I used up one of the days of holiday I had to use before the end of the year and we went to Audley End. It was late in the season for the gardens, but there was still colour in the parterre, nature forced into unnatural lines and arcs. A fountain fitfully and thinly spouted.

The house is impressive, some stunning rooms. A pea green bare room where once they could dine and admire sunsets over the landscaped vista. This room like others had fake doors, here added for the sake of symmetry. Another room with red soporific silk wall hangings. Rooms full of stuffed animals, a raptor forever clasping a rabbit in its talons. A marquetry topped table with a complex diagram telling of all the kinds of wood used in it. A nursery the only room photographs were allowed. A gallery of coal.

We went on the pantry tour which told of Mr Lincoln, a butler to the landed gentry here. Round the pantry was a display of the silver, including a large tankard with a hundred coins on it. In those days the servants were supposed to be little more than robots, at the call of a bell all the hours of the day, not having a life outside. Mr Lincoln on the census was declared as single yet managed to have a wife and sons.

The staff were knowledgeable and friendly. There were plenty of cars in the car park, but it didn't feel crowded out. Happily we avoided a school party who were there too.