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the library #69

...would use the library as a place of assignation! When our house was open to the public the shelves were filled with books and ornaments and also some of my father’s alabaster carvings and portrait busts.  I also had my doll collection on display which consisted of traditionally dressed dolls from around the world which my father had brought back from his travels abroad. In the early seventies we looked after a grand piano for a friend and this sat in the library too fitting in very well to its surroundings.  I often played it when I came home from school just as young ladies in the Victorian days would have done! An alabaster carving   the only time...

Whodunit in the library? #24

...WHODUNIT IN the library?      When we first moved to Hoar Cross Hall, growing up in a stately home seemed an idyllic way to live – and lots of fun if you’re a child. This rambling old house full of empty rooms and secret doors, wild gardens and woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my dad. But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation and lack of public transport was frustrating. Coupled with this was my parents fighting and subsequent split, living at each end of the house and battling for the house and business through their solicitors. the effect this had on me, as the eldest child who perhaps s...

Ghosts of Christmas Past #88

...Welcome to another story based on true facts and things that went bump in the night at Hoar Cross Hall, to get you in the mood for all those Christmas ghost stories you'll be watching this season!  Hope you don't get too scared! the typewriter keys clattered away as Viv wrote her story.  It was coming along nicely and she was feeling pleased with herself.  the attic room that she and her brothers had made into their ‘den’ was ideal for getting away from everybody and having some peace and quiet and she quite forgot about the time as she lost herself in the plot.  Suddenly she looked up and realized how dark it was getting; the December nights were pulli...

Ghouls Galore! #85

...Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is even more scary!!  As we approach Hallowe'en my mind has gone back to that first winter at Hoar Cross Hall and all the scary things that happened - and that was without any trick or treaters in those days!  We quickly realised that we weren’t the only inhabitants of the house.  Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night long it kept me awake.  the next day I would go upstairs to the attics to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose.   they were all tightly shut as...

Becoming a Rock Chick #17

...d next to the library. In the summer we left the back door open and visitors would wander outside and look at our pets – I imagine an over enthusiastic child had opened the hutch and not shut it properly because they escaped into the house and got into the library, it being the nearest room to the back door. I happened to be coming into the house on this particular day when I heard a woman scream “Rats, rats – on the bookshelves!” I rushed into the library through the secret door (which made the visitors jump even more) to find them looking at our guinea pigs! How could they think our lovely pets were rats? However, we did get rats in the house but that�...

WHODUNIT IN the library? #25

...WHODUNIT IN the library? When we first moved to the Hall. growing up in a stately home seemed an idyllic way to live – and lots of fun if you’re a child.  This rambling old house full of empty rooms and secret doors, wild gardens and woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my dad.  But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation and lack of public transport was frustrating.  Coupled with this was my parents fighting and subsequent split, living at each end of the house and battling for the house and business through their solicitors. the effect this had on me, as the eldest child who perhaps saw more o...