Wash day and other Memories

In the laundry room at Shugborough I saw lots of things that reminded me of both Mum's wash days and my Grandma's too.  I'm remembering back to the 1950s but at Grandma's house you would think you'd stepped back even further.

I was born in 1950 and we lived in the middle row of a long terrace of houses just across from The Granby Halls in Leicester.  Neither the street nor the hall exist anymore.  The houses were demolished to create car parking for the nearby hospital.  I remember that our house had a pale wood front door with a gold knob in the centre.  The door opened onto a hallway with doors going off to front room and living room, the staircase was in between and at the bottom of the passage was the kitchen and scullery.  The back door led to the outside WC and a walled back garden.  In the kitchen was a wooden draining board and a square ceramic sink in which I remember being given a bath and being dried sitting on the draining board.  In the scullery was a tin bath hanging on the wall and a copper with a lid which provided warm water.  I can't remember whether there was a washing machine here, but there was a small electric boiler and a tub and what my Mum called a posher.  We left that house when I was six years old and moved to a small village in Derbyshire and I remember the posher came with us.

Grandma's house was like stepping back in time even in the early 50s as she wouldn't have electricity in the house.  She thought it was unsafe and didn't trust it.  One of my memories is of being lifted up to light the small white gauze gas mantles, which hung over the kitchen table,  with a coloured spill from a jar on the mantelpiece.  The mantelpiece was over a black leaded range.  This had a fire at one side and hob and ovens on the other.  The fire was lit all year round to provide both heat and hot water.  Grandma would do all her cooking on the range and all the food was prepared on a large kitchen table which was scrubbed almost white.  Here she would knead bread and put it to rise covered in clean tea towels in front of the range.

I remember too that she would warm flat irons in front of the range, having two warming whilst using a third one.  She would cover half of the kitchen table with an old sheet and blanket on which to do the ironing, holding the hot iron handle with a square of old towel.  At other times the table would be covered with a maroon coloured chenille table cloth with bobbles hanging on the edges.  I used to love these and remember sitting under the table playing with them and also with buttons and ribbons from the drawers of grandma's treadle sewing machine.

Grandma was born in 1884 and was 32 years of age when my Mum was born and my Mum was 34 when I was born so you can see that there could easily have been another generation between us all and understand why grandma's home, thoughts and ideas seemed to come from so far back in time.  Grandma had Parkinson's disease and died in 1962, by that time electricity had been introduced to the house and a proper kitchen had been fitted in the old scullery where she had worked with a copper and mangle on wash days.  Hanging the sheets and towels on the line outside in the back garden where she and grandad kept hens for eggs and grew hollyhocks and gladioli up against the wall.

As I walked around the laundry room at Shugborough all these memories flooded back to me, plus memories of when Grandma nursed me through  Scarlet Fever, I slept on a mattress on the floor of her bedroom often waking hot and wrapped up and entangled in sheets.  She had what seemed to be a huge bed with an iron bed frame in her room, a washstand with flowery bowl and jug, and a pink lustre ware Pierrot figure and bowl on her dressing table which contained a soft powder puff and delicate smelling powder.  I remember the cockerel waking me up each morning.

Wash days in the village we moved to when I was a child were always Mondays.  I remember my Mum used to be amused by the competition amongst all the women around as to who could get their washing out on the line first.  Our next door neighbour and the lady who lived in a house across the bottom of our gardens used to vie with each other, my Mum deliberately waited until later to put her first load of washing out on the line saying that she wasn't going to join in with the competition.

Tuesdays were usually ironing day and Wednesdays cleaning windows and upstairs rooms. How things have changed now.  I remember when we got our first refrigerator.  I'd have been about ten years old. Before that we used to keep butter and cooked meats in a meat safe which stood on a stone shelf in the pantry under the stairs.  Milk was kept in a bucket of cold water.  Money was left in a tobacco tin on the back step every Friday for the milkman with a note as to what milk was needed through the week.  My dad's friend, a grocer in the nearby small town, would bring an order every week on a Wednesday evening and stop for a chat and a cup of tea before he went on his way.

Mum was thrilled when she got her first twin tub washing machine after years of using one with a mangle.  The posser had finally had its day.

 Now we couldn't manage without automatic washing machines.  I wonder what the future will hold as technology changes yet again?  

I'm taking a short break now.  I hope you all have a wonderful Easter weekend.

Changes at Shugborough

Yesterday we visited Shugborough Hall near Stafford to see what changes had been made over the winter.  Although Shugborough Mansion House, Gardens and estate was mostly in the hands of the National Trust, the Park Farm. County Museum and Car park were administered by the Staffordshire County Council.  Last year the National Trust took over the whole estate and quite a few changes have already been made.  The trust are only five months into their ten year conservation and redevelopment plan so there are many more changes to come.

The car park seems more easily accessible and it is now free, I think it used to cost about £3 to park there, even for NT members.  The original reception is now a plant centre and access to the property is through the Park Farm, Mill and Farmhouse which are now free to wander around for NT members, as are the servants'  quarters which always had an entry charge as they were accessed through the Museum. There are new pathways around the Park Farm and access is now on the opposite side of the mill pond. There are new little buggies to take you up to the Mansion House where the house, gardens, walks and island arboretum are exactly as they were. In the courtyard the original tea room is closed  for refurbishment and it re-opens on 8th April as a restaurant where food is delivered to the table rather than collected from the counter.  The nearby shop has been refurbished.

One of the volunteers was talking in the shop and explained that the County Museum would have new a new home and that they had three years to organised the move.  I have read elsewhere that the museum's collections will eventually become part of a new Staffordshire History Centre which will be based on the site of Staffordshire Record Office which is in Stafford. The volunteer also mentioned the fact that there had been quite a bit more repair and conservation work to be done than had originally been thought necessary.

We didn't go inside the Mansion House this time but wandered around the gardens and went into the Mill and Farmhouse at the Park Farm and around the Servants' Quarters. 

Below are a few more random photos taken of things which caught my eye.

The mill pond through the mill window.

Inside the mill.

The Farmhouse

I loved this cheese dish which I spotted in the farmhouse, you could get a huge piece of cheese in there.

The main hallway in the farmhouse

The dining room in the farmhouse

One of the place settings in the servants' dining room in the servants' quarters.

 In the laundry

 Just one of the many kitchen sinks

A lovely jelly mould on the kitchen table

I must admit I always enjoy mooching around kitchens and other areas which were the hub of the working estate than the grand mansions themselves. Of course I haven't even mentioned the Anson family or Patrick Lichfield whose home this was as I've covered this before in previous posts but here is a - link - to the website to find out more.

A Visit to Shugborough - part 2

As promised in my last post here is a peek inside the Mansion House at Shugborough including some of the recently opened rooms that are in the appartments used by Lord Lichfield until his death in November 2005.  We hadn't expected to be allowed to take photos but we were told without asking that we could as long as we didn't use flash.  Thinking about it as Lord Lichfield was such a renowned photographer I expect he would have encouraged the taking of photographs so it shouldn't have been such a great surprise.

As I said in my previous post I let Paul take the internal photographs as his camera could cope with the lighting conditions.  Here are just a few of the many we took...

 I can't remember the exact name of this room so let's call it the red room.  In here was the most beautiful, twinkling chandelier - you can just glimpse it through the mirror over the fireplace.  The guide in this room told us how lovely it looks  lit with candles when the hall is open each December for candlelit Christmas evenings.  The chandelier is reflected in a mirror at the opposite end of a corridor making it look as if there is another one at that end of the ground floor.

 The Library - full of architectural illusions created with mirrors and secret doorways.

 The Royal Appartments

  This is the bedroom slept in by royal visitors there is also a sitting room and dressing room.  Princess Victoria slept here before she became Queen but not in this bed which was placed here in 1847.  The carpet on the floor is an exact copy of the original two small pieces of which can be seen on the steps used to get into the bed.

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 Equipment from Lord Lichfield's studio.  In this area were some of the photographs he took during the 1960s and 1970s of   famous and beautiful people  like  Jean Shrimpton, Joanna Lumley, Mick Jagger, Antonia Frazer  and Lulu.

 A charming corner of one of the rooms.   Lord Lichfield's private appartments were off a long corridor on which was an area for drinks and music.  Guest bedrooms and bathrooms were along here with views to the back of the house.  The Earl's private rooms were overlooking the front of the property.  Some of these rooms were open although the bedroom is expected to open next year.

 The lilac bedroom

 and the lilac bathroom

The breakfast room.  This was my favourite room it was completely circular and so light and airy with views over the front and side of the property to the windows.

Directly below the breakfast room is another lovely, circular room which was yet to be refurbished. The Boudoir was open for public view to show how this would be done.  The wallpaper is the original from 1794 and contains silver leaf.

The ceiling is the only hand painted ceiling in the  house and the room also has lots of ornate gilt work.

 

Back outside - I also promised photos of the statues and bluebells along the Lady Walk.  The scent and colour of the bluebells was wonderful I'm afraid my photo doesn't do them justice.

Heron

Otter

Newt

Dragon Fly

There will be more sculptures to see as part of the Sculpture Trail which is to be launched on 22nd May this year so we hope to go back again soon and discover those, walk around the island arboretum and visit 'downstairs' in the servant's quarters - photo below.  If you look closely you can see the washing on the line through the gate.

A Visit to Shugborough - part 1

On Thursday I made my first trip away from home (apart from food shopping which I don't count) for a couple of weeks and as it was our wedding anniversary we decided to visit a local National Trust property and have lunch out too.  I've been wanting to visit the Earl of Lichfield's appartments at Shugborough since they opened for the first time to the public earlier this year and I also wanted to photograph the Essex Bridge from the estate side - you'll remember that I posted about it - here - a few weeks ago.

The first thing we discovered was that things had changed so much since we last visited!  Visitors used to drive quite close to the house to park,  now you have to park quite a distance away beyond the park farm and enter through a proper reception area.  This takes you straight into the walled garden where gardeners were working on the vegetable beds, scarecrows danced in the slight breeze and the blacksmith's shop was working.

Below is the head gardener's house at the top of the walled garden.  It looks as if it used to have a green house or some such fixture on the front at one time.  It was built for his head gardener by Thomas Anson who, according to the information panel, hoped that 'he will move into this house before we enter the year 1806.  It is  much grander than most of my servant's lodgings, and thus shows his importance to the estate.'

From here the signs take you through the workshops were old rural crafts like hurdle making, candle making,  leather working and wood turning are practiced.  There were several groups of people learning how to make hurdles and willow baskets as we passed by.

The next place on the trail is the Park Farm;  we hadn't bought tickets to go inside as we had been before and wanted this visit to see the Mansion House and grounds.  From outside the farm you can catch the train up to the old car park near the house and gardens  but we decided to walk up there across the parkland and catch the train back.

By this time we were ready for lunch so went into the Lady Walk tea room for a tasty meal of Broccoli, Mushroom and Red Pepper Bake in very pleasant surroundings.  We didn't have a pudding as we thought we would have an ice cream later after we'd visited the house and gardens.

Our next stop was the interior of the house.  We thought that we wouldn't be able to take photos inside but we found that photography was allowed without flash.  As my camera isn't able to take decent interior photos without flash I let Paul take all the photographs inside and I'll borrow some from him for part two of this visit.

The gardens were lovely and we followed the sculpture trail by the river at the back of the house.  Across the river was the newly opened island arboretum but we didn't get that far on this visit and intend to return later this year when the rest of the sculptures are in place.  Below are some of the features to be found around the riverside gardens.

 A deer sculpture under the trees - for a moment in the sunshine it looked real!

The Chinese house, completed in 1747, and red bridge which leads to the Cat's monument

There are two theories about the monument, built c.1749.  One is that it commemorates the life of the cat which travelled around the world on board the 'Centurion' with Admiral George Anson.  The other is that it was a memorial to Kouli-Khan a Persian cat kept by the Admiral's older brother, Thomas Anson.

A little way along the river from the red bridge we caught our first sight of the Essex Bridge.  Before we left the gardens we walked along the Lady Walk amongst the blue bells and looked at some of the other sculptures - as this post is getting quite long I'll include those photos with the ones of the interior of the Mansion House in my next post.

We passed the Tower of the Winds on the little train as we headed back to the Park Farm.  It was built c. 1765.  The downstairs was used as a dairy and at some point the upper floor was used as a gambling den.

Just one word of caution here - we decided that we would have a cup of afternoon tea in the Granary tea rooms at the Park Farm but because we didn't have tickets to the farm we couldn't go in and we'd caught the train back there especially not realising, as there was nothing on the advertising banner or notice board outside to say that it was within the farm complex.  We decided that it was a step too far to catch the train back up to the Lady Walk tea room so we wandered back to the car park and stopped for refreshment on the way home.   I'll be back with more of the visit soon.