Story Search Results

Eat, Drink & Be Merry #11

...from the Far East'! One Easter we decided to hire a small steam train to give rides to the families that came. It was set up on the lower terrace and ran from one end to the other. It was a real hit with the bank holiday visitors and we enjoyed a few free rides too! My dad also put his old racing car in one of the rooms with a display of photos and newspaper cuttings from his sixties tours around Europe’s race tracks. This appealed to the male visitors while the ladies enjoyed the ever increasing collection of Victorian costumes around the house along with an antique sewing machine and a musical box which played lovely tunes when wound up. My dad displayi...

The Long Gallery #67

...I thought that a little series on the different rooms in Hoar Cross Hall might be quite interesting, taking a deeper look at what these rooms were used for and a bit of history surrounding them.  The main ground floor rooms were open to the public during the 1970s when people wandered around our home admiring the fine paintings and furniture followed by a walk in the grounds trying to imagine how it looked in days gone by.  The house was entered through two huge oak doors which led into an Entrance Hall - this was our cafe area and the Butlers Pantry just off there was what we used as a kitchen to bake scones and sell snacks and ice creams.  Leading off the E...

Ventures New! #10

...from the Far East! One Easter we decided to hire a small steam train to give rides to the families that came. It was set up on the lower terrace and ran from one end to the other. It was a real hit with the bank holiday visitors and we enjoyed a few free rides too! My dad also put his old racing car in one of the rooms with a display of photos and newspaper cuttings from his sixties tours around Europe’s race tracks. This appealed to the male visitors while the ladies enjoyed the ever increasing collection of Victorian costumes around the house along with an antique sewing machine and a musical box which played lovely tunes when wound up. Apart from the ban...

Get me to the church on time! #30

...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...

VENTURES NEW #10

...from the Far East! One Easter we decided to hire a small steam train to give rides to the families that came.  It was set up on the lower terrace and ran from one end to the other.  It was a real hit with the bank holiday visitors and we enjoyed a few free rides too!  My dad also put his old racing car in one of the rooms with a display of photos and newspaper cuttings from his sixties tours around Europe’s race tracks.  This appealed to the male visitors while the ladies enjoyed the ever increasing collection of Victorian costumes around the house along with an antique sewing machine and a musical box which played lovely tunes when wound up. Victoria...

Here comes the bride (Part 1) #30

...HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 1)   Our wedding preparations were going quite well.  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 help or advice from my mum as most brides do.   Kev’s parents had eloped after the war and got married in a register office with two witnesses dragged off the street, so they had no idea what you did to pla...