Posted by Viv Wilson on 4th November 2022 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,Meynell,birmingham crown court,Police,burton-on-trent,sothebys auction house,downton abbey,The Crown,Judge,Barrister,keeping up with the aristocrats
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 and fighting were about to come to an end and the solicitors had finally agreed on a date to go to court. We carried on helping my dad to run the Hall and 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 and 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...
The Tax Man Cometh #29
Posted by Viv Wilson on 18th November 2022 in Blogging | hoar cross hall,Meynell,duchy of cornwall,The Crown,The Church of the Holy Angels,Meynell Ingram Arms,Knighthood,Lotus Elite,british aristocracy,lord and lady,stately home,mansion,staffordshire,history,ghosts,ghost stories,spa hotel,mediaeval,antiques,suit of armour,hoar cross hall spa,stately home tour,manor house,abandoned mansion,abandoned mansion uk,derelict mansion,abandoned millionaire mansion,downton abbey a new era,stately homes of england,stately home where I grew up,My Dad Bought a Mansion,lady diana,the crown season 5 netflix uk,royal household,the tax man
My parents’ court case was finally over and my dad had six months to leave the family home, Hoar Cross Hall. In the meantime my mum had to find the funds to buy him out and he had to find another house to live in. He also had an awful lot of stuff to move too! He eventually found a house in nearby Burton-on-Trent but as it was obviously a lot smaller he had to get rid of a lot of his possessions and one of the first things to go was his Lotus Elite. He advertised it in the local paper but instead of getting a phone call from a likely buyer, the first call was from the local tax office. Back in those days they used to check advertisements in the newspapers and...
Get me to the church on time! #30
Posted by Viv Wilson on 25th November 2022 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,Meynell,church of the holy angels,burton on trent,birmingham,ghost,downton abbey,historic houses,stag and hen party,suits of armour
My dad was having to move out of Hoar Cross Hall and we had decided to bring our wedding forward so we 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 kept very simple really as I had no...
Moving Out #32
Posted by Viv Wilson on 7th December 2022 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,Meynell,burton on trent,Leicester,Derbyshire,GP2,downton abbey,the crown,harry & meghann,antiques
And so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave Hoar Cross 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 start afresh.
He carried o...
What the butler saw!
Posted by Viv Wilson on 23rd September 1988 in History | hoar cross hall,Wine cellar,butler,footman,servants ball,Christmas,gardeners world
WHAT THE BUTLER SAW! Anyone who’s seen downton abbey will remember Carter the butler. He is exactly how a butler would have been in the 19th century and, strangely enough, the butler at the Hall during the early part of the 20th century was also called Carter!
Although most big houses had a house steward who was in charge of accounts and general running of the household, a butler was more commonly engaged by the wealthy. He was usually a grand, authoritarian figure, commanding respect and awe and most of the servants would have been scared to death of upsetting him! He was dressed like a gentleman of the period and generally ran the household...
A Christmas Haunting! #34
Posted by Viv Wilson on 23rd December 2022 in Growing Up In a Stately Home | hoar cross hall,Meynell,alice through the looking glass,alice in wonderland,Christmas,Library,The Crown,downton abbey,ghost,haunted
The typewriter keys clattered away as Viv wrote her story. It was coming along nicely and she was feeling pleased with herself. The attic room that she and her brothers had made into their ‘den’ was ideal for getting away from everybody and having some peace and quiet and she quite forgot about the time as she lost herself in the plot. Suddenly she looked up and realized how dark it was getting; the December nights were pulling in and it was already quite dusky by 3.30pm. Quickly she packed her books and folders away and prepared to go downstairs. How she hated being up in the attics when it was getting dark as it was so spooky! The wind was starting to howl...