Many stately homes conjure up visions of separate ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’ realms, but at Erddig the 18th-century Yorke family took a different approach. Alan learns how they encouraged a romance between nanny and groomsman, immortalized staff in photos and verse, and treated them with a respect unheard of among other grand houses. Angellica Bell tries her hand at producing cider from Erddig’s historic orchards, while Miriam O’Reilly visits Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, where the family’s relationship with their servants was very different from that of the Yorkes'.

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