Longstanding readers may recall my account of Auchinleck House, above, which I penned back in 2013 after staying in this fascinating Ayrshire house for a few days in the depths of winter. In 2014 I became a member of the housekeeping team at Auchinleck, helping to care for James Boswell’s former home until March this year when I took up a new role with The Landmark Trust as their Properties Assistant in the south of England.

After being lucky enough to experience many of the charity’s wonderful buildings in the past few years, winter is still my favourite time to inhabit history, and I recently shared this enthusiasm in a blog for the Trust. Read my recommendations for low-season escapism, from country house to cottage, on the Landmark Trust website.