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“I usually have a good sense of direction,” she said. “But I’d love a tour, even if there’s no souvenir at the end.”
He smiled at her and she smiled back. “You have a really nice smile,” she added.
“Let’s not get carried away,” he answered, smile disappearing. He gestured to the formal entry. “We’ll start here, where the official tour begins, and even though the ropes and carpet runners are gone, don’t touch, don’t sit, remember this is someone’s private home filled with irreplaceable antiques.” And then seeing Cara’s shocked expression, he winked. “Just wanted you to feel like you were getting a real tour.”
Cara laughed. “You scared me for a moment.”
“I’ve been told I can be intimidating.”
“You were told right. Now, my lips are zipped. I’m going to be very quiet and just listen to the tour guide.”
Alec cleared his throat, more times than necessary, and then fighting a smile, began telling her how nine generations of Sherbournes had been born and raised at Langley. Before that, the Sherbournes were a minor-gentry family, but Charles Robert Sherbourne, a shrewd, ambitious, political man, proved his loyalty to the Whig party in 1715—which served the King George I’s purposes, and in 1716 the king rewarded Charles Sherbourne by bestowing the title and estate he’d stripped from someone else. Since then, the Sherbournes had been firmly planted in Derbyshire and this legacy rested now with Alec.
“That’s pressure,” Cara said, when he’d concluded.
“Yes,” he agreed. “And I’m not sure which is worse, the tradition of welcoming the Thursday night tour and then mingling after the tour, or the relatives that come the next day.”
“Are the relatives challenging?” she asked.
“They are by no means ramshackle, and there’s no bad behavior, or embarrassing scenes, but to be honest, they serve as a reminder that time is passing.”
“And that your father is no longer here,” she said gently.
He didn’t speak immediately and then he nodded once. “Yes. Very true.” He gestured up the stairs. “I imagine you’ve seen the state rooms downstairs, so why don’t I take you up to the receiving rooms on the second floor? The ballroom was up here,” he said, as they climbed the curving staircase, “and if you can imagine it, guests would arrive through the new Georgian entrance, come up these stairs where they’d be announced, and then the esteemed guests would enter here, which was one of the rooms that could be converted into the ballroom. There were three rooms total which were used to create a ballroom. All the chandeliers would be filled with fresh candles, the furniture would be cleared, rugs removed, and flowers brought in, as much for beauty as to help mask odor.”
“Odor?” she repeated.
He nodded. “Back then, a hot, crowded party was considered a success—and I would never share this on a public tour—but can you imagine the smell? If someone needed to use the loo, they’d go to a retiring room, which basically was a smaller room off one of the big rooms, and use the chamber pot, which a maid would then quickly empty before the next guest needed it. Parties meant the staff was kept quite busy. I’m just grateful to have been born now, and not then.”
“I’d love to see Miss Fletcher sharing that on a tour!”
“She wouldn’t allow it, not on her watch, which is why you’re lucky to get the behind-the-scenes tour, things only family will tell you.” He led her to the end of the three rooms that created the ballroom, and then across the hall to more rooms, which he said would be used for a buffet dinner, a card room, and a ladies’sitting room, to allow for a rest, or a gown to be fixed. It probably was also a good place for a little gossip.
“Would the guests who came to a ball, or for dinner, see the older part of the house, or just these newer rooms that you said were built in the eighteenth century?”
“Visitors would be housed in the new wing, which would have been considered modern and elegant. The house has more than tripled in size since it was first built, with the biggest addition during the Georgian period, when the new formal entrance was created, along with a new façade. Many of the original Tudor state rooms were demolished at that time to accommodate the new, less formal lifestyle, but it made sense to take little used state rooms and create spaces that could be used by more of the family and friends, like the library downstairs, the morning room, which was my grandmother’s preferred receiving room, the Green Salon, the dining room, the smaller dining room, the music room, my study, and billiards room.”
“What is the difference between a state room, a salon, and a receiving room?” Cara asked, head spinning with all the information.
“State rooms historically were formal rooms designed to be enjoyed by royalty, whether the monarch or another high-ranking aristocrat. State rooms were only used for special occasions, and never the family. These rooms were always large and extremely well appointed, because, of course, you’d want the king or queen to feel comfortable.”
“Did a king or queen ever stay here?”
“No. Chatsworth was the bigger house, and drew the nobility, but we had our share of important people, but none so important that they needed a state room. Which is why, in the eighteenth century, the earl—I believe it was second Earl of Sherbourne—questioned the value of state rooms. Why not turn theseshuttered rooms filled with dust covers into spaces that could be enjoyed daily?”
Alec led her down a corridor, opened a door. “See the fireplace surround? It’s made of plaster, as is the ceiling. This was a big part of the redesign. The heavy beams were hidden, the dark paneling removed or covered with silk and wallpaper. Downstairs, the front door was moved, centering the door to create the Georgian ideal of balance and symmetry. Windows were changed, the exterior bricked, interior doorways changed, creating a modern, elegant home which followed classical rules.”
“It must have been a considerable expense,” she said.
“Yes, but impressions were important. The Sherbournes were a newly influential family, close with the king, and it was important that the guest felt the importance, from the moment you passed through the huge front gates, and then later glimpsed the house from a distance, and then arrived at the new grand entrance on the south side of the house. Guests never even saw the old hall, as the Tudor hall and entrance was now on the north aspect, and only used by family.”
“So, there are two sides of the house,” she said with some satisfaction.
“Can you guess which I prefer?” he asked.
“You like the old hall,” she said.
“I do,” he agreed. “Generations have thought it an eyesore. All that armor and heavy beams, the massive hearth, and depressing, dark paneling covering the walls, but I like it. When I enter through the old hall, I know I’ve come home.”
