A Week on the Estate: Counting Sparrows, Compo’s Mitts & Squire Remembered

This week, we conclude our series of conversations with key players at South Ormsby Estate. Last week, we chatted to Estate Photographer Damian Furlong about his busy run-up to Christmas; guiding tours, chatting with visitors, keeping tabs on comings and goings and recording everything through the lens. If you missed that feature, click HERE to catch up. This week, South Ormsby Hall’s Housekeeper, Jacqui Rhodes, talks about life on the Estate with the Squire and getting ready for Christmas.

“I’ve seen a lot of change,” said Jacqui. “Winters in the Hall before Jan and Jon Thornes were cold. I dressed for winter indoors and used to wear fingerless mitts like Compo. Lighting fires was one of the first jobs of the day under the Squire (Adrian Massingberd-Mundy). We only used certain rooms too. The old-fashioned approach was to close the shutters and cover things with dust sheets when rooms weren’t being used. It’s so warm now with the insulation and biomass heating. I don’t miss the draughts.

“There’s still a fair bit of cleaning to do. The brass rods on the staircases have to be polished up with Brasso and there are lots of them! We have a tree in the hallway and it all has to shine and look good. Anywhere we put a Christmas tree gets a proper spruce up.

“Sometimes I do Christmas baking, things like home-made mince pies and sausage rolls. In the Squire’s time, there were many single men on the Estate so I made individual Christmas cakes for them. The Squire used to host festive parties for old staff in the ballroom, moving into the dining room when numbers fell.

“In the Squire’s time, I didn’t work Christmas Day, Boxing Day or New Year’s Day but still bobbed in now and again. This year, I’ll finish on Christmas Eve and return around New Year’s Day. For the first time in 26 years, I’ll be leaving the Estate for Christmas. We’ll be going to Peterborough to visit family.

“I’ll be having lots of family at mine for Christmas Day. We do gifts before breakfast. I watch everyone else and collect up the paper – I like to watch the faces. We’ll have a traditional Lincolnshire breakfast of pork pie, stuffed chine, ham, cheeses, pickles and fruit salad. This is what I was brought up with. We’ll head across to the Massingberd Arms for a drink and a catch-up as soon as we see their lights on. Lunch will be at two or three o’clock and it’s normally rib of beef.

“The week before Christmas, I always leave a bouquet for the Squire at St Leonard’s. Colin makes it for me from Estate holly, fir cones and flowers. I always remember Squire Adrian at this time of year.”

Just in case you missed it, you can find a short history of Christmas at South Ormsby Hall HERE.

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* Fieldfare image courtesy of hedera.baltica via Flickr CC