Nooks And Crannies

'Secret' stairs

Gran’s house, as I say, is amazing… I love the original pantry with its beautiful wooden doors, soon to be home to Jessie’s Kitchen plates, utensils and delicious(!) cooking ingredients; but my favourite, favourite thing is the ‘secret’ room!

Many moons ago, when Broomhall was one big house, this hidden-away room was where the housekeeper slept and was accessed by a trapdoor in the ceiling. Bearing in mind she was probably an older lady (okay, I’m basing this on Upstairs Downstairs!), going up the rickety ladder to bed must have been fun...! Now there’s a (still rickety!) ‘secret’ staircase going up to the room, which is going to be our new staffroom. Once we manage to get the wardrobes and other furniture stashed up there down the secret, rickety staircase (any volunteers?!).

 

Cellar!

As if a secret room isn’t exciting enough, Gran’s cellar has yielded so much interesting stuff… these rent books are in immaculate condition and contain so may weel-kent Dundee place names, as well as beautiful stamps featuring King George VI of The King’s Speech/Colin Firth fame! You might have seen them featured in the Evening Tele (thanks to our good friend Graeme), the City Archivists are keen to get their hands on them and we plan to see if the McManus Galleries would be interested.