Welcome to a thriving community at the heart of this historic country estate; a world of hierarchy, discipline, long hours and hard labour.
The Victorian service wing has been carefully restored to its former heyday and you can wander through a world 'below stairs' that was never intended to be seen.
Immerse yourself in the past as you experience the sights, sounds and smells of life in the service complex of this bustling country estate, with film projections, introductory wall displays and even traditional food from the era.
During event days and on other weekends between May and September, you can see the service wing at work, as the cook, Mrs Crocombe, and the servants prepare seasonal treats using traditional methods and other servants go about their daily chores.
Inside the service wing
- Kitchen: Feel the heat of the open wood fire and see an array of Victorian kitchen utensils used to create sophisticated banquets for the Braybrooke family and their guests.
- Scullery: a room for getting your hands dirty where the de-scaling of fish, plucking of feathers and washing of greasy pans took place.
- Wet & dry laundry: No washing machine in sight. See the wet laundry with its row of original sinks used throughout the 1880s and the complicated pulley systems in the dry laundry, used to hang enough linen to clothe a small army.
- Dairy: Experience the rigorous method by which butter was churned on a daily basis as part of a backbreaking morning routine.
- Dry larder: In one Christmas alone, the Braybrooke family and their guests consumed a huge amount of food including 541lb of meat and 34 rabbits - most of which would have been stored in this busy larder.
- Game larder: See our restored game larder, with hundreds of original hooks used to hang pheasants, partridges, rabbits and more - trophies from Lord Braybrooke's hunting excursions.
