1Good morning, and welcome to Oniton Hall,
2one of the largest estates in the area.
3My name's Nick, and I'm one of the guides.
4I'll give you a brief introduction to the estate while you're sitting down,
5and then we'll walk round.
6The estate consists of the house, gardens, parkland and farm,
7and it dates back to the fourteenth century.
8The original house was replaced in the late seventeenth century,
9and of course it has had a large number of owners.
10Almost all of them have left their mark,
11generally by adding new rooms, like the ballroom and conservatory,
12or by demolishing others.
13The farm looks much as it's always done,
14although the current owner has done a great deal of work to the flower beds.
15In the seventeenth century, the estate was owned by a very wealthy man called Sir Edward Downes.
16His intention was to escape from the world of politics,
17after years as an active politician,
18and to build a new house worthy of his big collection of books, paintings and sculptures.
19He broke off contact with his former political allies,
20and hosted meetings of creative and literary people, like painters and poets.
21Unusually for his time, he didn't care whether his guests were rich or poor,
22as long as they had talent.
23Big houses like Oniton had dozens of servants until the 1920s or 30s,
24and we've tried to show what their working lives were like.
25Photographs of course don't give much of an idea,
26so instead, as you go round the house,
27you'll see volunteers dressed up as nineteenth-century servants, going about their work.
28They'll explain what they're doing,
29and tell you their recipes, or what tools they're using.
30We've just introduced this feature to replace the audio guide we used to have available.
31I see there are a number of children here with you today.
32Well, we have several activities specially for children,
33like dressing up in the sorts of clothes that children wore in the past,
34and as it's a fine day, some of you will probably want to play in the adventure playground.
35Our latest addition is child-sized tractors, that you can drive around the grounds.
36We'll also be going into the farm that's part of the estate, where there's plenty to do.
37Most of the buildings date from the eighteenth century,
38so you can really step back into an agricultural past.
39Until recently, the dairy was where milk from the cows was turned into cheese.
40It's now the place to go for lunch, or afternoon tea,
41or just a cup of coffee and a slice of homemade cake.
42The big stone building that dominates the farm is the large barn,
43and in here is our collection of agricultural tools.
44These were used in the past to plough the earth, sow seeds, make gates, and much more.
45There's a small barn, also made of stone,
46where you can groom the donkeys and horses, to keep their coats clean.
47They really seem to enjoy having it done,
48and children love grooming them.
49The horses no longer live in the stables,
50which instead is the place to go to buy gifts, books,
51our own jams and pickles, and clothes and blankets made of wool from our sheep.
52Outside the shed, which is the only brick building,
53you can climb into a horse-drawn carriage for a lovely, relaxing tour of the park and farm.
54The carriages are well over a hundred years old.
55And finally, the parkland, which was laid out in the eighteenth century,
56with a lake and trees that are now well established.
57You'll see types of cattle and sheep that are hardly ever found on farms these days.
58We're helping to preserve them, to stop their numbers falling further.
59OK, well, if you'd like to come with me, we will start...