Story Search Results

LET THE BANQUET COMMENCE! #11

...Room and Ballroom had been removed and put into storage elsewhere in the house.   A local carpenter had made long tables and benches to seat about over 200 guests in the Ballroom.  We had employed caterers to do the food and the Chinese Room was used as a food preparation area next to the kitchen/café.   A bar had been built in the middle of the Long Gallery.   I had to sew numbers onto the coat hangers for the cloakroom – it took all day to do 100 hangers!  The afternoon was spent laying the tables with mugs, daggers and serviettes.  Before 7pm we went to get changed into our mediaeval dresses;  Myra (the fire-eaters wife) and myself were doing th...

Mediaeval Mayhem! #12

...Room and Ballroom had been removed and put into storage elsewhere in the house.   A local carpenter had made long tables and benches to seat about 200 guests in the Ballroom, which was now known as the Banqueting Hall.  We had employed caterers to do the food and the Chinese Room was used as a food preparation area next to the kitchen/café.   A bar had been built in the middle of the Long Gallery.   I had to sew numbers onto the coat hangers for the cloakroom – it took all day to do 100 hangers!  The afternoon was spent laying the tables with mugs, daggers and serviettes.  Before 7pm we went to get changed into our mediaeval dresses; Myra (the fire-...

The Ballroom #70

...Continuing my series on the rooms that were open to the public at Hoar Cross Hall, we move from the Library, through the secret door, to the Ballroom.  Overlooking the gardens and the former deer-park, this beautifully proportioned room is elegant and grand.  The lower halves of the walls are covered in carved white and gold wood panelling which is complemented by the original hand printed blue wallpaper, again over 150 years old (see photo below).  Incredibly the original wooden printing blocks for the wallpaper were in the house when we moved in and were on show to the public in this room.  The fireplaces are made of marble with carved wood overmantels wh...

Victorian Fashions #95

...ed in the Ballroom.  When we lived there in the 1970s and 1980s we often had dances and Balls, especially on Midsummer’s Eve and New Year’s Eve.  People would hire the Hall for charity events such as the Red Cross Ball or weddings so the Ballroom got plenty of use as people danced around the parquet floors. The Ballroom with dresses on display   As the Hall was open to the public during the summer months, my mum would display her collection of Victorian dresses around the house.  These were very popular and people would donate dresses to the collection or lend them to us for a season.  My friend and I dressed up in two of the dresses one day and...

Suits You Sir! #23

...from the Ballroom as people were always trying to get it off the walls and try it on!  These lovely polished breastplates were all safely in his room out of sight of my mum when Percy the parrot decided to make his dash for freedom.  We would often leave the cage door open so he could walk about on top of the cage and sometimes he would fly around the lounge but on this occasion someone had left the door open for too long and he flew out and down the Long Gallery then into the Ballroom where a banquet was in full swing!  The noise and music must have scared the life out of him as he flew round and round the huge banqueting hall squawking and panicking about...

NEW YEAR JINKS #26

...NEW YEAR JINKS The New Year’s Eve Balls were usually the highlight of the year.  After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party.  In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal.  At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes.  Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into the Ballroom  with hi...