Shugborough Hall, Staffordshire.

Friday 12th September 2025

After a few last minute problems to overcome, both with the motorhome and the house, we have finally set forth in a southerly direction, destination at this stage undecided, but in the general area of the French Riviera.

As we were travelling via ferry from Dover on Sunday morning, we planned an overnight stay with our friends at Wombourne, near Wolverhampton. On the way there, we visited Shugborough Hall, the home of the Anson family since 1624. We chose to spend our time in the house rather than the gardens, so we will probably return in due course.

The visit is in two parts, the main mansion and the servant’s quarters. On the walk from the car park, there is a tower which is a reproduction of an ancient Greek monument.

Some of the decoration in the mansion is reminiscent of Wedgwood pottery designs.

We also looked around the apartments occupied by Lord Lichfield, the royal photographer, but due to a ban on photography in this part of the mansion for copyright reasons, I am unable to post any images. As a keen photographer, I was very interested in this however, and there were some superb photographs on display.

The servants quarters are very interesting. The National Trust have shown the annual salary of each member of the household, on their plate at the dinner table. The best paid woman was the housekeeper who earned £52 per year. The Butler earned over twice as much and the Chef, even more than that. In today’s terms, this does not seem much, but it did include bed, board and uniform. For the lowliest of servants, the hours were long and the work hard.

The estate boast a number of livestock rare breeds, including Tamworth pigs, Southdown sheep and Longhorn cattle, including this fine bull:

That is all for now. TTFN and See-u-later.