black oak panelling and beams of this cosy apartment, with its
deep window recesses, readily carries the mind back to the time
when its royal inmate wiled away the weary hours by cooking his
meals and amusing himself as best he could--indeed a hardship
for one, such as he, so fond of outdoor exercise.

Close to the fireplace are two small, square secret panels, at one
time used for the secretion of sacred books or vessels, valuables
or compromising deeds, but pointed out to visitors as a kind of
buttery hatch through which Charles II. received his food. The
King by day, also according to local tradition, is said to have
kept up communication with his friends in the house by means
of a string suspended in the kitchen chimney. That apartment is
immediately beneath, and has a fireplace of huge dimensions.
An old Tudor doorway leading into this part of the house is said
to have been screened from observation by a load of hay.

Now for the hiding-place. Between this and "my Lady Wyndham's
chamber" (the aforesaid panelled room that was kept exclusively
for Charles's use) was a small ante-room, long since demolished,
its position being now occupied by a rudely constructed staircase,
from the landing of which the hiding-place is now entered. The
small secret apartment is approached through a triangular hole
in the wall, something after the fashion of that at Ufton Court;
but when one has squeezed through this aperture he will find
plenty of room to stretch his limbs. The hole, which was close
up against the rafters of the roof of the staircase landing,
when viewed from the inside of the apartment, is situated at the
base of a blocked-up stone Tudor doorway. Beneath the boards of
the floor--as at Boscobel and Moseley--is an inner hiding-place,