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