Story Search Results

My Dad Bought A Mansion! #1

...llRoom, a Drawing Room, a Chapel and a Library with secret doors!  How I loved it – I was a big fan of The Famous Five in those days and it really did feel like I was in the middle of one of their mysteries!  There were about 15 basement Rooms, some of which had had the floors removed due to damp rot, but the main passageway was made of flagstones so you could still walk through it – this was where a lot of the male servants had slept and it was also where the wine cellars were along with linen storage cupboards.   In the attic a similar number of Rooms were bare and empty and had once housed all the female servants.  Two spiral staircases joined all th...

Meet the Neighbours - Shugborough Hall #80

..., The Red Drawing Room, The Library, The Saloon and the Veranda Room among others. The land around Shugborough is mainly flat and Thomas Anson took a keen interest in landscaping the parkland so that trees, water and follies were on view to the family. If you’re wondering what a folly is, it’s an ornamental building of no practical use which the aristocracy would build in their large gardens to make for an interesting view.  James Stuart, the classical architect, designed a number of these and the Greek influence is obvious, as he had visited Athens some years before.  Therefore, two of the follies are copies of a building and an archway in Athens.  Othe...

Becoming a rock chick #18

...BECOMING A ROCK CHICK:        My schooldays were coming to an end now and I absolutely couldn’t wait to leave.  The school itself was an old Victorian grammar school in Uttoxeter which still had wooden desks with inkwells in them!  Even the teachers wore their mortar boards and gowns just like the ones at Eton and Harrow – or the Beano!   However, in the last two years there I had made a few good friends and we would go into town every lunch time to meet up with a group of guys that worked at the local J. C. Bamford firm.  They were all into motor bikes and one of the first films I watched was ‘Easy Rider’.  They also went to a lot of concerts...

Whodunit in the Library? #24

...WHODUNIT IN THE LIBRARY?      When we first moved to Hoar Cross Hall, growing up in a stately home seemed an idyllic way to live – and lots of fun if you’re a child. This rambling old house full of empty Rooms and secret doors, wild gardens and woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my dad. But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation and lack of public transport was frustrating. Coupled with this was my parents fighting and subsequent split, living at each end of the house and battling for the house and business through their solicitors. The effect this had on me, as the eldest child who perhaps s...

Becoming a Rock Chick #17

...My schooldays were coming to an end now and I absolutely couldn’t wait to leave. The school itself was an old Victorian grammar school in Uttoxeter which still had wooden desks with inkwells in them! Even the teachers wore their mortar boards and gowns just like the ones at Eton and Harrow – or the Beano! However, in the last two years there I had made a few good friends and we would go into town every lunch time to meet up with a group of guys that worked at the local J. C. Bamford firm. They were all into motor bikes and one of the first films I watched was ‘Easy Rider’. They also went to a lot of concerts to see live music, something which was totally...

Whodunit in the Library #24

...When we first moved to Hoar Cross Hall, growing up in a stately home seemed an idyllic way to live – and lots of fun if you’re a child. This rambling old house full of empty Rooms and secret doors, wild gardens and woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my dad. But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation and lack of public transport was frustrating. Coupled with this was my parents fighting and subsequent split, living at each end of the house and battling for the house and business through their solicitors. The effect this had on me, as the eldest child who perhaps saw more of it than my brothers, w...