Who's been sleeping in my house?

I had a birthday recently, and one the the presents Dave gave me was a DVD of a TV series called 'Who's been sleeping in my house?'. I had been vaguely aware it was on TV a while back but I never got around to watching it. But Dave had noticed it and thought that it sounded like the kind of thing I would like. I do love history, and especially this type of history that focuses on people and includes oral history.

Each episode, the presenter (Adam Ford, an archaeologist) takes a look at an old house and tries to discover its history. There's always a bit of a mystery about the house that needs to be discovered - 'why does that path lead into the fence and then stop?', 'where is the cellar that no-one has been able to find for the last 60 years?' etc. Along the way the archaeologist discovers some interesting facts and puts together a picture of the people who once lived in the house. There have been some beautiful stories uncovered and I have cried at the end of almost every episode.

And what's been really delightful is the way the rest of the family have totally got into it as well. What began as show that 'we'll all watch it together because it's mum's birthday and this is her present' has become something that the kids are begging the watch whenever we have 'family time'. It's definitely not aimed at kids, but the combination of history, mystery and good storytelling has hooked them - which makes me very happy to see.

It's definitely one to to watch with them though as some of the stories need to be talked about (people who have died and sad stories that get unearthed, for example). And while the series mainly highlights the fact that people come and go, life is fleeting and you certainly can't take your house with you, I've been surprised again and again by the way the current owners of the houses seem to resist this reality - quite a few make statements about how they are always going to stay healthy so they never leave the house. or how they and 'arrived in heaven' when they bought the house. In the midst of all the intrigue and beauty and sentiment, we've found it's given us a good chance to talk through the inevitability of death and the danger of worshipping house and possessions.

If you like history or architecture you might like this too - I recommend it!