We went to Gainsborough Old Hall today as we do at least once a year. This was Jess's choice on a day too wet for an outdoor visit and requiring only a short journey so that she didn't have to leave the puppy with Josh for too long. Josh was spending the day building a mews for the Harris Hawk he is getting shortly and Jess felt she couldn't trust him to concentrate sufficiently on watching Rowan who is at the stage of knowing when he needs to go out, but can't hold on for very long if nobody notices when he asks. He is also too young to leave unwatched outdoors as he has no sense of what is safe yet: moreover he hasn't had his injections.

I have always been fond of the old hall, though like so many places they have increasingly tidied it. I think that here it is a good thing although a bit of me regrets the bicycles stored in the attic giving way to historically accurate reconstructions of particular periods in the hall's development. On the other hand in its precarious and under-funded old days the hall was distinctly grubby whereas today the housekeeping is excellent. This I find is pretty widespread - nearly everywhere has a level of polish which was unusual when I started my historic house visiting as a young child over forty years ago. One thing I particularly remember is house after house with shredded silk curtains and chair seats with the stuffing spilling out - and the awful loos and scruffy caffs.

No, today is a distinct improvement.