For what it is worth, I still think that the Trust have come to the wrong answer, despite the pull of the picture left, suggesting that much of the load bearing structure, apart from the timber, is more or less intact.
While there has clearly been some kind of announcement - see the Guardian of Tuesday 19th January - I have not been able - in a few minutes anyway - to turn up the report - perhaps written by a bunch of expensive consultants - perhaps written by a bunch of retired civil servants (such luminati as the Director General of the the National Trust and, indeed, your truly) - which must have been written about the whole business. A report containing lots of chapters, hierarchically numbered paragraphs, graphics and appendices. At least one management summary. At least three options, not counting the null option. A contents page spanning two pages at the very least. Perhaps a forward signed off with the facsimile signature of the almighty. So what I write here does not have the benefit of the wisdom no doubt contained therein. But here goes...
I suppose my biggest thought is that it is very odd to be spending serious money to recreate this treasure of inequality. This treasure, the construction of which was made possible by exploitation of the working classes, the construction of which was intended to symbolise, to advertise the power, presence & permanence of the oligarchy which ran the country at the time. A world in which servants moved around in a parallel world so as not to disturb the goings on of the house's real inhabitants - although to be fair, I don't think that Clandon went as far in that department as some other similar buildings in the neigbbourhood, for example Cleremont.
But perhaps appropriate in the sense that the distribution of wealth in this country is as skewed presently as it has been for a long time. Perhaps even - I have not checked - approaching the level of inequality around at the time Clandon was built.
There is also the consideration that there is a huge appetite for shows of this kind, shows which taken together clock up millions of visits a year. We all swoon with pleasure at the sight of the glories that we were never intended to share by the people who once lived in them. We gobble up the period soaps on television which cater for the same appetites. Not to mention the documentaries lovingly dwelling on the recreation of the very roof tiles used by the original builders. Camel hair reinforcement and all.
Perhaps there has been a huge fight inside the National Trust, and Ghosh is just fronting the collective - not to say unanimous - view which has emerged from that fight - with it not being the custom in this country for the governing classes to exhibit the interior workings of their governance. What does that other ex civil servant, this one with a spell at the Treasury to his credit, Chairman Parker think? A chairman who does not seem to be anything like as much in the public eye as his predecessor, Simon Jenkins - but then he doesn't have a column, a pulpit in a national newspaper to advertise his wares.
My suggestion, for what is worth, is that they should knock the place down and build a shiny new mental hospital on the footprint. A shiny new mental hospital in beautiful grounds (complete, I seem to recall, with its own church on the perimeter) to provide asylum for some at least of the many casualties of our (collective) dash for wealth. A grand opportunity to emulate Victorian philanthropic endeavour, an opportunity which is not going to be repeated very often.
A move which would probably require the trust deeds of the National Trust to be be amended, but I am sure that where there was a will there would be a way.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/parasites.html.
Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/to-clandon-or-not-to-clandon.html.
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