The country house at war

It might be assumed that the owners of Britain's country houses weren't hugely affected by the Second World War, and that they continue to live in luxury in their vast estates. However, as Judith S. Lewis explains to Lauren Good in this episode of the History Extra podcast, that wasn't the case. From upper class women being conscripted to stories of great loss, they explore the roles that country houses and their occupants really played in the war effort. And just before we start today's conversation, you might be interested in joining us for a live episode of the History Extra podcast. We're going to be recording next Thursday, the twenty second of October, to mark the upcoming home release of Pressure, the gripping untold story of the efforts to chart the weather on D-Day. We've teamed up with Studio Canal for a special event at the Royal Society of Arts in London, featuring David Haig, the writer of Pressure, in conversation with Catherine Ross, archive manager at the Met Office. Tickets are free and are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

For full details and to put your place now, check out the episode description. But for now it's over to Lauren and Judith with today's episode. Hi, Judah. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. Your book, The Country House at War, a story of loss, reinvention, and the birth of new Britain, explores how country houses in Britain were repurposed during the Second World War. Let's first set the scene, if we can. At the cusp of the war, what role did country houses have in society? They're Mostly big houses for rich people. So that doesn't necessarily mean they have much of a role. Obviously, the aristocracy wasn't as politically important as it had been for centuries, and they know it, some are. One of the houses I talk about in the book.

Is Hatfield House still a center of conservative politics? You may have noticed though that I try to Have a very broad definition of country houses, so that I include places that are not stately homes. But Some of them are the sort of houses that middle class people

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