The kitchens always fascinate me, perhaps because I know that's likely
where I would have ended up. Either that or as the wench that lights the
fire before anyone gets up. No beautiful carpets here, stone flagstones are the order of the day. You will also notice that the corridor to the kitchens flanks a courtyard and is separated from the house.
The food had to travel across this open area to the dining room. The idea of course is to prevent the main house from catching fire as well as keep cooking odours contained where the inhabitants couldn't smell them.
This configuration was put in place after a fire destroyed the original kitchens in 1778. Lord Boringdon saw it as an opportunity to rationalize the domestic arrangements. He had the brew house and the laundry, which had been destroyed in the fire built as a separate block away from the house. I do wonder how warm the food was after it travelled outside in the winter, but I expect they had food warmers in the dining room. You can also see part of the orignial house here in this courtyard, and area likely never seen by guests and so not rendered like the frontages we saw earlier.
More to come on the working part of the house next time. Until then Happy Rambles.