Anybody watching FRontier House - they're showing it on the BBC over these weeks, and I see it's already gone out on PBS in the States.

Fascinating stuff. For us it follows on from a series of related programmes - the 1900 House, the 1940s house and the Edwardian Country House. This is much the most demanding for the participants.

I wonder how long before they'll get round to the 1960s house?

But what surprised me was how the people in frontier house seemed surprised at the spartan nature of frontier living. Even reading Little House on the Prairie you surely couldn't avoid realising it was a grim knife-edge life in terms of creature comforts. But I suppose part of basis of recruiting families for it would involve avoiding people who'd fit in to well - or get on too well with each other for that matter.