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The origins of the stately home #43

...saloon, a library, a drawing room, a snooker room and master and guest bedrooms. Rooms on each floor were laid out as follows:-   The basement - kitchens and sculleries plus male servants' bedrooms The ground floor - dining room and morning room The first floor - drawing room The second floor - bedrooms 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 ro...

Like Father, Like Sons #19

...As previously mentioned in earlier blogs my dad used to be a racing driver during the 1950s and ran his own team in the 1960s, travelling all over Europe in his trusty Volkswagon van with his two mechanics and driver. He didn’t have big sponsorship money behind him and most of it was done on a shoestring but he came back with lots of funny stories of their van breaking down or some rural ‘hotel’ that they had stayed in. From each country that he visited he always brought me back a doll dressed in the traditional costume of that country. There was quite a collection and I still have them; I used to put them on display in the library when our house was open...

Queen Alexandra - my family #52

...Here is a final selection of photos from the album of Queen Alexandra, found in the library of Hoar Cross Hall.  Alexandra enjoyed photography as a hobby and in 1908 put together this album of personal photos of her family to be sold for charity.  It is a fascinating insight into another world, long gone now.  As we lead up to the Coronation of King Charles III it is a reminder of all that has gone before and all that is to come in the future with our hard working royals.     King Edward VII and David Here is the King in relaxed pose with his grandson, David, who later became King Edward VIII.  David became the King in January 1936 and famously abdicat...

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...

Meet the Neighbours - Alton Towers #82

...When you say the name ‘Alton Towers’ most people in the UK will think of the theme park with spectacular rollercoaster rides.  It really has changed beyond all recognition to the days when I used to go there back in the 1970s.  In those days it was a lovely house set in beautiful grounds with a few fairground rides to one side of the car park!  Well, it still is a lovely place to visit but the rides have taken over now so that people only think of it as a theme park with fantastically themed hotels and an enchanted village! However, this estate started life as an Iron Age Fort built on Bunbury Hill. Then later on in the 11th century, Alton Castle was bui...