Strawberry Hill was a good choice. It's undergoing renovation right now, so there's a slightly raw feel to the place. All the wall coverings have been stripped off and you can see the panelling underneath - there are carpenters' measurements in pencil on the panels, hundreds of years ago, as clear as the day they were written, and in the Long Gallery a bit of stuff and a list of names written in chalk.
And then we went visiting some friends.