A Castle of Contrasts
- The Blue Bedroom and Servant's Bedroom
The Blue Bedroom (above) shows a typical bedroom designed
for very important visitors to the castle in the 19th century.
 
With its domed canopy 'Polonaise' state bed, ornate French pierglass
and bell pushes for calling the servants. It is in sharp contrast
to the starkly furnished Servant's Bedroom, which was for
a head housekeeper, who was alloted one or two ornaments and a wardrobe.
Impressive Mediaeval Work Room
- The Kitchen
 Built
in 1360 and still almost completely in its original mediaeval form,
the Kitchen was in use for the next six hundred years, until
1954.
This room of intersecting arches sweeping up to its octagonal ventilation
shaft also has a fascinating collection of  Victorian
cooking equipment.
Around the room runs a passageway within the thickness of the
walls, used as a serving route to the Barons' Hall.
Dining Rooms
- The Dining Room and Servants' Hall
 Created
by William Burn, the handsome Victorian Dining Room has an
elaborate 'guilloche' design ceiling with a pattern of repetitive
geometrically, interlocking loops repeated in the mouldings of doors
and shutters. This room is also a picture gallery containing many
important artworks.
46 metres away from the Kitchen, it meant that the servants had
to use dishes with hot water compartments and copper dish warmers
to keep food hot in transit.
 The
servants had their lunch in the mediaeval Servants' Hall
which was a warm and jolly place with a fire always burning in the
hearth and the staff relaxing or carrying out tasks, such as knife
polishing and sharpening. The windows facing onto the courtyard
are original, but those facing outwards were once arrowloops and
have been enlarged.
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