Hell's bells! Servants Who knew FIFTY different rings when their masters called

WE ALL know the slightly wildeyed look of the fancy dinner party host as they greet arriving guests.

- Karen Rockett

So, spare a thought for royal cook Clara Dolley who, in 1897, had to prepare scores of sumptuous dishes at Blenheim Palace for a shooting weekend attended by the then Prince and Princess of Wales.

The menu alone for that important November visit is mind-boggling: Prince of Wales and turtle soups, two fish courses including turbot with lobster sauce and salmon steaks, mutton cutlets, breast of partridge (shot on the estate), truffled turkey, saddle of venison, roast sirloin beef, roast pheasant and roast duck.

Then came dessert... Marlborough pudding, orange cake and mixed fruit jelly (wor ryingly served in lead moulds) plus Neapolitan ice-cream. And on top of all of that, as Clara dashed from one dish to the next, her every move came under the supercilious watch of another.

"Normally the kitchen was her domain but a perfectionist French chef was brought in for this occasion," says Kate Ballenger, keeper of the palace and collections at Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation. "Things inevitably became fractious as the French were seen as the culinary masters at the time." Stories such as this revealing the hidden world of Victorian service feature in the immersive new visitor experience, Life Below Stairs, at Blenheim Palace, Oxon.

Providing a glimpse into the day-to-day workings of a grand country house now in its 75th year of public opening, its exhibits include a Victorian kitchen and its adjacent quarters, a guided walk through the delivery room, the ale and wine cellar, the scullery, the kitchen, the butler's pantry and the servants' hall with the housekeeper's desk.

Through immersive soundscapes, visitors will be encouraged to imagine they are a new member of staff from a local village being inducted on their first day of work at the royal bolthole. And the record of Queen Victoria's eldest son's royal banquet - one of several visits he made to the estate - is undoubtedly a highlight.