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A New Year Calamity! #35

The New Year’s Eve balls at Hoar Cross Hall were usually the highlight of the year. After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party. In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal. At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes. Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into the Ballroom wi...

The Kitchen Maid's Tale #41

...although balls carried on for a number of years, they gradually died out in the 1970s.   A debutante arrives for the Ball in her Rolls Royce   Once the season was over and Jenny returned to the Hall she was busy in the kitchen straightaway. She tells how there were visitors arriving and her statement below shows the implications for the staff of a large country house:- “I don’t know who they were, but they were a lady and gentleman, a valet and lady’s maid, a grown-up daughter, and a very young child. Young enough to have a nanny. That meant three extra in the dining room, two extra in the steward’s room, an extra nanny, and an extra child. A...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #45

...were few balls and dances and hardly any hunting and shooting. I think the First World War had a lot to do with staff cutbacks as society was changing between the wars and Lady Dorothy’s two daughters weren’t really interested in high living and parties – they wanted to do something useful with their lives. They had spent much of their childhood in the schoolroom at the Hall. The sons of the family were away at boarding school but the girls had a governess and nursery maid to look after them. Dorothy had her own personal maid at the age of 11. The schoolroom was situated just off the main entrance hall on the ground floor and the maid would bring breakfas...

Change and the Country House #61

...Hoar Cross Hall was clearly a very different house in the Victorian era compared to today.  Like other country houses it has not been immune from the social and economic changes affecting all walks of life over the last hundred years. At the beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1837 the local landowner with his country house and estate was the focal point of the community, often dispensing law, charity and education.  The estate would also provide employment for the local people and over fifty locals were employed on the Hoar Cross estate in the house and grounds plus many more on Home Farm along with carpenters, electricians and plumbers to keep the esta...

Christmas High Jinks #72

...The sounds of 'La Golondrina' floated through the air as Viv sat at the grand piano.  How pleased she was that someone had asked them to look after this fine musical instrument for a few months.  Having learned to play when she was younger, this gave Viv the opportunity to brush up on her skills as a pianist and she was thoroughly enjoying it.  The piano was in the Library and suited the room perfectly.  She could hear her father and an antique dealer talking in the Long Gallery as they haggled over the price of a painting that he was selling.  Viv gazed out of the window as she played and thought back to the Midsummer’s Eve Ball that they’d had a few...

THE GRAND OPENING #5

...THE GRAND OPENING: And so into 1971 and the preparation of the house so we could open it to the public by Easter.  During the run up to buying the house my dad had been buying furniture, carpets and paintings like  crazy and I remember our previous home being jam packed with chaise longues, sideboards and carved chests as well as all the arms and armour that he already had.  This furniture was now set out in all the rooms.  The Long Gallery My mum’s collection of Victorian costumes were on display in the Ballroom as well as my dad’s collection of silver plated ‘display’ armour, which hung around the panelled walls; the suits of armour and the m...