Mrs Thomas, 56, went back to the country house along with former kitchen boy Arthur Allen to mark the opening of four rooms which have never been seen by the public.

The hall, which was built in 1865, is now owned by English Heritage, but until the 1980s it was the home of the Grant Dalton family.

Mrs Thomas worked at the house alongside her mother Constance Douglas, who was the last housekeeper, and the pair struggled to stay on top of the cleaning.

At that time, Sylvia Grant Dalton lived there alone, but more than 50 rooms still required a weekly dust and bedrooms had to be prepared for guests.

"When I first came to work at the hall, I can remember my mother telling me that I had to address Mrs Grant Dalton as madam," said Mrs Thomas, of South Kirkby, Pontefract.

"I was in my 30s and I remember saying there was no way I was doing that, but as soon as I met her I realised that there was no alternative.

"She was a lady in every sense of the word, the kind of woman you just don't get these days. It was a fabulous place to work."

English Heritage spent £4m in the 1990s conserving Brodsworth Hall, north of Doncaster, and describes it as a unique "time capsule".

All the rooms are displayed exactly as they were left in the 1980s meaning they combine original Victorian grandeur with later 20th century fittings.

Two of the four rooms to be opened for the first time are upstairs bedrooms which were used by Mrs Grant Dalton before she died in 1988.

They remain decorated in a Victorian style, but also include electric fires, books from the 1980s and copies of magazines including Paris Match.

Meanwhile, curators have also opened the kitchen and scullery to offer a glimpse of downstairs life, a life which Mr Allen remembers well.

The 76-year-old, who now lives in Armthorpe, Doncaster, used to peel potatoes at the scullery table and skinned rabbits shot by the family.

He said: "I came to work here when I left school at 14 and got £1 a week, which I had to give to my mother.

"We lived in, and I shared a room by the front door with a lad called John, who was the pantry boy, and three daschunds called Max, Wanda and Bobby.

"Every morning I had to polish the kitchen floor with Red Cardinal and clean the fireplaces. It was hard work, but it was a good life."

Curator Crosby Stevens said the memories of Mr Allen and other former staff had proved invaluable in helping to tell the story of the house.

She added: "Everything we removed from the rooms in the early 1990s during the conservation project was kept safe, and we also took photos of how they were left.

"Because of that we have been able to put things back where they were found, even down to a bar of soap and a nailbrush."

Brodsworth Hall reopens to the public this Friday. For more information call 01302 722598.