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The Origins of the stately home #39

Why are stately homes so called? stately home actually means 'a large impressive old house with interesting history and usually visited by the public.' Well, I suppose they do look very 'stately' for a start but these houses were also a status symbol for the great families of England, who competed with each other to provide hospitality for the royal household who would travel around England meeting their subjects. stately homes were huge mansions which were always beautiful and the epitome of perfect architecture, often designed by famous architects of the day. The gardens too would be perfectly landscaped to show balance, variety, sequence and colour. One of t...

The origins of the stately home #43

So why are stately homes so called? stately home actually means 'a large impressive old house with interesting history and usually visited by the public.' Well, I suppose they do look very 'stately' for a start but these houses were also a status symbol for the great families of England, who competed with each other to provide hospitality for the royal household who would travel around England meeting their subjects. stately homes were huge mansions which were always beautiful and the epitome of perfect architecture, often designed by famous architects of the day. The gardens too would be perfectly landscaped to show balance, variety, sequence and colour. One o...

Skools out for Summer! #58

...ving in a stately home. (This was from the teachers too!) My concentration was awful and I tended to daydream a lot, then I wouldn’t know what was going on in the lessons. As a child my maths was terrible so my mum got a private tutor in to help me out. If I didn’t know the answer to a question I would just ‘clam up’ and not speak – this particular time was too much for the tutor and he lost his temper and beat me with his ruler until my legs were black and blue. Needless to say, he was asked to leave and not come back – imagine what would happen to him nowadays! The teachers at school would often hit the kids over the head with books or rap their fi...

Skools out for Summer #98

...ving in a stately home. (This was from the teachers too!) so when it was time for 'skools out for summer' I was more than ready to leave!    By now the Mediaeval Banquets, which my parents ran in the house, were proving a huge success and as package holidays were becoming very popular my parents decided to book a two week holiday abroad.  My dad had always wanted to go to Greece to see all the temples but was a bit disappointed when he got there.  Most of the temples were in ruins and once you’ve seen one ruin you’ve pretty much seen them all!  The Acropolis was quite impressive though.  I loved being abroad – the weather was so hot and the sea was...

Rags to Riches #14

...a nearby stately home as a servant and fell for the son of the house. My mum told me all about it years later – how they had fallen in love and were ‘walking out’ together even though it was forbidden in those days for the aristocracy to mix with the servants. However, the son went off to fight in the First World War then caught tuberculosis and sadly died so my grandmother had to bring my dad up alone with help from her own parents, and without getting married (this is where my dad gets his double-barrel surname from). When my dad was about 4 years old my grandmother married a sailor and they had a little girl, my Aunty Dorothy. He told me how his grandp...

Rags to Riches #16

...a nearby stately home as a servant and fell for the son of the house.  My mum told me all about it years later – how they had fallen in love and were ‘walking out’ together even though it was forbidden in those days for the aristocracy to mix with the servants.  However, the son caught tuberculosis and sadly died so my grandmother had to bring my dad up alone with help from her own parents, and without getting married (this is where my dad gets his double-barrel surname from).   When my dad was about 4 years old my grandmother married a sailor (also called Bill) and they had a little girl, my Aunty Dorothy.  He told me how his grandparents brought hi...