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Departed
Guest
British baroness offers tips for aristocrats to pinch their pennies in hard times
The Telegraph | June 9, 2014 12:06 PM ET
Lobster in a buffet is just the thing for Baroness Rawlings — a tactic to avoid waste.
Britain is going through hard economic times — as are the aristocrats. So Baroness Rawlings of Burnham Westgate Hall, a country estate near Sandringham in Norfolk, currently on the market for $10.5-million, has some top tips for saving money. In an interview with Tatler, the magazine that chronicles all things upper class, she has suggestions on everything from used soap to conserving the lobster. Here are five tips from the Baroness.
1. Never serve guests with food on plates
“It’s a waste,” says the baroness. “Let guests help themselves. That way, they can take exactly the amount of food they want, and no more. They can always have seconds, but you won’t be left scraping luscious lobster into the bin.”
soldiers
2. Soldiering on
“I love Melba toast, but it does mean cutting off the crusts. We have it with dinner on Friday and Saturday, but keep the crusts. These can be fried and served as soldiers [the strips of crusts] with boiled eggs for Sunday breakfast. Very simple, and people love them,” she said.
3.The soap test
Lady Rawlings draws the line at “horrid little bars” of guest soap. She provides guests with a fresh bar of Lebanese soap from the Prince of Wales’s Highgrove shop which is “not expensive” at £8.50 ($15.50) then re-uses it herself. She adds, “When it’s nearly finished, put it in drawers and cupboards to keep the moths away.”
4. Ditch the tent
Instead of using a marquee at garden parties, buy 200 Panama hats for guests to keep the sun off.
soap
5. Don’t pull the plug
Once you’ve had a bath, leave the water in the tub for a couple of hours to warm the room. Other suggestions for keeping warm include using electric blankets and hot water bottles and using “sausage-dog” draught excluders at the bottom of doors.
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Her other suggestions include growing your own fruit (apples and pears, she recommends); re-using napkins (guests can use the same linen napkin for breakfast and lunch; shopping for bargains (local auctions and eBay, for instance) and not throwing anything away (old newspapers can go to the fishmonger and socks should be mended).
Other aristocrats have also been dishing out economic advice.
Sir Richard FitzHerbert, ninth baronet and owner of the 400-year-old, 48-chimney Tissington Hall in Derbyshire, confesses to pocketing hotel pens. “All these little things help,” he says.
Caroline Lowsley-Williams of Chavenage House, an Elizabethan manor in the central Cotswolds district, laments hiring out her estate for weddding. “I wouldn’t wish the wedding trade on anyone,” she says. “We peaked one year at 37. It helped the cash flow, but that meant 37 mothers-of-the-bride to deal with. I’m keener on funerals. They have a shorter run-in time.”
However, Ms. Lowsley-Williams says she is “pathetically grateful” if guests bring candles to dress their wedding tables. “I collect the ends feverishly once they’ve gone because they make such good firelighters.”
Sir Benjamin Slade, the latest in the line at the family’s 13th-century manor, Maunsel House in Somerset, says, “I live off scraps from weddings here. I go out and loiter after 10 o’clock and they buy me drinks, so that’s quite good. Otherwise I always use tea bags twice. The fridges are full of everything, but if by mid-week it’s run out, I just eat porridge made with water so I don’t spend too much.”
The Daily Telegraph
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/09/british-baroness-offers-tip-for-aristocrats-to-pinch-their-pennies-in-hard-times/
The Telegraph | June 9, 2014 12:06 PM ET
Lobster in a buffet is just the thing for Baroness Rawlings — a tactic to avoid waste.
Britain is going through hard economic times — as are the aristocrats. So Baroness Rawlings of Burnham Westgate Hall, a country estate near Sandringham in Norfolk, currently on the market for $10.5-million, has some top tips for saving money. In an interview with Tatler, the magazine that chronicles all things upper class, she has suggestions on everything from used soap to conserving the lobster. Here are five tips from the Baroness.
1. Never serve guests with food on plates
“It’s a waste,” says the baroness. “Let guests help themselves. That way, they can take exactly the amount of food they want, and no more. They can always have seconds, but you won’t be left scraping luscious lobster into the bin.”
soldiers
2. Soldiering on
“I love Melba toast, but it does mean cutting off the crusts. We have it with dinner on Friday and Saturday, but keep the crusts. These can be fried and served as soldiers [the strips of crusts] with boiled eggs for Sunday breakfast. Very simple, and people love them,” she said.
3.The soap test
Lady Rawlings draws the line at “horrid little bars” of guest soap. She provides guests with a fresh bar of Lebanese soap from the Prince of Wales’s Highgrove shop which is “not expensive” at £8.50 ($15.50) then re-uses it herself. She adds, “When it’s nearly finished, put it in drawers and cupboards to keep the moths away.”
4. Ditch the tent
Instead of using a marquee at garden parties, buy 200 Panama hats for guests to keep the sun off.
soap
5. Don’t pull the plug
Once you’ve had a bath, leave the water in the tub for a couple of hours to warm the room. Other suggestions for keeping warm include using electric blankets and hot water bottles and using “sausage-dog” draught excluders at the bottom of doors.
— — — — —
Her other suggestions include growing your own fruit (apples and pears, she recommends); re-using napkins (guests can use the same linen napkin for breakfast and lunch; shopping for bargains (local auctions and eBay, for instance) and not throwing anything away (old newspapers can go to the fishmonger and socks should be mended).
Other aristocrats have also been dishing out economic advice.
Sir Richard FitzHerbert, ninth baronet and owner of the 400-year-old, 48-chimney Tissington Hall in Derbyshire, confesses to pocketing hotel pens. “All these little things help,” he says.
Caroline Lowsley-Williams of Chavenage House, an Elizabethan manor in the central Cotswolds district, laments hiring out her estate for weddding. “I wouldn’t wish the wedding trade on anyone,” she says. “We peaked one year at 37. It helped the cash flow, but that meant 37 mothers-of-the-bride to deal with. I’m keener on funerals. They have a shorter run-in time.”
However, Ms. Lowsley-Williams says she is “pathetically grateful” if guests bring candles to dress their wedding tables. “I collect the ends feverishly once they’ve gone because they make such good firelighters.”
Sir Benjamin Slade, the latest in the line at the family’s 13th-century manor, Maunsel House in Somerset, says, “I live off scraps from weddings here. I go out and loiter after 10 o’clock and they buy me drinks, so that’s quite good. Otherwise I always use tea bags twice. The fridges are full of everything, but if by mid-week it’s run out, I just eat porridge made with water so I don’t spend too much.”
The Daily Telegraph
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/09/british-baroness-offers-tip-for-aristocrats-to-pinch-their-pennies-in-hard-times/
