We all know the slightly wild-eyed look of the fancy dinner party host as they greet arriving guests. So, spare a thought for royal cook Clara Dolley who, in 1897, had to prepare scores of sumptuous dishes at Blenheim Palace for a shooting weekend attended by the then Prince and Princess of Wales. The menu alone for that important November visit is mind-boggling: Prince of Wales and turtle soups, two fish courses including turbot with lobster sauce and salmon steaks, mutton cutlets, breast of partridge (shot on the estate) truffled turkey, saddle of venison, roast sirloin beef, roast pheasant and roast duck.

Then came dessert... Marlborough pudding, orange cake and mixed fruit jelly (worryingly served in lead moulds) plus Neapolitan ice-cream. And on top of all of that, as Clara dashed from one dish to the next, her every move came under the supercilious watch of another. "Normally the kitchen was her domain but a perfectionist French chef was brought in for this occasion," says Kate Ballenger, Keeper of the Palace and Collections at Blenheim Palace Heritage Foundation. "Things inevitably became fractious as the French were seen as the culinary masters at the time."

Stories such as this revealing the hidden world of Victorian service feature in the immersive new visitor experience, Life Below Stairs, at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. Providing a glimpse into the day-to-day workings of a grand country house now in its 75th year of public opening, its exhibits include a Victorian Kitchen and its adjacent quarters, a guided walk through the Delivery Room, the Ale & Wine Cellar, the Scullery, the Kitchen, the Butler's Pantry and the Servants Hall with the Housekeeper's Desk.

Through immersive soundscapes, visitors will be encouraged to imagine they are a new member of staff from a local village being inducted on their first day of work at the royal bolthole. And the record of Queen Victoria's eldest son's royal banquet - one of several visits he made to the estate over years - is undoubtedly a highlight.

"Normally there would have been around 40 servants working at Blenheim but obviously with royal visits, they would have brought a lot of their own staff with them as well so there would have been around 100 staff working," explains Kate.

"We have a record of the hall boy, Gerald Horn, whose job it would have been to greet the guests, describing it 'as the greatest occasion of my career'. We know from photographs the Prince of Wales turned up in military uniform which only added to the pomp and mystique of the occasion."

Julian Fellowes' Downton Abbey series and his satirical 2001 comedy Gosford Park, about a murder following a shooting weekend at an English country house, have added to the intrigue of the upstairs-downstairs divide in recent years. As we understand it, just the ring of a bell and someone would magically appear, to grant you your every wish be that some tea, a hot bath or stoking of the fire. But while life above stairs was heavenly, life below stairs was arduous, poorly paid and with very long hours.

Legend has it that Blenheim Palace's staff could tell which service bell was ringing simply by its tone, without even needing to look at the room to which it corresponded - no mean feat considering the iconic bell system, still partially in use today, is made up of no less than 50 bells. Maids and footmen could be roused from their sleep by the bells installed in their rooms, at their master's beck and call whatever the hour.

Servants performed a variety of duties, some more exacting and unusual than others. One of the trickiest jobs was ensuring a soufflé didn't collapse while travelling with the family to a country shoot. They were also expected to unblock drains or become invisible when the Duke was passing, flattening themselves against walls and blending with the wallpaper.

Perhaps the most nerve-wracking task was to respond when Lancelot Hemingford, known as "the Wicked Duke", rang the bell in his laboratory. The bell existed but no one knew where the laboratory was. It was used by George Charles Spencer-Churchill for his personal experiments and thought to be in a converted bedroom but its exact location remains unknown.

When the Siege of Antwerp broke out in October 1914, a young estate clerk called Arthur Hine, whose day job was to draw plans and plot land on the estate, ended up becoming a spy for Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty - he was dispatched to Antwerp on a motorcycle to gather information for the intelligence department. Sadly, he suffered shellshock and never returned to his job at Blenheim. Life below stairs at Blenheim typically involved six-and-half-day weeks with staff often starting at 6am and not finishing until 11pm.

Tasks included keeping the house and grounds immaculate, caring for horses and carriages, cooking and serving meals, raising children, sewing, washing, and providing creature comforts including coal for the fireplaces, water in the bedrooms, and food and drink whenever it was required. Servants had to use the back stairs and side entrances so that they wouldn't inadvertently come across the people to whom they ministered.

The work could be back breaking and was poorly paid, especially for women.In 1890, for instance, scullery maid Grace Smith earned £5 to £9 a year compared with butler John Farrence who took home between £40 and £80, albeit he required extensive knowledge of wines as a palace sommelier. Servants were generally well fed although male servants tended to receive better portions than women. "Although life in service was undoubtedly hard it was often a job for life and in many ways a good one," says Kate. "You had bed and board and there were career opportunities to move up the strict hierarchy if you worked hard.

"The work was much less dangerous than working in a factory in the city and the Duke and Duchess cared for their staff and helped out local poorer families. Often generations of families worked at the house." One such example is a Mr Scroggs, a gardener on the estate in the 1850s. As late as 2010, his ancestor, another Mr Scroggs, worked in the visitor centre. Apart from more senior staff who had their own quarters, most servants shared a large dormitory room-style bedroom in the attic, one for men and one for women.

Although relationships between staff were inevitable most were simply too tired by the end of the day to go creeping along the corridor to the other bedroom after lights out. Says Kate: "Servants could join a house in their early teens, mostly from Woodstock and the surrounding area, and sometimes as young as ten, and then stay their whole working lives. "It was a tight knit community. You could be sacked for not turning up to work but then you wouldn't get a reference and wouldn't be able to work in service again."

The launch of the Below Stairs exhibition coincides with Blenheim Palace's most ambitious restoration initiative to date - a historic roof project and all-new ticketed rooftop view platform, which provides breathtaking views over the Estate including the famous Column of Victory. It is hoped the pivotal £12million project helps the UNESCO World heritage site stay resilient for future generations. Designed by architect Sir John Vanbrugh (also of Castle Howard fame), Blenheim Palace was built in 1705 for John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough.

Set in more than 2,000 acres of Capability Brown-landscaped parkland and designed in the Baroque style, it was financed by Queen Anne, on behalf of a grateful nation, following the first Duke of Marlborough's triumph over the French in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Today, it houses one of the most important and extensive collections in Europe, which includes portraits, furniture, sculpture and tapestries and is home to the 12th Duke, James Spencer-Churchill, Marquess of Blandford.

Blenheim Palace is also the birthplace of one of Britain's most famous leaders, Sir Winston Churchill, and it was his father who described the vista on entering the Estate from the village of Woodstock as the 'finest view in England'. Visitors can also visit The Churchill Exhibition. Kate adds: "We are very fortunate that Churchill's parents were visiting Blenheim for a ball when she went into labour and he was born here."

Growing up, Churchill attended boarding school and would return to Blenheim for the holidays. He also chose to propose to his wife Clementine within the Palace grounds. "At Blenheim, I took two very important decisions: to be born and to marry," he said. "I am content with the decision I took on both occasions."

• To book tickets to Life Below Stairs, visit