THE GREAT BARN AT WANBOROUGH

Nearly 40 years ago I lived in a house opposite this barn and took no interest whatsoever in it. It was a bit more ramshackle and just a working part of the estate then. In fact it was built in 1388 and is now proudly maintained as part of Surrey's heritage, so Mum and I paid a visit.

Sitting out of sight behind the pillar on the right was this amazing woman, talking to people, though now 94, deaf and nearly blind, and selling copies of her memoir, which I bought and am looking forward to reading.

Extras are the house where I lived - very much tarted up now. When I shared it with a friend there was no fence, gate, garage or drive (or central heating) and I parked my ancient VW Beetle on the grass beside the house; the Barn from outside the house and a Victorian postbox set into the side of the Barn, probably at the instigation of Gladstone's private secretary who lived in the next-door Manor House, which later became a training centre for SOE agents during WW2. And there was I, living among all that history, entirely unaware of it.