{"product_id":"diamonds-at-dinner-my-life-as-a-ladys-maid-in-a-1930s-stately-home-9781782196105","title":"Diamonds at Dinner - My Life as a Lady's Maid in a 1930s Stately Home","description":"The year was 1935: the twilight of the English aristocracy. It was a time of wealth and glamour; of lavish balls and evening gowns; of tiaras and a Coronation. As personal maid to Lady Coventry, Hilda had a unique insight into the leisured life of one of Britain's most noble families. In her fascinating memoir of life upstairs and down, Hilda takes us back to a gilded era which would be brutally swept away by the Second World War. Hers is a very personal story of being transplanted from a tiny house with no bath or hot water to an eighteenth-century Neo-Palladian mansion surrounded by parkland landscaped by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown. But it is also the remarkable story of the family whose service she entered - and that of Croome Court itself: during World War Two, it housed the Dutch Royal Family - who had fled the Nazi occupation - and it was also home to the top-secret RAF base where radar was developed. This is Hilda's story.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eHilda Newman \u003c\/b\u003ewas a maid to Lady Coventry at the Worcestershire stately home of Croome Court in the 1930s. Now in her late 90s, Hilda has led a remarkable life both above and below the stairs. \u003cb\u003eTim Tate \u003c\/b\u003eis the author of several previous books.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"John Blake","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50475474256146,"sku":"9781782196105","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5558ab19-79a5-4757-baae-db6939a85ff2.jpg?v=1730236844","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/diamonds-at-dinner-my-life-as-a-ladys-maid-in-a-1930s-stately-home-9781782196105","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}