Behind the Scenes: Domestic Arrangements in Historic Houses (Hardcover)

~ (Author), National Trust (Great Britain) (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Christina Hardyment conducted a fascinating quest into the history of housekeeping through the well-preserved properties of Britain's National Trust, among them Petworth, Uppark, Shugborough, and Lanhydrock. To reconstruct the ingenious methods used by earlier generations to make a house a home and to keep themselves warm and well-fed, she squirmed through drains, poked around sculleries and cellars, and clambered into icehouses and up chimneys. The result of her explorations is an informative, amusing text that recounts not only the history of the kitchen, the bathroom, and the laundry, but also investigates bakehouses and breweries, dairies and dovecotes, the lamp room and the larder. Accompanying Hardyment's descriptions of what she found in great mansions, humble cottages, medieval castles and Victorian townhouses are archival documents and accounts and a wealth of color photographs, many taken especially for this book.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams; Subsequent edition (September 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810963434
• ISBN-13: 978-0810963436
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 9.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,021,411 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book with beautiful pictures, July 13, 2001

By A Customer

Most books about houses dwell on country house parties and the upstairs life, while this one is especially interesting when it covers parts of the household that you would not think of, such as the dairy. Perhaps a complaint would be that the book concentrates only on grand houses instead of on houses lived in my middle and lower class people, but I had bought the book realizing that so I didn't care. In addition to being very well researched and well written, the photographs were absolutely georgous and make me want to live in such a grand estate. Untill I think about how hard it was to live in such a grand estate!