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Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #14

...d a small chapel made on the yacht and would often take her local vicar on trips with her so they could hold services for her and the crew. Every spring she would go on a cruise around the Mediterranean and sometimes across to the Netherlands and Germany. She loved painting and would spend much of her time doing water colours along with collecting beautiful objects to decorate the Hall and the Church of the Holy Angels. In 1890 she went on a painting trip up the River Nile on her yacht and filled 10 books of diaries and logs, all illustrated with her drawings and photographs. There were many more trips that the Meynells went on and it looks as though they travel...

DIY Stately Home #4

...d its own chapel which the Meynell family and their servants used every morning for prayers at 9am sharp. There was a Damask Room, a Hessian Room and Colonel Hugo Meynell’s old bedroom and dressing room. This was where he lived after his riding accident which had left him an invalid. There was a large wooden board from the window sill to the stone balustrade (see picture below) and he would sit by the window and wait for squirrels and birds to cross the board and eat titbits from his hand – what a charming picture this conjures up albeit in tragic circumstances. This room became our lounge and the dressing room next door became our new kitchen with a serving...

THE RENOVATIONS BEGIN #4

...d its own chapel which the family and servants used every morning for prayers at 9am sharp.  There was a Damask Room, a Hessian Room and Hugo Meynell’s old bedroom and dressing room.  This was where he lived after his riding accident which had left him an invalid.  There was a large wooden board from the window sill to the stone balustrade and he would sit by the window and wait for squirrels and birds to cross the board and eat titbits from his hand – what a charming picture this conjures up albeit in tragic circumstances.  This room became our lounge and the dressing room next door became our new kitchen with a serving hatch knocked through for mealtim...

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #17

...d a small chapel made on the yacht and would often take her local vicar on trips with her so they could hold services for her and the crew. Every spring she would go on a cruise around the Mediterranean and sometimes across to the Netherlands and Germany. She loved painting and would spend much of her time doing water colours along with collecting beautiful objects to decorate the Hall and the Church of the Holy Angels. In 1890 she went on a painting trip up the River Nile on her yacht and filled 10 books of diaries and logs, all illustrated with her drawings and photographs. There were many more trips that the Meynells went on as you can see from the photograph...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #45

...This week I’ve done a history blog about the servants who lived at the Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s when the Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean and light all the fires and dust and polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one and a half million servants; most young girls went in...

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...