{"id":1055,"date":"2026-07-09T09:18:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knebworthhouse.com\/blog\/?p=1055"},"modified":"2026-07-09T09:18:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T09:18:47","slug":"june-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knebworthhouse.com\/blog\/?p=1055","title":{"rendered":"June 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

What a great motto Stevenage has, \u201cThe heart of a town lies in its people\u201d.\u00a0 It is what comes to mind when I consider how blessed we have been with all the stalwart, dedicated, hard-working \u2013 and crucially, good-humoured \u2013 staff we\u2019ve been so fortunate to work with at Knebworth House and Country Park.\u00a0 There have been so many great characters who\u2019ve joined us for the ride since I came to live in Knebworth House two generations ago in 1970.\u00a0 Joining us that year was Derek Spencer, born and bred in Hitchin, a very fine carpenter and maintenance man who, at his interview, worried there would be enough work for him here.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnough work for me?!\u00a0 I\u2019ve never had a quiet day since.\u00a0 Within minutes of arriving I was moving the gamekeeper and then rebuilding the old forge down in the village.\u00a0 Then I had to move on to the riding stables, and I just wondered what on earth I had done.\u00a0 You see Lord Cobbold wanted to make the estate viable and he really was in a hurry to do so.\u00a0 He wanted to get people in, to show the public what a wonderful place Knebworth is.\u00a0 Knebworth really has changed since I arrived: now it never closes, it\u2019s always on the go.\u201d [quote from Tales from the Country Estates<\/em>, John Bailey 1999]<\/p>\n

In 2020 we marked 50 years of Derek\u2019s work at Knebworth House, but even that milestone was not going to stop him.\u00a0 For another six years, well into his late 80s, Derek has continued to come to work one-day-a-week to share his wisdom and encyclopaedic knowledge of the estate and to mentor new members of the Maintenance Team.\u00a0 All good things must come to an end, and Derek finally retired this Spring, but in every room in the House and every corner of the Park & Estate there is the evidence of over half a century of his beautiful work.\u00a0 All hail you, Derek.\u00a0 How on earth, now, are we going to know where anything is?!<\/p>\n

Henry Lytton Cobbold
\n@HenryCobboldKH<\/a>
\n@HenryCobbold<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

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What a great motto Stevenage has, \u201cThe heart of a town lies in its people\u201d.\u00a0 It is what comes to mind when I consider how blessed we have been with all the stalwart, dedicated, hard-working \u2013 and crucially, good-humoured \u2013 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-26"],"yoast_head":"\nJune 2026 - Henry Lytton Cobbold<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/knebworthhouse.com\/blog\/?p=1055\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"June 2026 - Henry Lytton Cobbold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What a great motto Stevenage has, \u201cThe heart of a town lies in its people\u201d.\u00a0 It is what comes to mind when I consider how blessed we have been with all the stalwart, dedicated, hard-working \u2013 and crucially, good-humoured \u2013 … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/knebworthhouse.com\/blog\/?p=1055\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Henry Lytton Cobbold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-09T09:18:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/knebworthhouse.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Derek-50-year-work-anniversary.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=1055#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=1055\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f15e48bf5e00572a561d40bb2c4078b5\"},\"headline\":\"June 2026\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-09T09:18:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=1055\"},\"wordCount\":347,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=1055#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/Derek-50-year-work-anniversary-300x207.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"2026\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=1055\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/knebworthhouse.com\\\/blog\\\/?p=1055\",\"name\":\"June 2026 - 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