It is an era revived with the popularity of the TV dramas Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs.

But now, there is a chance to find out what life was really like 'below stairs' in the great houses of the land such as Blickling Hall near Aylsham.

Later this month Downton Abbey and Upstairs Downstairs TV fans will be able hear about the lifestyle below stairs in a north Norfolk stately home in a unique lecture.

Housekeeper Mary Pitcher and scullery maid Kathleen Watts will be putting on clean caps and pinnies to tell an audience in Aylsham about their work at nearby Blickling Hall, covering a period from the Victorian era to the present day.

The pair will be played by Bunty Gotts and Liz Scott, who are volunteers at the National Trust property and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the hall's history.

They belong to an enthusiastic group called The Diggers – because they enjoy nothing more than 'digging' into history – who regularly dress in costume and recreate scenes from the hall's past, spanning Jacobean times to the 1930s.

Bunty and Liz will be baking Mothers' Day buns in Blickling's kitchens this Sunday and preparing seasonal treats there on Easter Day.

Sue Price, visitor services and engagement at Blickling, said the baking smells helped bring the hall to life. Living, costumed interpretation was growing in popularity and there was also an increasing interest in life below stairs, she added.

Staff were waiting to see whether the phenomenal success of the Upstairs Downstairs series last year brought in even more people anxious to see how their forebears had lived.

'They're always surprised by the long hours domestic staff had to work – up before 6am to light the fires before the family got up, and then on-call all day long,' she said.

A popular attraction at Blickling was the telephone which visitors could pick up to hear Slo Wadlow, the last cook at the stately home, reminiscing about her work there in the days of the sweet-toothed Lord Lothian, the hall's last owner, who died in 1940.

As part of the evening which includes Liz and Bunty's talk, there will also be a chance to discover more about Slow Food Aylsham which promotes local food and is part of an international organisation with a worldwide membership of over 100,000.

The evening, in the town's Friendship Hall on Saturday, April 16, at 7.30pm, is free with light refreshments available and a free prize draw for a basket of produce from Aylsham Farmers' Market.

Entry is by ticket only, available from Salad Days fruit and vegetable stall in Aylsham Market Place, or phone 07970 077 506. The hall is on the corner of Mill Lane and Cawston Road.