Order in the house: Behind the scenes at Harewood

APPROACHING Harewood House from the front drive on a misty winter's day offers a few surprises for the unsuspecting driver. For a start, the drive itself is a patchwork of repaired tarmac. There are diggers and rollers repairing the car park and it appears that vast tracts of turf are being laid (600 square metres, to be precise).

If it seems that huge amounts of work are taking place outside, then what is occurring inside is little short of phenomenal. Up at the house, Anna Robinson, the head of house and collections, is maniacally busy and in the space of five minutes dispels any suspicions that the winter months merely offer an excuse for Harewood staff to jet off en masse to sunnier climes.

The house however does get something of a holiday. Says Miss Robinson :"We let the house relax. The carpets are unrolled and the curtains are left to rest – and that includes the curtains on the state bed, which are allowed to hang down." But if the curtains hang loose, Harewood's team of housekeeping staff certainly do not.

This is a house where the idea of spring cleaning involves ensuring that the 447 light bulbs are working (they have switched over entirely to energy saving bulbs), or that 10,000 books are dusted and hundreds of copper pans in the kitchen are polished. "Everything at Harewood has to be perfect," says Anna.

This is, after all, a royal household.

All of this is Miss Robinson's responsibility and she is responsible for compiling the conservation plan on an annual basis. To make it all happen she has an experienced team including a squad of four housekeepers headed by Jayne Barnhill who says: "The winter months provide us with an opportunity to sort the house out before we open again.

This year there are no major works, such as rooms being redecorated, so we can get even more cleaning done." It hasn't all been plain sailing.

"When we went into the state gallery, we discovered that a small section of ceiling cornicing had dropped behind a renaissance painting," says Miss Robinson. The painting was untouched, making this ultimately a small incident that had the potential for disaster. "The scaffolding went up.

We stabilised the area, surveyed it, and found another piece of decorative plasterwork that was unstable. So now two sections are gone and waiting to be repaired." Providentially the paintings remain unscathed.

The ornate ceiling in the state gallery was originally put up in the 1760s by Robert Adam.

It is the largest in the house and Miss Robinson believes it originally took 18 months to install. "Never in my time have we known of a problem with the ceiling, but it will be remounted by the relevant conservator and be perfect for the season." Along with the housekeepers, decorator, technician and electrician, the Harewood House Trust works with a dizzying range of independent conservators who specialise in textiles, carpets, drapes, furniture, paper, painting, and ceramics.

These experts are called in to advise and, in situations such as managing the crumbling sections of the State Gallery ceiling, to work hands-on with house staff to restore and repair.

Other things to tackle this year include taking up the entrance hall flagstones – 70,000 visitors a year have taken their toll on these and they have started wearing away. Before they become a health and safety hazard they will be replaced.

Elsewhere in the entrance hall, a section of plaster has been restored, and marble paint effects applied by in-house decorator Robert Kay.

It's all costly which means that activities need to be streamlined.

Miss Robinson adds: "Resources – both in terms of people and money – are very limited and unfortunately, even with all the planning, restoration often becomes reactive rather than pro-active. But there are few historic houses in Britain that are as well-kept as Harewood." According to the head gardener, Trevor Nicholson, it is not only the house that needs restoration this year.

"I've not seen weather like this in the 16 years I've worked here. The snow flattened some of the plants and we've had to do repair work to the borders." While the gardens are being revived, the bird garden is also receiving attention.

The insides of the aviaries are being revamped and areas around the garden are being cleared.

The frenzy of dusting, cleaning, restoration and repair will continue until the spring.

Alongside this, hospitality and catering at Harewood has been upgraded and improved, promising even higher standards for the coming season.

And when the doors open, there'll be no sign of scaffolding, the curtains will be back in place, the silver and copper polished and, says Miss Robinson: "Everything will be perfect."