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The haunting of Hoar Cross Hall #15

...The green baize door banged behind her and Viv breathed a sigh of relief.  She’d made it out alive!  At least that’s what it felt like; she vowed never to go up to the attics again on her own or in the afternoon.  She gradually stopped shaking and went to find her mother who was putting up Christmas decorations in the Library.  This was where they spent Christmas Day as, not only was it a nice room, but it had a large fireplace which meant a roaring log fire to keep them warm.  Viv forgot about the attic tenants as she helped trim the tree and listened to her mother telling her about the new tenants that were moving into the West Wing apartment.  “I...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs

...s a green baize door off the staircase where they could enter the main house to attend to their duties.  The spiral staircase ran from the attics at the top of the house to the basement at the bottom so that they could also access their bedrooms once all the work was done.  Pity the poor housemaid who had to climb up three flights of stairs to go to bed after a long day’s work!   A diagram of the basement floor used by the servants    By the 1920s the indoor staff had dwindled to about fourteen.  Lady Dorothy and her husband didn’t really live a full social life as previous Meynell families had and there were few balls and dances and hardly any...

THE RENOVATIONS BEGIN #4

...��s green baize door opened onto the inner landing and this is how the servants would have accessed the rooms when bringing the family breakfast trays in the mornings.  Where children were to be seen and not heard, servants were to be neither seen nor heard by members of the family and all the areas to the house were accessed via the spiral staircases and then inner hallways and corridors, so they could go about their duties quickly and quietly.  My dad spent a lot of his time at auction houses buying and selling antiques and so he went back there again to source carpets and kitchen equipment.  He also installed huge electric heaters to keep our new tenants...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #39

...s a green baize door off the staircase where they could enter the main house to attend to their duties. The spiral staircase ran from the attics at the top of the house to the basement at the bottom so that they could also access their bedrooms once all the work was done. Pity the poor housemaid who had to climb up three flights of stairs to go to bed after a long day’s work! By the 1920s the indoor staff had dwindled to about fourteen. Lady Dorothy and her husband didn’t really live a full social life as previous Meynell families had and there were few balls and dances and hardly any hunting and shooting. I think the First World War had a lot to do with st...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #18

...s a green baize door off the staircase where they could enter the main house to attend to their duties. The spiral staircase ran from the attics at the top of the house to the basement at the bottom so that they could also access their bedrooms once all the work was done. Pity the poor housemaid who had to climb up three flights of stairs to go to bed after a long day’s work! A typical Victorian kitchen - this is how the Hall kitchen would have looked   By the 1920s the indoor staff had dwindled to about fourteen. Lady Dorothy and her husband didn’t really live a full social life as previous Meynell families had and there were few balls and dances an...

Reburbishing our Mansion #4

...��s green baize door opened onto the inner landing next to the apartments and this is how the servants would have accessed these rooms when bringing the family breakfast trays in the mornings.  Where children were to be seen and not heard, servants were to be neither seen nor heard by members of the family and all the areas to the house were accessed via the spiral staircases and then inner hallways and corridors so they could go about their duties quickly and quietly.  My dad spent a lot of his time at auction houses buying and selling antiques and so he went back there again to source carpets and kitchen equipment.  He also installed huge electric heaters...