- Season's greetings and welcome to Audley End House.

My name is Mr. Lincoln,

Butler to the Neville family.

I understand you have come from Mrs. Macy's registry

to lend a hand during the busy Christmas season.

Hm well, you are a good height,

no scars.

Good.

We shall supply you with a livery

but you must supply your own silk stockings and gloves.

I assume you have been well trained.

I saw from your references

you have worked at some high quality establishments,

but Lord and Lady Braybrooke

have a certain way of doing things

which some people might consider old-fashioned.

So, I shall show you the way in which we do things here.

We have, I think, a contract with you

from the 16th of December until the 22nd.

You will be expected to wait on the family,

Lord and Lady Braybrooke, and 10 to 18 other guests.

They will be shooting during the day

so you can expect them to be hungry and not entirely sober,

I'm sure you're used to that.

You may be asked to accompany the ladies

on their Christmas shopping trip to London.

Harrods, Fortnam & Mason and Whiteleys

are frequently visited.

Mrs. Warwick, she's the housekeeper,

feels very strongly on the topic of Christmas shopping,

especially during the sales,

and she will talk to anyone about it.

She feels women are encouraged to buy

but criticised for spending and will bend anyone's ear

who wishes to talk about it,

even at breakfast.

You have been warned.

On the 23rd of December you may leave us

as that is our busy Christmas period over

and we have no need for extra staff.

As besides myself, we already have two footmen here

and a steward's room boy.

You'll be used to serving à la russe I think,

that is the sequential style,

where you offer a guest a dish to their side.

They then serve themselves or indeed refuse the dish

and await the next.

Lord Braybrooke is too set in his ways to adopt the style

even though I believe The Queen now serves in this way.

Mrs. Crocombe, she's the cook,

much prefers serving in this way,

as she only has to prepare one or two dishes at a time.

And it is much more manageable for her and her girls.

But I believe our style is slightly more impressive

and I know she's up to rising to the challenge.

We serve in the more traditional style of à la française.

We lay all the dishes on the table

and the guests then serve themselves and indeed each other.

You will assist me in laying the tablecloth.

We have the bays cloth underneath

and the tablecloth will be pressed by Mrs. Warwick

and we shall lay the table with complete precision.

Here, let me show you.

Now, of course, this is a much smaller table

than in the dining room,

so you have to imagine there will be flowers

and a fern in the centre.

Ah, it's a shame you will not be here for Christmas,

when the christmas tree is brought

into the Great Hall and decorated.

It stands there magnificently from Christmas Eve

until 12th night.

A short while before dinner you will assist me

with setting up for dessert.

Mrs. Warwick will have a plate and stand

of hot house fruits and nuts.

You will lay them out in symmetrical rows

to be on declaration throughout the meal.

You will then assist me with setting up

the place settings for the first course.

Because we serve our meal over four courses,

we do not need to cage the diner

with the cutlery they need for every course.

The first course will be soup to be removed by fish,

which Lord Braybrooke insists upon carving himself.

The soup dishes will be on the sideboard,

the carving knife at the head of the table,

the soup ladle at the bottom.

Every diner shall have a plate and a napkin.

I presume you are used to them being folded

into vulgar shapes such as swans,

but we prefer something far simpler.

Now cutlery.

Spoon,

fish eaters,

knife and fork.

That's it.

Nothing more.

If a diner requests new fresh cutlery,

then you shall provide it on a plate and fresh napkin.

And glasses,

there will be a different wine served with every course

champagne, hock

and claret, for those who desire it.

Do not bring out the port and brandy glasses

until the ladies are retiring near the end of the meal.

Please, take a look.

And now to the table itself,

the cruet-stands and candles

will be set on the table in the normal way.

Please keep as much to the sideboard as possible.

You may be asked to place the decanter on the table,

usually around the third or fourth glass.

Please do so if asked.

Now, here is a menu you can look at, from past years,

so you can see the type of food we might be serving.

Now, you won't read this in any book.

Here is my top tip to you.

Before the start of the meal,

place every dish on the table

before the meal begins.

Then remove.

You can see the crevice on the tablecloth,

so you can place dishes precisely, throughout the meal.

For the first course,

we shall be serving hare soup and Palestine soup.

Hare soup is considered the more masculine soup,

so we place this in front of Lord Braybrooke.

The Palestine soup, served with Jerusalem artichokes,

in front of Lady Braybrooke.

When all diners have had enough

please remove the soup

and replace with the fish.

This is why we call it the remove course.

At the same time as setting the fish,

you must prepare the entree,

which are lobster cutlets,

mutton cutlets with spinach.

When everybody is finished, clear the table

and return the silverware here

and the china to Mrs. Warwick.

You will then set up for the next course

which will be beef and plum pudding,

with the roasts, wigeon and pheasant.

Also with nesselrode pudding and sea kale.

You will then clear the table,

and set up for dessert

with fruit knives and forks and dessert plates.

The ladies will then retire for tea in the drawing room.

The gentlemen will stay for port, brandy and coffee.

You will then leave, but be alert for the bell.

The gentlemen tend to stay for three quarters of an hour.

They will then rejoin the ladies in the drawing room.

They will play charades and you may be asked to play a tree

but don't play up to it.

Just do as you are told.

Now, just to note,

we do like to serve traditional Christmas food

throughout the season.

You may be used to seeing plum pudding

served as Christmas pudding,

but we like to serve as intended, with beef.

We also have turkey, mince pies,

game served with legs and head on.

You will eat here too, of course.

Mrs. Crocombe makes great use of the cold meats

and I hope you like rabbit,

as there is a lot to go around the lower table

where you will be sitting.

Well, I think that's quite enough for now.

I have to decant some wine and speak to the spirit merchant.

Andrew will show you where to sleep.

I will see you after luncheon

to discuss how we clean the silverware.

(jolly music)