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Wrote Lady Tweedsmuir, the ideal country house party would consist of: "In a gathering of people selected by a really clever hostess, there might be one or two Cabinet Ministers who welcomed the opportunity of quiet conversation, or there might be a Viceroy of high official from a far-off corner of the Empire, anxious to make someone in the government of the day realize a little more the difficulties of a particular experiment that Britain had delegated him to carry out. These parties often included a diplomat home on leave, a painter, and almost certainly a musician who played to some of the company in the evenings. Besides these eminent people there were usually a sprinkling of women famous for their beauty, or wit, or both, who either gave the conversations a sparkling turn, or were wise enough not to interrupt a good talk, and who accordingly sat statuesque and flowerlike." (Perkin, pg. 74)
More often than not, however, House Parties were merely excuses for adulterous affairs. It was quite common for a husband to attend a party without his wife, and for a wife to attend a party without his wife. In some houses, a special bell rang shortly before dawn, to allow guests to return to their own rooms before the servants were up. (MacColl, pg. 360)
