One of the more fun things we do at this time of the year is to restock our Knebworth House Gift Shop for the summer season. We take delivery of boxes of dinosaur toys, dinosaur keyrings, dinosaur t-shirts… and, this year, dinosaur bubble blowers, which unfortunately got loose in their box and arrived having all taken a bath. They’ve been sitting out to dry in our conference room, contributing to meetings, for a couple of weeks. Then, with archery and jousting to look forward to on 21st/22nd April we need to make sure we have all the accoutrement for the aspiring young knight – made in plastic now, rather than at the blacksmith, but I think we can all agree that’s a good thing. Then there’s Knebworth House chocolate. Lots of that, of course. Quite happy if that doesn’t sell and we have to finish it off before its sell by date at the end of the season.
Most fun for me, however, is hunting around for relevant books. I think it’s important, after you’ve had a tour of Knebworth House and been told how influential the Bulwer Lytton family were in the literary world to see examples of their novels and biographies for sale in the Gift Shop, even if they’re quite difficult to find nowadays. And I am pleased that, this year, we have also been able to restock Hugh Madgin’s excellent 2011 book “Knebworth Through Time”, which is 96 pages of fascinating views of our village, as it was, and as it is now. This is not easy to find nowadays either – but, along with your dinosaur bubble blower, you can find it in the Knebworth House Gift Shop!
Henry Lytton Cobbold
@HenryCobboldKH