Story Search Results

The Chinese Room #71

...vants! Christmas Day dining for the Meynells in the 1950s    During Mediaeval times the nobility dined in a Great Hall which was a large communal area in the centre of the house or castle.  The family sat on a raised dais at the head of the table and the rest of the household sat in order of diminishing rank away from them.  Over time the nobility preferred smaller rooms where they could entertain guests away from the servants and others members of the household – this was due in part to political and social changes and also comfort. As time went on Dining Rooms became smaller and more intimate and parlours were used instead of Great Halls.  At th...

Becoming A Rock Chick! #17

...st before Christmas with my mum and Piers staying with a neighbour.  It was now down to me to cook the Christmas dinner!  I hated cooking at the best of times (apart from scones and apple pies) and my dad hadn’t got a clue of course, like most men in those days!  So what could possibly go wrong?  We went into Burton to buy the turkey and a kindly butcher gave us instructions on how to cook it and what to buy – I have to say it was a challenging day but at least all our Christmas presents were still in the house and the three of us had a (fairly) nice dinner finished off with a good dose of the Morcambe and Wise Show to put a smile on our faces!   If t...

Moving On - the end of an era #33

...rst, with Christmas approaching, there will be some seasonal stories, some of them ghostly and hopefully not too scary!   Don’t miss the next instalment:  'The Haunting of Hoar Cross Hall'   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends. If you've enjoyed reading my stories why not get a copy of my book, 'My Dad Bought a Mansion' as it goes into a lot more detail of my life at the hall and also includes over 100 original photographs!And, with Christmas just around the corner, it might also be the perfect present for any book lovers you know! Go check it out here and let me know what...

Calendar Girls and Front Covers #7

...for their Christmas edition so we had to pretend it was December and find some old Christmas cards to put around the shelves.  They wanted us to pose in the Library as this was the room we used on Christmas Day and looked nice with all the books lined up and a roaring log fire in the grate (in July!).  Gavin and Piers sat on the sofa with their ‘new’ toys from Santa and I knelt on the rug stroking a friends’ dog.  My dad, who was always doing something in his workshop in the basement, came up at the last minute and quickly put on a smart jacket over his overalls and stood behind the sofa so you couldn’t see his bottom half!  I think he did the same t...

More Tea Vicar? #12

...aster and Christmas.  I have to say we were non too keen on going to church as we had to be on our best behaviour (something which didn’t sit easily with us as you’ve probably guessed!).  Afterwards though we all went across the road to the vicarage for tea and biscuits.  There was always plenty of other food too so we were happy to go on special occasions.  However, the people that attended the church were all incredibly old (or so it seemed to us) and very posh and well spoken so for some reason this would set our minds to impish thoughts!  We decided to swap all the sandwiches round one time, putting different tops to different bottoms; we also licke...

More Tea Vicar? #13

...aster and Christmas.  I have to say we were non too keen on going to church as we had to be on our best behaviour (something which didn’t sit easily with us as you’ve probably guessed!).  Afterwards though we all went across the road to the vicarage for tea and biscuits.  There was always plenty of other food too so we were happy to go on special occasions.  However, the people that attended the church were all incredibly old (or so it seemed to us) and very posh and well spoken so for some reason this would set our minds to impish thoughts!  We decided to swap all the sandwiches round one time, putting different tops to different bottoms; we also licke...