Cellar secrets revealed at Weston Park - video and pictures

Weston Park is opening its cellar to visitors, giving them a stark contrast to the finery and beautiful artwork of the rooms upstairs.

Down a spiral staircase or behind black iron gates at the back of the house, the cellars would originally have been used to store barrels. The narrow hallways are winding, cold – almost damp – and the roof far lower than the lofty rooms upstairs, but it contains some of the best hidden secrets of Weston Park.

Among them a wooden arch, believed to be the oldest part of the estate dating back centuries, to before the current house was built.

But guests will also get to see the state-of-the-art underfloor heating system and a billiard room fit for any gentleman.

"We wanted to show something a bit different to the public," PR co-ordinator Megan Haddaway said.

"We opened up some of the other areas of the house last year for some behind the scene tours, which showed the public some of the bedrooms and servant's quarters.

"We decided to take that one step further and open up the cellars to show them something that's a bit of a contrast to the formality downstairs.

"It would have been in the cellar that the family stored all their posh wines and beers, and it's very much on the side of the kitchens. It wouldn't have been used by the people who lived in the house so it's a very different aspect of the estate."

Compared to the careful decoration of the upstairs rooms, the cellars are anything but easy on the eye.

The old wooden timber used to store barrels show the signs of carrying decades of weight and the stone that makes up the floor is scuffed and cracked.

But it tells a different part of Weston Park's story, a story going back to when it was mentioned in the Domesday book nearly 600 years before the current estate was built in 1671.

Megan said: "There are original features downstairs which our curator Gareth Williams believes dates back to the medieval period. They would have dated back to the original hall.

"Upstairs things have been changed and the layouts have differed – downstairs things have stayed the same.

"It's really exciting. A lot of people who come to Weston Park have a strong sense of the family and the history of the house. They even know which paintings they're expecting to see. The cellar is something completely different for them.

"They get to see more of the working world that was once part of the house. It's a living house, we still use the cellar today to store things down there. It's not defunct. We've tried to get use out of it, but it's just a little bit more special to let the public go down and see it for themselves."

The tour will be run twice today for groups of up to 25 people. Those who attend can pay £5 to take a look around.

Another two tours will take place on July 16 at 12pm and 2pm. If there's enough interest, organisers will look to expand access to the cellars.

Although it's the first time the public will be able to see it, it has been open to those who rent out Weston Park for events.

That includes access to the billiard room, lined with vintage wines, pillars and red carpets.

Megan said: "People who use the house have it on an exclusive use basis and they're welcome to use any part of the house they please. If they want to use the billiard room they can go down and use it.

"They like the escapism of going somewhere different and quirky – you wouldn't expect to see this room down in the cellar.

"It gives that vibe of an old gentlemanly feel, drinking your whisky and playing billiards, which people do like."

Down the hall from the billiard's room is a storage area that would have doubled as a novel solution to underfloor heating.

The family at Weston Park would never have had to worry about cold feet with the help of a furnace downstairs. The heat, rising through the room, would have ensured maximum comfort all year around.

Although opening up the cellar will unveil a few more of Weston Park's secrets, there's still more that could be seen in the future.

"We've covered most places around the house, but not everything," Megan said. "There's always a little bit of mystery left at Weston Park."

For more information about events at the house visit weston-park.com