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Mediaeval Mayhem! #11

It was the end of the summer season at <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan> in 1973 and rehearsals had started for the new venture of Mediaeval Banquets. All the cast would come round to the house each week for rehearsals and my mum and one or two other ladies were busy making the skirts and blouses for the wenches. My mum also made about 200 bibs which the guests were going to be wearing as eating five courses with a dagger can be quite messy! We had a King, a Jester, a Fire-eater, a Halberdier, an organist and various wenches and serving ladies. To launch the banquets my parents decided to hold a Press Reception about a month before and so we all gathered at the <span class='highlight'>hallspan> one day in ea...

The Tax Man Cometh! #26

My parents’ court case was finally over and my dad had six months to leave the family home, <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan>. In the meantime my mum had to find the funds to buy him out and he had to find another house to live in. He also had an awful lot of stuff to move too! He eventually found a house in nearby Burton-on-Trent but as it was obviously a lot smaller he had to get rid of a lot of his possessions and one of the first things to go was his Lotus Elite. He advertised it in the local paper but instead of getting a phone call from a likely buyer, the first call was from the local tax office. Back in those days they used to check advertisements in the newspapers and...

Behind the Green Baize Door #41

 “The green baize door - dividing line betwix servant and master.” All stately homes had at least one green baize door and <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan> was no different. This was the door used by the servants to access the main part of the house unobtrusively and silently so they could go about their work without disturbing the family. The <span class='highlight'>hallspan> had a spiral staircase at each end of the house for the servants to use and the green baize door on the ground floor opened onto the Garden corridor which led to the Chapel and the main house, as well as the garden. The green baize door on the first floor opened onto the east wing corridor and guest bedrooms and from this corrid...

Calendar Girls and Front Covers #7

During our time at <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> <span class='highlight'>hallspan> people would occasionally hire the house for a day’s filming.  Calen During the summer of 1973 a photographer from London hired the place for a day and he brought two models with him, one English and one German, and they were taking photos for a glamour calendar. We were told to keep right out of the way as they were taking photos in the gardens as well as the house. Naturally we wanted to see everything that was going on and my younger brother Gavin especially was very keen to watch – so much so that he found a pair of binoculars to follow all the proceedings! We managed to find all sorts of hiding places eventually settl...

More Tea Vicar? #12

During the long summer holidays it was easy to get bored. As there was no public transport from <span class='highlight'>hoarspan> <span class='highlight'>crossspan> and no children living nearby, we three children had to make our own entertainment and we were always having adventures and getting up to mischief – a bit like the Famous Five but without the dog! We would roam around the village or explore the basement. My dad was a <span class='highlight'>hoarspan>der and had kept all sorts of stuff over the years including gas masks and field phones from World War 2. The old Servants <span class='highlight'>hallspan> was now my dad’s workshop and he spent a lot of time down there restoring antiques to sell. He had one of the field phones in his workshop and the other one w...

Moving On - the end of an era #32

MOVING ON – THE END OF AN ERA:       And so, after ten years of growing up and living in a stately home, I have come to the end of my story. After my parents’ divorce it was agreed that my mum bought out my dad's half of the house and he had to leave his dream home forever. He and Gavin moved out to live in Burton-on-Trent and my mum carried on running Mediaeval Banquets for a few more years. She and the singer eventually got together much to my dad’s chagrin. The singer spent a lot more time at the <span class='highlight'>hallspan> helping my mum run the banquets; however, Piers didn’t really get on with him. When he was about 14 years old my dad received a phone call from Pier...