James Couper and his wife didn’t have any children and they lived at the rear of the house on the first floor. Here you will see quite plain rooms, where one can imagine the Coupers could relax and ‘put thier feet up’
The Coupers did not have a legion of staff, only: a stableman who lived in the stable building, a housekeeper who had a small room and a housekeeper’s assistant who had space on a landing on the back stairs by the housekeeper’s room. You can only imagine that staff were brought in for dinner parties.
With plain walls and corridors just wide engough for two to pass, this was not the same luxury as the front of house but was still better than most at the time. Food was prepared in the kitchen and passed to the waiting staff via a series of shelves, (no longer there), for carrying into the dining room. This kept the waiting staff away from the kitchen and possible congestion. Dirty plates and dishes would also leave the dining room via the same route but were diverted into the scullery, so keeping clean and dirty apart.
The Coupers also had a small walled kitchen garden for the house, this over time, became a rose garden and the walls were removed. The NTS reinstated the walls, complete with arrow slits, and remodeled the garden, so now it is back as a kitchen garden, using 1850’s seed stock.
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