Please help with detail for coursework?

Posted by admin on November 23rd, 2011

I'm doing a short scene involved in a manor house (set in 1500's.) my MC isn't from that era, he has been transported there through an old family painting -- it's been in the ancestry since medieval times...

Anyway, I'm just wondering if I've covered the basics for detail. Would you add anything to this list:

A rectangular, H shape structure, painted black and white (the colour most buildings were back in those days.)

A humanoid stone fountain in the rosebush, pine tree garden, leading to a nearby spring. the manor house has acres of land, with ridge and furrow fields and dense woodland forests all around the property.

Inside the property, I've done it three-stories high. the first floor has a kitchen with hardwood worktops, stone ovens, twelve kitchen staff, washing buckets, pots and pans, grinder (used for butter and other things.) the dining room is next to the kitchen, seperated by an archway in the wall. here there is a table fit for ten, ten timber chairs, candle chandeleirs on the roof, and bowls of fruit on the table.

Upstairs I have the servants quarters, followed by the master bedroom (kingsized bed with red silk curtains, a sturdy pole to hang clothes upon, a bookshelf, wardrobe and some oak chests.)

I also have the lavetry (toilets) and bathroom for the lord of the land (the common workers would use a grimy, dirty, dicease ridden room where rats would frequently visit.

Can you think of anything else I should mention for describing a medieval manor house in a story? Like, should I add more detail to the surrounding fields and meadows? or should I perhaps describe the architecture more? or possibly even describe the interior more?

I am uncomfortable with this time period; I'm writing it because my creative writing class at University assigned us all individual projects. I hate writing in this timeline of England, yet I have to in order to get top marks. Thus, I am trying to cover all aspects of the medieval timeline, and description of their lifestyles and homes.