Thank you to Sir Antony Acland, Claire and James Birch of Doddington Hall, to my ‘stalkees’ Sophie and Johnnie Boden for submitting to this for a second time; Hector Christie, Gus Christie, Oliver Claridge for help with ‘agrivistes’, windfarms and other rural affairs; the residents of Tinkers’ Bubble in Somerset and especially Mary and Joe for eco-village hospitality and actuality; Edward Faulks; Henrietta Green for help with heritage cheeses; Nicky Marks of the Raj Tent Club; Taki, for Gstaad; Johnnie Standing for ‘fucked a bloke’; and on the publishing and editing side, huge thanks for brilliant advice and tender counselling as ever to Juliet Annan of Fig Tree; Jenny Lord, her able assistant; my London agent Peter Straus; my New York agent Melanie Jackson; and Trish Todd of Simon and Schuster; also thank you to Katherine Stroud, my publicist, editors Sarah Day and Sarah Hulbert at Penguin, and to Roger Field for the libel read. Phew!