Author(s): Ian Allen

Art History

Staggering statistics, strange facts and all kinds of surprising stuff from the National Trust. Haunted houses, baffling objects, bizarre buildings and wonderfully eccentric characters.

Britain's National Trust looks after hundreds of historic houses and thousands of square miles of coast and countryside. So it has more than its fair share of staggering statistics, strange facts and surprising stuff - all of which is gathered in this little book.



You'll find a guide to the best haunted houses, secret passages and hidden rooms. There are intriguing items (a cucumber straightener; a two-tailed ferret), bizarre buildings (a revolving shed; a 16-sided house), odd jobs ('Squirrel Ranger'; 'Dust Consultant') and wonderfully eccentric characters (including an aristocrat who converted his car to spray perfume from its exhaust). Marvel at how many cups of tea the NT serves a year (nearly 5 million) and how high the hedges are at Powis Castle (14.5 metres - it takes one poor man 10 weeks to trim them).



Whether you're a lover of the strange-but-true side of history or a collector of impressive trivia, it's all here.