Behind the Scenes: Domestic Arrangements in Historic Houses

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.