ARE you in the habit of polishing your best china and putting out your finest crockery for visitors?

Imagine the dusters you’d get through if you had hundreds of collectables to look after, and your visitors numbered many thousands per year.

This is the responsibility of Caroline Schofield, mansion and collections manager at Tatton Park’s Georgian mansion house.

She will be sharing her experiences of taking care of the ceramics, paintings, silverware, furniture, books and other items unique to the Cheshire stately home’s collection at a lunchtime lecture next week.

Taking place in the mansion’s entrance hall, Caroline’s talk will highlight some of the treasures under her wing, including those permanently on display and others not often seen by the public.

She will also share her own personal favourites and the histories of these pieces not always experienced by the everyday visitor.

Caroline says: “There are so many favourite pieces it’s difficult to know where to start.

“The lecture lunch is one way of sharing them with our visitors.”

Part of her job is to ensure the collection is kept to the highest conservation standards, as set by the National Trust, and that many of these items are kept on display for the public to enjoy.

Amongst her favourite are the celebrated views of Venice, by Italian painter Canaletto.