My tour of English Stately homes continues, with the latest being Wimpole Hall near Cambridge. It is a stunning mansion dating back to 1640 and as usual had a succession of beautiful rooms, but what I found fascinating was the basement. The below stairs offered a glimpse of the labor required to run such great houses. I could imagine the hustle and bustle downstairs with staff scurrying around the corridors, with the senior staff directing from their offices - the Housekeeper’s room and the Butler’s pantry. Most fascinating of all was the Steward’s Room, where I found a stack of gorgeous Louis Vuitton trunks! These were brought down and looked after by the steward who then loaded these onto waiting carriages.
The trunks look like they have travelled the world. Notice all the different Cunard first class stickers, specially the one at bottom left for the Blue Star Line ship “Avila the Star”. Imagine the stories these trunks would tell if they could only speak. My imagination is running riot at the thought of it!
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