Britain & Ireland

Home ground, which means I am harder on it than on anywhere else and have still not got to Glasgow.

The small houses here run on timed tickets released a set number of weeks ahead, and the good hours go first. Put the release date in the diary rather than the visit; the visit follows from it.

Winter is the season, whatever the guidebooks say. Low light suits candlelit rooms and painted farmhouses far better than July, and the queue in front of you halves.

Two of the nine I have not been to — Glasgow and Dublin — and I would rather say so than write them up from a catalogue. They are on the list, and the list is honest.