Ham sandwiches, gooseberries and tinned tomato juice for Nicola and Patrick's picnic lunch in Falconer's Lure. No plastic bottles of water or tins of fizz in those days. I always wonder if the gooseberries needed sugar or if Mrs Bertie had done the necessary.

I love the rivalry between Nellie and Mrs Bertie and the idea of Nellie's swank with sponge cake. How does she manage to produce a batch of scones in "nothing like half an hour"? And cookies too, if I remember rightly.