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See you in Court #27

SEE YOU IN COURT:     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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> fighting were about to come to an end <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the solicitors had finally agreed on a  date to go to court.  We carried on helping my dad to run the Hall <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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...

See you in Court #31

SEE YOU IN COURT:     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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> fighting were about to come to an end <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the solicitors had finally agreed on a date to go to court. We carried on helping my dad to run the Hall <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 wa...

Skools out for summer! #14

SKOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!       When Hugo <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Emily Meynell built Hoar Cross Hall it included a whole estate with it, namely kitchen gardens, greenhouses, stables, a farm <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> cottages.  Old Hall (their original home) was also on the estate <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> was accessed via a private road, which ran from the main road.  By the time the seventies came along the stable block <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Old Hall were private houses <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> another part of Old Hall had been made into a children’s home.  Emily Meynell had started this home in the Victorian days, calling it ‘The Home of the Good Shepherd’ but it was for boys only at that time.  When we were there it was a mixed home <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> run by a hu...

Midnight Pool Parties #21

After leaving school I spent a year at Burton-on-Trent Technical College studying to be a secretary but my year at college had come to an end - now to find a job! It didn’t take too long as there was plenty of employment around in the seventies <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> I was soon offered a position with a small engineering firm in Burton. As I didn’t drive there was still the problem of me getting to work <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> dad managed to talk the residents of our apartments into taking me, as they were going to Burton every day as well, <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> it would save him coming out twice a day (no doubt he was thinking about the petrol he would save too!) Kev, my boyfriend, <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the b<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> were getting a fe...

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 – <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> lots of fun if you’re a child. This rambling old house full of empty rooms <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> secret doors, wild gardens <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my father. But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> lack of public transport was frustrating. Coupled with this was my parents' fighting <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> subsequent split, living at each end of the house <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> battling for the house <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> business through their solicitors. The small gardens we loved to explore   The effect this had on me, as the eldest c...

Skools out for Summer! #58

When Hugo <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Emily Meynell built Hoar Cross Hall they also included on their estate kitchen gardens, greenhouses, stables, a farm <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> cottages. Old Hall (their original home) was also on the estate <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> was accessed via a private road, which ran from the main road. By the time the seventies came along the stable block <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Old Hall were private houses <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> another part of Old Hall had been made into a children’s home. Emily Meynell had started this home in the Victorian days, calling it ‘The Home of the Good Shepherd’ but it was for boys only at that time. When we were there it was a mixed home <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> run by a husb<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> wife couple. They used to have fetes t...