You may, or may not, have watched the recent Channel 5 drama about Anne Boleyn. Whatever your opinion on the casting – and trust me when I say we have heard it all, and indeed removed a small number of people from the Hall’s social media pages – you cannot deny that, for a productionContinue reading “Once more unto the cutting room floor…”
Category Archives: Behind the Scenes
Let’s Get Real! No, really.
Earlier this year, Markenfield signed up to be a part of Culture 24’s Let’s Get Real 2021: how to evaluate online success. This collaborative project will bring together 60 cultural organisations to not only help them to measure their “digital success”, but to establish what digital success means to them. Since January 2020, the culturalContinue reading “Let’s Get Real! No, really.”
If we remove the ceiling…
We all know that Markenfield has its quirks – and its challenges – but who could have guessed that they might actually have built the house around a door! Known as The Dogs’ Entrance (or Dog’s Entrance depending on how many are in residence at the time) the wooden double doors leading out on toContinue reading “If we remove the ceiling…”
As one door opens…
Gosh – who would have thought it was February when I last wrote about the Dogs’ Entrance Doors and the on-going saga of problematic pintle? A lot has happened in the intervening five months… The question on everyone’s lips must surely be – did it come off? Well, after a fashion it did – just not inContinue reading “As one door opens…”
The day The Beetles sang
If there’s one thing that we get through a lot of at the Hall at this time of year… it’s logs. With three open fires, and a wood-burning stove of epic proportions, the log shed is nothing if not well stocked. All the wood burned at the Hall is gathered from the Estate’s woodland –Continue reading “The day The Beetles sang”
Shhh… it’s a quiet week
One of the most-commented upon things in the Hall’s Visitor Book is the atmosphere at Markenfield – benign, tranquil – spiritual even. One of the hardest things to do is to maintain that atmosphere for all to enjoy. The Hall isn’t just a visitor attraction – it is first and foremost a family home, andContinue reading “Shhh… it’s a quiet week”
Those who measure wealth in money alone…
It was a seemingly innocuous envelope that landed on the doormat. What it contained was not so. It contained maps and plans outlining a proposal for the “Markenfield New Village Settlement” a development of hundreds of new houses covering the farmland from The Old Mediaeval Road down to the A61. Accompanying the alarming maps was aContinue reading “Those who measure wealth in money alone…”
From out of the blue…
People sometimes ask where the inspiration for the Hall’s events comes from. The answer – more often than not – is out of the blue. The Literary Lectures in the Library for example, they idea for those came from a book I was reading at the time. I had read Sally Beauman’s book Rebecca’s TaleContinue reading “From out of the blue…”
We have a moat 