Robert Taylor arrived as a footman at Highclere in 1937. One of the first entries in his diaries described following Smith the Butler, keys jangling, along the long length of the bottom corridor of the Castle to be shown the china cupboards: this set was for breakfast; the Bretby set for tea; the Chesterfield silver for dinner and so on. He was then given the keys. But that was just one cupboard and one set of (quite important) keys.

This propensity for keys continues today. Diana our housekeeper has keys and key cupboards which are mostly for the top two floors. Les and Robert have other keys and key cupboards, mainly for the basement level. John, our Castle Manager, has drawers full of keys. Pat, the Estate supervisor, has two large overflowing key cupboards. Luis, who runs banqueting, has keys, James on the farm has keys and so it goes on.  The Castle has hundreds of rooms in itself as well as all the outbuildings and before thinking about cottages and gates. The main aim is that every set of keys is replaced in the same place in the same cupboard.

I tend to put some of them somewhere safe – under a carpet or flower pot perhaps -if I don’t have time to return them properly which works quite well until Paul the Gardener redoes a tub of flowers.

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