Dry Rot and Daffodils: Life in a National Trust House by Mary Mackie
This sequel to Cobwebs and Cream Teas continues the story of the author's seven years of living in and running Felbrigg Hall, a National Trust property in north Norfolk. Until Edwardian times an army of servants kept a great house in order, for the benefit of one family and its guests. Nearly a century later, a handful of people provide much the same service for thousands of summer visitors to mansions which now belong to the nation. As the only permanent house-staff at Felbrigg Hall, the author and her husband might one day be found crawling through a void between floors, covered in cobwebs and dead flies, finding dried mice and bats in inaccessible places; and the next day restraining over-enthusiastic visitors - and their children - or frantically preparing to receive royalty.