Best Selling Books by Pamela Horn

Country houses formed a distinct community and power base within the broader Victorian countryside. This book shows how landed families'' day-to-day existence depended on the skills of the indoor servants who provided their meals and ministered to their general comfort, and the outdoor staff who contributed to their leisure and sporting pursuits. It considers the relationship - and the divisions - between those living ''above stairs'' and and the carefully considered hierarchy of domestics who met their needs ''below stairs''. Also considered are the wider social activities of the two groups who, while living under the same roof, experienced a very different daily round. That applied to preparations for the holding of house parties and the running of sporting events, as well as the important social influence exerted by the London ''Season''.

In the world of the late-Victorian and Edwardian country house the mistress and her daughters had many social duties and responsibilities to carry out both in their home community and in London, where they spent the Season and where the girls officially entered Society by being presented at Court. Pamela Horn''s book examines the lives of these real ''Downton Abbey'' ladies from their childhood and marriage to their role as a ''Lady Bountiful''. It covers their leisure pursuits, sporting activities, country-house weekends, and much more besides, up to the life-transforming years of the First World War.

What did the Victorians do for fun? This book is a fascinating account of leisure and pleasure in the age of the Industrial Revolution

History of the National Institute of Houseworkers. Dorothy Elliott was an early chair of the NIH Board.