Story Search Results

See you in Court #31

...n Kev’s attic! Well, if nothing else, at least my dad had the last laugh!   Next week:    'Here Comes the Bride (Part 1)' If you’d like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends....

My Dad Bought a Mansion #1

...s. 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 the floors together, one at each end of the house. The Library had secret doors!   All the bedrooms for the family were on the first floor and were named after whichever town they faced i.e. Derby, Lichfield, Needwood, etc. It was fascinating stuff! There was also a West Wing and an East Wing to the house; the West Wing had been the nursery rooms for the younger members of the Meynell family and their nursemaids. In one of the corridors we found an old ‘sit and ride’ toy, which was a horse on wheels with pedals;...

Our mansion gets a facelift #4

...about the attic ‘tenants’.   The gates at the bottom of the grounds   Around the back and side of the house was a dry ‘moat’ as we called it. Not full of water but there to allow light into the basement rooms. A stone balustrade surrounded it and we loved to walk along the top of it even though it was a long drop if we’d fallen off! These moats were full of soil and dead leaves which all needed to be cleared and the only way of accessing them was through one of the basement windows. At the top of the house we found two water tanks, one at each end, which were full of dead pigeons. These had to be removed before we could start using the water...

Behind the Green Baize Door #41

...d cramped attic bedrooms and basements, hidden tunnels and corridors contrasting with the grandeur of 'upstairs'.  Housemaids were often taught to turn their face to the wall if their employer passed them in the house. Clearly the aristocracy thought they were too grand to be looked upon by a 'lowly' servant! So why were these doors covered in green (or red) baize cloth? Baize is a sturdy green cloth which insulated against noise and absorbed smells from the kitchens. Brass tacks held the cloth in place and was often very decorative in design (see header picture). Baize dates back to 1525 and a well-known 17th century ditty mentions 'bays' as follows:-  “H...

The origins of the stately home #43

...Top floor/attic - nurseries and female servants bedrooms   Most houses had a 'still' room, something used since the Middle Ages. This was an area off the main kitchens used for distillery, food preserving, making medicines and herbal remedies and brewing beer. It was also used as a pantry. It had it's roots in Roman and Greek culture when they used a room to make medicines and distill oils from plants etc. In the 16th century people found that they needed an extra room separate from the kitchen for distilling and preserving and so the 'still' room was invented! Of course, people drank beer more in those days as it was safer than water, which could often be un...

Behind the green baize door #47

...d cramped attic bedrooms and basements, hidden tunnels and corridors contrasting with the grandeur of 'upstairs'. Housemaids were often taught to turn their face to the wall if their employer passed them in the house. Clearly the aristocracy thought they were too grand to be looked upon by a 'lowly' servant! So why were these doors covered in green (or red) baize cloth? Baize is a sturdy green cloth which insulated against noise and absorbed smells from the kitchens. Brass tacks held the cloth in place and was often very decorative in design (see header picture).  Baize dates back to 1525 and a well-known 17th century ditty mentions 'bays' as follows:-  “H...