THEGOOD WAYS
From sourdough bread to skimmed milk, we look at everyday items being used by a heritage charity to keep its castles and palaces spotless ahead of reopening
WHEN you look after seven palaces, 47 assorted grand houses and 66 castles, you learn a bit about ancient cleaning methods.
Now English Heritage has been putting our ancestors’ housekeeping tips to the test by getting their properties ready to reopen to the public using the same Victorian techniques.
Not for them the trip to BM Stores and a giant Mrs Hinch-style haul of chemical sprays, abrasive pastes and microfibre cloths, the organisation, dedicated to preserving England’s historic buildings and landscapes, has swapped Flash with bleach for milk, bread and tea leaves.
And the results have been surprisingly positive.
Amber Xavier-Rowe, English Heritage’s head of collections conservation, said: “Although we may not recommend some of the more bizarre tips, housekeepers of the past were often spot-on with their methods, despite relatively little scientific knowledge.”
Staff experimented with skimmed milk on the stone floors of Brodsworth Hall, a Victorian pile in South Yorkshire. “It is quite subtle but it comes up really nice and we will probably end up using it in the future,” Amber said.
Unlike modern products designed to make cleaning quick and easy, the milk had to be applied with a scrubbing brush, rather than rubbed over the floor with a mop. On the positive side, she added: “It doesn’t smell.”
She also raided the kitchen for bread to wipe down dirty wallpaper.
Amber said: “It need to be fresh white bread – stale bread would be too abrasive.”
BREAD FOR WALLPAPER
Buying a sourdough loaf to smarten up the wallpaper might be effective but it’s a spendy solution. (It also creates a lot of crumbs.) Modern alternatives include using a duster over a sweeping brush or the brush attachment of the vacuum cleaner. There’s also a product called wallpaper dough that sounds suspiciously bread-like. It’s a kind of putty that lifts off dust without damaging the paper. MILK FOR STONE FLOORS English Heritage staff tried full-fat, semi-skimmed and skimmed and found that the lowest fat was the most successful on a stone floor. It’s alkaline – stone must not be cleaned with anything acidic such as vinegar or lemon juice. There are plenty of commercial stone cleaning products available that do not need to be stored in the fridge.
CHAMOIS FOR GLASS
Before there was microfibre, there was chamois, a soft, porous cloth that’s great for polishing. The Victorian version got its name from the chamois goat. Today, chamois cloths are made from sheepskin. These days there are dense microfibre cloths that also do an excellent job on dirty windows, plus a dazzling array of sprays for those who don’t trust hot water to do the job.
BEESWAX AND TURPS FOR WOODEN FLOORS
The housemaids who used beeswax and turps on a wooden floor were basically making their own polish. It certainly works but in the 21st century it makes sense to buy some things ready mixed. There’s now a whole industry around keeping wooden and laminate floors spotless, from Scandinavian eco-products for green households to mops that fit disposable wipes for those who favour convenience over everything else.