Buckland Abbey Part VI

If you are wondering why I have been absent for a while, it is because I had gone over my allowed limit of photos and have been trying to figure out how to proceed.  I am not yet sure I have solved the dilemma, but at least I have made a bit of room for myself.

Continuing on with our tour of the Georgian part of the house we end up where I always find myself the most fascinated.  The servants areas.

 This is one of the staircase that would have been used by the servants as they dashed about making their employers happy.  Compare it to that beautiful winding polished wood staircase in an earlier blog.

As you know, I have just finished an upstairs downstairs Downton Abbey series with a group of other authors and in one of my scenes, my hero, a chef, must go by way of the servants' stairs to meet my heroine in the library, while she travels there by way of the grand central staircase. While we would not tolerate it today it makes for a very interesting dynamic.

Here we have some of the bells used to call the servants to various rooms and little spaces at the bottom of the stairs used for storage. The flagstone floors are typical in the corridors and rooms used for servants areas, whether on ground floors or in basement.

Note the plain wall sconces, a single candle with a polished metal plaque to reflect the light. One can imagine how gloomy it would be at night or on a rainy day.  And then we have a glimpse at the kitchen along with a rare view of my patient party who accompany on these trips. Most of the time they avoid the camera lens but as you can see I caught them here.  So next time we will take a peek around the kitchen.

Until then, Happy Rambles