A Very Late Christmas Post!

I really did mean to post about my National Trust volunteer role ages ago, but well, Life has a tendency to derail the best of intentions. However, last week I found the photographs that I took at Christmas at Lanhydrock House where I volunteered in the kitchens and the dining room and thought it would be lovely to post them before we get into the Christmas season there once more!

I began volunteering in October 2017 and had three weeks in the house before it closed for a month to prepare for Christmas. At the end of November, we had an orientation meeting so that we could see where we would be working and what we would be doing. We also picked up the costumes that the Trust was providing - a white high-necked blouse, long black walking skirt (slightly longer in back than in front) and a V-shaped belt.

Visiting children were able to dress up in Victorian costumes; in the Inner Hall, these were formal dresses, with jackets for the boys while in the kitchen, there were white pinafores and mob caps or chef's toques and striped aprons.

The dining room was laid out for Christmas 1887 when Mary Vere Agar-Robartes - the eldest daughter of Viscount Clifden and his wife Mary - was eight years old and permitted to dine with her parents and their guests for the first time. There was an extensive menu, starting with a consomme with tiny savoury choux buns, followed by salmon cutlets with Hollandaise Sauce, turkey stuffed with oysters and roast beef with all the usual vegetables, then Christmas Pudding, Twelfth Cake, cheese, gingerbread, nuts and fruit.

In the kitchen, the huge table was laid out with jellies and Christmas Puddings made in elaborate castellated moulds, mince pies, gingerbread, raised pies and beautifully iced Twelfth Cakes (a yeast-raised, fruited cake - a little like panettone with icing). All of this food was real, made by the restaurant catering team.

At one end of the table, we had oranges and cloves, ready for the visiting children to make pomanders.

The jellies were replaced every couple of days.

Beautifully iced Twelfth Cake with a raised pie in the background.

Oranges, cloves and spices for pomanders

 
In the bakery, there were hampers destined for the estate tenants, with bread, beer, Christmas Pudding, tea, pickles and preserves and in the meat larder, beautifully-crafted facsimile oysters, salmon, a turkey and a joint of beef.

Christmas Puddings and preserves, ready for the Tenants' Hampers

Salmon Cutlets - brilliant facsimiles!

Roast Beef with Horseradish Sauce

Oysters and the stuffing recipe!

Turkey and all the usual accompaniments.

In the dairy, we demonstrated how butter balls were made and encouraged the children to have a go.

Paddles for the Butter Balls

This is me, on Kitchen Duty!

Father Christmas visited just before Christmas, dressed in his traditional GREEN robes, and sat with his sack of gifts in the Morning Room where there was another huge Christmas Tree. The house closed at 4.30pm on January 1st and then the massive business of cleaning, conservation work and general refurbishment began, ready for the re-opening in March.

Phew - a long post with loads of photographs! It feels odd to be blogging about last Christmas but now that I'm back in the swing of it, I promise not to leave it so long.