Where are the Scottish Honours?

On Christmas Day 1950, four Scottish students took the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey, London to Scotland.

The stone's custodian later left it on the altar of Arbroath Abbey, in the safekeeping of the Church of Scotland. Once the London police were informed of its whereabouts, the Stone was returned to Wesminster. Afterwards, rumours circulated that a copy had been made of the Stone, and that the returned Stone was not in fact the original.

So what happened to the original? There are those who believe that whoever holds the Honours of Scotland also keeps the Stone of Destiny, with Scotland's full regalia, ready to crown the last descendant of the Royal Scots.

The Scottish Crown jewels were until recently, held within the stronghold of Edinburgh Castle. However, it has recently come to light that the jewels may be fakes and the originals were stolen from the Castle during the last Jacobite Rebellion. There is much speculation that they are currently under guard in one of Scotland's great country houses.

Rumours are rife that the Honours are being held at one of the following Scottish estates: Hopetoun House, Falkland Palace, Linlithgow Palace or Netherton.

All owners of these great houses deny any knowledge of the whereabouts of the Honours, although it is rumoured that Netherton has a secured strong room. No one has had recent access to this place so who knows what secrets that great house may be harbouring?

* With thanks to my sister Valerie for the prose.

A welcome, a Basement and a sneaky peek!

First of all, a very warm welcome to all new followers.   I'm very pleased to have you here and hope you like what you see.

Well, that's it.    That's all there is to see of the basement.  It's finished with the exception of any additional "bits" I'm likely to find.   The bin needs some rubbish and I'll be on the lookout for any other items I think may be "basement worthy".

I was thinking, when taking the photos, it's a bit too tidy but I'm not good at messy so I'm happy to leave things as they are for the time being.

All I have to do now is show you the pictures - going from the left to right and one or two you've seen before.

Oops, I nearly forgot the housemartins!

and finally, a wee sneaky peek of what's coming next..............

The Laundry!

Bin there, done that!

After quite a prolonged search for a suitable dustbin to purchase it became clear that there wasn't anything out there that suited my purpose so in the end, I had to make one.

I came across an excellent article featuring a Winter Scene created by Robin Britton and Celia Thomas of Nostalgia in Miniatures Workshops. The article was featured over three months (January, February and March) in the Dolls House & Miniature Scene Magazine and the detailed instructions for the creation of the bin were published in the February issue.

First of all I had to cut a piece of corrugated card (the sort used for packaging books), dampen it and fix it round a suitable shape and leave to dry.

While that was happening I used the template provided to produce the lid.   This was then used to cut the required shapes onto white card.   (The top shape is actually round, it just wouldn't lie flat - that's what happens when you use greaseproof paper from a roll!)

I had to join the circle and once the glue for that had dried, the shaped piece was glued on top.

It then looked like this.   The next step was to snip into the lower layer and bend down to create the lid and add a thin strip of card round  the edge so that the lid fitted neatly over the bin.

When the card had dried, it was then removed from the form (dampening the card certainly made it hold it's shape very well) and a strip of paper was glued over the join and tucked down inside.

I then drew round the base of the bin and cut out the circle to create the bottom.   This was glued in place.

Little strips of card were cut to form the handle on the lid and one on either side.   It was then ready to paint.

I deviated a bit from the instructions at this point and used Steel coloured enamel paint (instead of silver) as I was after a "galvanised steel" look.

The bin featured in the article has a more rusted and grungy look to it.

My first coat was the steel paint followed (as instructed) by a mix of steel and black, this was put on then blotted off with scrunched up paper towel.   The next step of the instructions stated that I then had to add a little white paint to the mix and, using a thin stick, run the paint down the ridges.   This all worked absolutely fine but having seen the finish after one coat of paint, I let the whole thing dry and went back to the original finish.   I have a hard time dealing with "well used and grungy"!

I should really have gone on and added  some terracotta paint to give it that well used rusty look (as per the the article) but as I was happy with the finish I had and it fitted in well with what I had in my mind's eye, I left it alone.

I look care to paint the top inch of the inside of the bin because, in time, it's my intention to give the bin contents but at the moment I'm just pleased I managed to find one that did the job so well.

Thank you Robin and Celia for the very clear and detailed instructions.

 

The Privy

Do you ever have one of  those nights when you can't sleep and your head is birling with ideas for your latest project?   Well, I do too.

One night (2am to be precise) I had what I thought was a marvellous idea for Netherton.   I lay there and thought about it and thought about it and in the end, I just had to get up and nip downstairs to check and see if my idea was feasible and guess what?   Yes it was!

The first thing next day work was started on a Privy in the basement area under the pavement walkway.

The walls are made from foam board as is the door, which has been planked and straps placed across the inside.   The interior stonework has been left as it is but painted white.

The door had ventilation holes drilled and was then painted to match in with the Servant's Entrance.   (I can't help it - I was born colour co-ordinated!).

This is the view the scullery maid has when washing the dishes!

The "facilities" themselves are really basic and straightforward.   Some brick paper to the front of a wooden panel, a hole cut in a piece of balsa - cut to size and varnished.   The cistern I already had and that has been placed on a shelf using a piece of cornice as the support.

On the shelf to the inside right there is a spare roll of toilet paper and a candle holder.   There is also a toilet roll on it's holder fixed to the back of the door.

Another view for the scullery maid.

From above...

My little privy.

Things I've Made - 2

This is my sink.   I like this sink a lot!   I really surprised myself making this sink but I'd seen a picture of one and thought "I could do that", so after a couple of sketches and a check to make sure all  the bits were to hand, it didn't take that long.   All that required to be purchased for it were the two little taps.  This sink is now in the Butler's Pantry.

These are my pegs.  Thanks to this little tutorial here:   Sab's Mini Interiors  on making pegs from cocktail sticks.    I hadn't seen sticks of that particular style up here but fortunately for me a very kind blogger, namely Janice sent me some and this is how they turned out.   The bowl was bought specifically for them!   (Thank you Sabiha and Janice for the idea and the pegs).

What could this next item  be, I hear you ask?   This is a goffering iron (or Italian/Tally Iron).   It was used to create frills round maid's caps/children's bonnets/nightdresses or anywhere a decorative trim was required.   A hot poker was inserted into the metal sleeve on the top and the item was then artfully and skillfully move round the hot iron to give it it's lovely frills.   The process was made easier by the fact that often these decorative pieces were removable.   The irons were usually made by the local Blacksmith.

During a visit to a Stately Home last year, I spied this.   There was actually a run of them in a long narrow room that was situated down a few steps from the Kitchen.   The backs and sides were all wood and the tops, counters and dividers were made of slate.   They were used to store vegetables and each "bin" held stores of one form or another.   A quick drawing to remind myself when I got home and I came up with this.   There's only enough space for one in Netherton but I like the idea.   Again the marvellous Humbrol paint was used to get the "slate" effect.

This is another item that was spotted, I can't remember where now, but it certainly didn't look that difficult to create so... out came the balsa and some brick effect paper.   Two piers were made using scrap wood and covered with the paper then painted white.   A piece of balsa painted black for the "marble" top and some tiles on the back.   Solder was used to create the rail and the little rabbit was added (there are other bits there now too) - and there you have it, a cold slab.

Finally, this is the Hearth & Home sink shown previously, now in place with the addition of the goffering iron on the shelf along side a sleeve board that was put together from lolly sticks and a couple of pairs of stretchers (used to keep the shape of stockings and socks while drying).   These were made from balsa wood.

 In the meantime, the next thing I'm hoping to make is a rubbish bin - the galvanised metal kind that said "No Hot Ashes" on the lid- like this:

Unless of course anyone knows where I can buy one from.............

Things I've Made - 1

Firstly - a very warm welcome to all new followers. I'm very pleased to have you here and I hope you like what you see.    (Sadly, I didn't make the flowers).

I thought I'd interrupt the progress posts by showing you some of the little bits and pieces I've made for this property.    Ever since starting this hobby I was known for saying "I don't make, I buy!" but when I discovered I could make little tables from balsa and stair spindles, and enjoyed it, it wasn't long before I moved on to other things.

Some are kits but mostly I like fiddling with wood.

Firstly, a pump.   I'm not sure if I will use this item in Netherton.   I think I've had a better idea.

This is a little kit from Jane Harrop.   It was easy to make up and the instructions were very clear although one or two little bits of my own may be added to fill it up more.

The sink was purchased from Hearth & Home at a fair some time ago and I added a tiled back and side.   The draining board was also added to give it an extra little something.

These two items were made from bits and pieces.   The counter/unit was made to fit a specific space.   They have since been varnished and put in the Butler's Pantry.

The chair in this little scene was a whitewood item that was varnished and I made the cushion.   For some reason it took a while!   I think I kept changing my mind as to how it was to be created because it was originally meant to be a seat pad.   This chair and cushion now reside in the Butler's Pantry.   The Butler's Tray is made up from a Jane Harrop kit.

Here are a couple of my tables.   I like making tables.   They're so easy to make and you can get exactly the size and style you want/need.   The item on the right is a stove for heating flat irons.   The table at the back and the stove are now in the Laundry of Netherton although the stove has since been painted and polished using the Humbrol paint mentioned in an earlier post.

More to follow.............

The Basement staircase.

Now that they've got a spiffy new front door, I had to give the servants a means of access.   The stairs originally purchased with this property weren't really what I wanted after all so, and because there were stairs held over from another project, I had a go at putting together a couple of sets myself.

Then of course, they needed a handrail.   For some silly reason I got fixed on using spindles (obviously blinded by the fact that the picture I was using as reference had spindles) and I spent ages thinking about the best way to work that out until I had a light bulb moment when it dawned on me that I didn't have to religously copy the reference photo and that spindles were not absolutely necessary.  Therefore, with the help of some kebab sticks and skinny dowel, and only three spindles they now look like this although they're not permanently fixed in yet:

A view down into the area on the left:

A servant's eye view from inside:

and the right hand side.   I'm not sure if the coal bunker and log store will stay in that space but for the moment I'm happy to keep them there.