What one has never understood about British homes
Is the thing about corridors, walls and doors.
Take the Bucket's house; here on this side of pond that first floor would have likely been opened up (no wall creating a corridor) leaving the living and dining room areas open.
Even on that standard of lower to middle class homes "two up and two down" you still have entryway into a narrow corridor with front parlor and dining/backroom walled off. Seems rather claustrophobic to one.
What one liked about the house in "As Time Goes By" is at least they opened things up a bit for the main rooms. Though that back kitchen seems rather cramped. Have had debates with others and think that at one time the kitchen was below stairs, but was moved to first floor and carved out of space.
Lionel and Jean home was in Holland Park (or Shepard's Bush depending upon how you want to look at things), and was likely built as a home for middle to upper class. Either way in it's day there would have been servants something that began to wane post WWI and certainly WWII. So in order to get hot meals on table and save going up and down all those stairs many older homes moved kitchens upstairs.
Now we do have the other famous example of a Holland Park home; Eddie Monsoon's place in Ab Fab. Despite being ever so glam and fab Eds left her kitchen in the basement where it was when house was built. Hence nearly *all* the action in Ab Fab takes place in Eddie's kitchen, which in real life would have been very inconvenient.
Is the thing about corridors, walls and doors.
Take the Bucket's house; here on this side of pond that first floor would have likely been opened up (no wall creating a corridor) leaving the living and dining room areas open.
Even on that standard of lower to middle class homes "two up and two down" you still have entryway into a narrow corridor with front parlor and dining/backroom walled off. Seems rather claustrophobic to one.
What one liked about the house in "As Time Goes By" is at least they opened things up a bit for the main rooms. Though that back kitchen seems rather cramped. Have had debates with others and think that at one time the kitchen was below stairs, but was moved to first floor and carved out of space.
Lionel and Jean home was in Holland Park (or Shepard's Bush depending upon how you want to look at things), and was likely built as a home for middle to upper class. Either way in it's day there would have been servants something that began to wane post WWI and certainly WWII. So in order to get hot meals on table and save going up and down all those stairs many older homes moved kitchens upstairs.
Now we do have the other famous example of a Holland Park home; Eddie Monsoon's place in Ab Fab. Despite being ever so glam and fab Eds left her kitchen in the basement where it was when house was built. Hence nearly *all* the action in Ab Fab takes place in Eddie's kitchen, which in real life would have been very inconvenient.
