An Old British House

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Good morning everyone and welcome to Stonebridge House. My name is David and I’m your tour guide. This morning I’m going to show you around this wonderful 19th century house which was the home of the Reynolds family for more than 150 years until 1975 when it became a national museum. We are now standing in the main lobby of the house where you can see the magnificent wooden staircase that leads up to the bedrooms.

The house servants used to sleep in the attic but they would have used a different staircase to this one. Now if we go through to the dining room you will be able to see a fine collection of paintings. George Reynolds was a big fan of traditional art as we can see here today. George came from a military family, surprisingly however he became a lawyer even though his father had wanted him to be an officer in the army.

His younger brother also rebelled and became a teacher. Now the Reynolds family is famous for many things but probably most of all for the many family tragedies. The family has had more than its fair share of early deaths. George’s son Michael died from cancer, his wife died while giving birth to their daughter Emily and George’s brother had a fatal horse riding accident.

George himself always suffered from a weak heart and he died of a heart attack at the age of 52.