Blakesley Hall Family Social Story

A Tour of

This guide tells me all about the historic house called Blakesley Hall.

If I would like to know more about the Visitor Centre and Gardens at Blakesley Hall, as well as the people who work there, I can use the separate guide entitled ‘My Visit to Blakesley Hall’.

This is a photo of Blakesley Hall.

This is the main entrance to Blakesley Hall. An Enabler will let me in here so I can start looking around.

Once I have gone through the front door I will arrive in the Cross Passage, a big corridor which leads me to several rooms.

If I walk halfway down the Cross Passage and turn left. I will be in the Great Hall, on the ground floor.

This is the Great Hall.

The Great Hall would have been used for all sorts of things in Tudor times, but today it is set for dinner.

I can touch the objects on the table in the Great Hall, and an Enabler or a Volunteer will be able to tell me what they were all used for.

At the far end of the Great Hall I might go in two rooms: The Great Parlour and the Little Parlour.

This is the Great Parlour.

The Great Parlour is where people had dinner parties. There is lots of pretend food on the table to show me what it would have looked like.

This is the Little Parlour, which is also at the far end of the Great Hall.

The Little Parlour is where the women of the household might have spent their time.

When I leave the Great Parlour I will be next to a big staircase, so I might want to go upstairs.

This is a picture of the big staircase.

It is called the Newel Staircase.

There is a rope at the side of this staircase that I can hold on to so that I don’t lose my balance.

The Newel Staircase will take me up to the first floor.

At the top of the Newel Staircase, if I turn left I can see the Painted Chamber.

The Painted Chamber used to be a bedroom. It has a big bed in it for adults to sleep in, and a special bed for a baby called a crib.

The next rooms I may go to are the Exhibition Rooms. They are on the first floor of Blakesley Hall.

These rooms contain different exhibitions. An exhibition is a collection of art work or objects that all have something in common. There might be a theme to the exhibition, or the objects might all be from the same place.

If I ask an Enabler or Volunteer about the exhibitions going on at the moment, they will be able to give me more information.

This is the Long Gallery. It is on the first floor. I will walk down the Long Gallery to get to other rooms on the first floor.

The people who lived at Blakesley Hall could use the Long Gallery for dancing or playing games if they didn’t want to go outside.

This is the Porch. I can’t go into this room, but I can look at it from the Long Gallery.

The man who used to live at Blakesley Hall used the Porch as his office.

This is the servants’ bedroom. I can go into this room from the Long Gallery.

The servants wouldn’t have slept in this room, they would have slept in the attic. However, the attic isn’t always open for safety reasons.

This room shows me what a servant’s bedroom would have looked like many years ago, so that I can still see a servant’s bedroom if I can’t go in the attic.

This is the Far Chamber. I can go into this room from the Long Gallery.

This room used to be a bedroom. It contains lots of objects that can help me learn about life in Tudor times.

I can touch everything in this room as long as my adult can see me.

This is the Attic. I might see this room on my visit to Blakesley Hall. It is on the second floor.

Food would have been stored in the Attic and some servants might have slept up there.

The Attic isn’t always open for safety reasons. I can’t go up there without an Enabler or a Volunteer.

I can leave the Long Gallery through this corridor.

At the other end of the corridor is this staircase.

There is a hand rail at the side of this staircase that I can hold on to so that I don’t lose my balance.

If I turn right at the bottom of the staircase I will arrive in the kitchen. This is the kitchen.

The kitchen is where all the food was prepared. There is lots of old cooking equipment to show me how people used to prepare food.

If I follow the ramp out of the kitchen I will arrive back in the Cross Passage, where I started my visit.

Now I can turn left and go and see the Service Rooms. These three rooms were used for important jobs at Blakesley Hall.

The first service room is the Buttery. I can see a machine called a cider press, which was used to make cider. Ale would also have been made in this room.

This is the Boulting Room. This is where bread was made when people lived at Blakesley Hall.

This is the Still Room. This is where medicines were made when people lived at Blakesley Hall.

This guide has shown me lots of rooms at Blakesley Hall. Different people lived at Blakesley Hall for 342 years, and then it was turned into a museum.

This is a photo of the Merry Family, who lived at Blakesley Hall from 1901 until 1932.

If I would like to know more about the people who lived at Blakesley Hall, I can ask an Enabler or a Volunteer during my visit and they will be able to tell me.