After going to see my mother's gravestone in Histon Virginia and I then drove up to Stamford to see Burghley House, only slightly held up by a A14 stop start standstill. It was a dull day with dollops of dampness, not good for the camera and I hadn't got the batteries charged properly either.

The size of the place intimidated us, we had to drive round it before we could drive into the estate, and then walk a fair distance between the different attractions. The food perhaps wasn't as good as a National Trust place, but the Gardens of Surprise was splendid, a set of artistic water fountain themed displays. There were devices you could actuate, trapped doorways which you risked a soaking going through, and eerie Roman busts which moved when you weren't looking.

The modern sculptures we mostly passed on. The house was over opulent - so many rooms had a surfeit of paintings or painted walls and ceilings. The kitchen impressed with the array of copper pans and dishes, and also a collection of turtle skulls marking the times costly turtle soup had been served. The ranks of bells marking which room a servant should be dispatched were there to see. The chapel in the house was a bit unusual, more like a meeting room than an old chapel as I was expecting.

Not so many people there, the school party were on a different route through to us.