Online exhibition launches showing secrets of Waddesdon Manor's kitchen

It was originally supposed to be a physical exhibition opening in February

Kitchen staff about 1900
Author: Lettie BuxtonPublished 22nd Jan 2021

People can now find out more about the history and secrets of Waddesdon Manor's kitchen and the people who worked in it, as a new online exhibition launches.

It was originally supposed to be a physical exhibition opening in February, but now the show has gone virtual.

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild's Waddesdon has been described as the "last word in luxury and refinement", used as a summer retreat from London and a "magnificent setting" for weekend house parties.

Guests included Queen Victoria and her son, the Prince of Wales (and future King Edward VII).

The Queen even sent her own chef to learn from Ferdinand's after her visit in 1890, with archive records showing she enjoyed six courses over several hours.

The original menu is included in the exhibition.

At the heart of the exhibition is a grainy black and white photograph, taken around 1900, of the kitchen brigade, which is displayed on the very table they are standing around.

The copper batterie de cuisine bear the Baron's and his sister Miss Alice's monogram, while there is even an early 1920s espresso machine.

Take a look at some of the exhibition here:

The Red Book
Ferdinand in the Baron's Room Red Book
The Smoking Room in The Red Book, 1987
The Grey Drawing Room in The Red Book, 1987

The exhibition can be viewed in full here.

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