As members of the Literary Homes and Museums of Great Britain, Martha and I recently visited the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh and were bowled over by their state-of-the-art John Murray Exhibit. The John Murray Archive is one of the world’s richest literary manuscript collections, including works by Lord Byron, Jane Austen, Charles Darwin – not the easiest thing to display to the public. How do you make pieces of paper interesting for visiting tourists and children? The NLS has Star Trek-like pods that light up suspended objects, and touch screen tables that respond to hidden projectors, rich with quirky anecdotes and bespoke animations. Down here on earth, at Knebworth House, we don’t have pods or projectors, we have the trusty house guide.
It is the enthusiasm and delight with which our guides tell the stories of Knebworth House that enthralls our visitors and brings history alive from the simplest piece of paper scribbled on by Charles Dickens or faded old photograph of Winston Churchill. Whether it is dressing up in old Tudor pantaloons or explaining a tongue scraper to a ten-year-old, our guides are indefatigable in their desire to entertain and enrich our visitors. And we have the results to prove it. Whilst our park admission numbers took a dive in 2007 (remember the rain?) our education group numbers leapt up from 2589 to 4399. If you’d like to join our happy team of house guides, currently aged from 16 to 86 – please call Mia Herbert on 810934 or email mherbert@knebworthhouse.com.
A Happy New Year from all the team at Knebworth House!
Henry Lytton Cobbold
www.knebworthhouse.com