Chatsworth: The Housekeeper’s Tips, Tales and Tipples

Description

The Housekeeper’s Tips, Tales and Tipples explores the history surrounding everyday objects, and reveals more of Chatsworth’s hidden stories from my 40 years’ experience of working at one of the best-loved houses in the land. The care of the precious objects at Chatsworth has been my life’s work, and so I am pleased to share some of the tips I have gleaned along the way, together with an invitation to concoct a tipple (non-alcoholic and otherwise), and raise a glass to all of those who share the responsibility of turning a house into a home.

This time, I am delighted that Amanda, Duchess of Devonshire has kindly written a foreword to the book, Janet has once again provided amusing line drawings, and the book is also illustrated with 59 photographs.

Excerpt from Chapter 10

Garden Pests: To deter moles, pour stagnant cut flower water into a mole run as they don’t like the smell. Another tip is to push a stick into the ground near the molehill so that it protrudes about 15cms (6 inches) above the surface. The theory is that as the wind blows across the stick it causes it to vibrate, and these vibrations are transmitted to the sensitive moles underground.