Category Archives: 2024

2024 has been a year of significant distractions – from the very sad death to cancer of my mother in the Spring, followed by the clearing of her house, full to the brim with every vestige of my parents’ busy … Continue reading →

One of the great privileges of being the current custodians of Knebworth House is walking our dog every evening in its beautiful gardens.  In the twenty-four years Martha and I have done this we have particularly enjoyed watching the gardens … Continue reading →

Amongst the many fascinating historical items that came to Knebworth House with The Cobbold Family History Trust charity when it relocated here in 2022, is over 500 very lovely and intricate papercuts made by Elizabeth Cobbold (1767-1824) of Holywells Park, … Continue reading →

Donating household items from my late mother’s home to the YMCA charity shop in Knebworth High Street, Martha and I were delighted to be offered a fine original edition of “Letters of Constance Lytton” kindly held back for Knebworth House … Continue reading →

“Aujourd’hui on va à la plage” – a jaunty ditty that featured heavily in our children’s French homework 25 years ago, returned from somewhere deep in my brain to accompany me on the splendid Knebworth Twinning weekend we spent in … Continue reading →

“STATELY HOME IS GOING POP”, wrote The Evening News in May 1974, “A Stately Home is to open up its gates to thousands of discerning fans in a summer pop extravaganza.  A one-day event of modern progressive music will take … Continue reading →

KHEPT Going For 40 Years!  The Knebworth House Education and Preservation Trust (KHEPT) charity is celebrating its 40th Anniversary.  Since its creation in May 1984, the charity has worked tirelessly to preserve, restore, interpret and provide access to Knebworth House … Continue reading →

A few weeks before my father died in May 2022, from complications caused by Parkinson’s disease, my mother commissioned a stone bench for the Gardens of Knebworth House.  She asked that, when the time came, they both be buried in … Continue reading →

If you saw Knebworth House in Episode 4 of the Netflix show “The Gentleman”, what were you doing watching such nonsense?  And no, the mad old boy running around naked at the beginning was not a cameo from me.  We, … Continue reading →

The Aladdin’s Cave of Local History that is the Knebworth House Archive received another fine magic lamp for the summoning up of the stories of the past when it took possession of three Minute Books of Knebworth Tenants Ltd, covering … Continue reading →