The London Season
If you are a Downton Abbey fan, you certainly remember the London Season and Rose's Presentation at court. This post gives you more insights into what a London Season looked like. What is a London Season? The London Season was…
Cragside – the ultimate Victorian country house
Cragside is a fascinating Victorian country house built on a rocky crag in Northumberland. It’s not only famous for its fairy palace but for its grounds and gardens as well as for its modern equipments. Cragside is the creation of…
A Rococo gem: Claydon House
We visited a really special country house the other day. The house itself doesn't look anything special on the outside, it looks quite unimportant to be honest. A Georgian house with huge sash windows, that's all. However, inside this…
How England is changing
Like everything else in the world England is too changing. This change can be felt not only by those who visited this country 20 or 30 years ago but by those too who have been living here for a…
Other male servants: the hall boy, the chauffeur and the gardener
There were other male servants working in English households beside the house steward, the butler, the footman and the valet. These were the hall boy, the chauffeur and the gardener. Let's have a look what they did and where…
Podcast: The history of the sandwich and English culture
On 6th April 2022 I talked about the history of the sandwich and the English culture on a Hungarian radio station, Klubrádió, in the programme Galaxis kalauz. The podcast is available here, however, as it's in Hungarian, I decided…
What to expect in Downton Abbey: A New Era?
When it was announced back in 2019 that there would be a new episode of Downton Abbey, I sort of knew there would be more coming. I thought that even more so when the story was sort of left…
The English chocolate
When I was still living in Hungary and only visited England on business trips, I always bought some chocolate. I loved Cadbury's Dairy Milk and thought it tasted so different to the chocolates I knew. Later on, when I…
The English steam fair
There is something very special about English steam fairs. I'm always fascinated by the colourful rides and games, tents, vehicles and the general ambience. A few weeks ago I went to the biggest independent steam fair of the UK, Carters…
Female servants in the English households
Women were employed in various roles in big households and they all had different tasks. In the biggest country houses they employed a kitchen maid, a scullery maid, a stillroom maid, a housemaid and a laundry maid. Let's find out…