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We settle in for a five week stint at Haddon Hall. Later in the shoot we will be, like we were last week, in different locations every few days. Moving locations involves transporting lots of gear and trucks around. This requires extra early starts and late finishes for many of the crew. To be in one place for a good length of time is great for us all.

Haddon is a magical place. We're made extremely welcome by Lord Edward and his staff. The hall does not open to the public until well into April, so we have the run of the place. The rooms are rugged and beautiful, and are made all the more so by the brilliant decoration and propping of designer Grenville Horner and his team. Our base is close by, and it's an extremely comfortable location in which to work.

Feeling the cold

Except that it is FREEZING.

"There are not many people who can look glamorous in a puffa jacket and moonboots, but Francesca Annis manages it."

I wear more layers than ever before - three on my LEGS! And a coat that's more like a duvet. And I'm still FROZEN! Heaters are no use. We line up about a dozen in the long gallery [drawing room of episode 2] and our breath is still condensing. It's as though the stone of Haddon contains all the cold of seven centuries, and there's nothing we can do about it.

At times through the day, I feel myself losing focus, getting light-headed, unable to perform simple tasks. I feel like I'm lost in the ice...

It's worse for the actors, of course, as they have to appear on camera without layers of fleece etc. The gorgeous and talented Francesca Annis is with us as Lady Ingram. She arrives on set in a puffa jacket and moonboots. There are not many people who can look glamorous in a puffa jacket and moonboots, but Francesca manages it. As we begin filming these are removed to reveal the most wonderful outfits which Andrea Galer (costume designer) has created. When the scene is complete, back on go the jacket and boots.

Long days

Hair and make-up designer Anne 'Nosh' Oldham and her team are working some long hours this week while we shoot all the house party scenes from episodes 2 and 3. Period drama women can take a couple of hours to do - it's all that hair. In order that we have a full cast ready to shoot at a reasonable time, they are starting as early as 6am. When you consider that we finish at 7pm, that's quite a long day.

We've got great drivers on this job. As well as the very likeable Exeter-born Graham Huxtable, we've got local boys Honest John and Mick Stanton. These two are veterans of East Midlands film and TV production. They did A Thing Called Love, various Shane Meadows films, and Peak Practice. They've got some great stories about that much-missed medical saga, and I'm forever asking questions like 'what is Gary Mavers really like?' and 'what was the thinking behind Sweet Medicine?'

Mick was a miner and has been buried alive twice. He now collects vintage buses. Honest John has been a professional racing driver, and now enjoys nothing more than ice skating with his daughter. These two are proper gents of the old school, and I cherish my journeys with them.