On Saturday I was back in Oxford sorting out another couple of rooms. In the guest bedroom we've got a large cupboard and I was aware the drawers were full of envelopes with various family papers in. Again it proved to be quite a treasure trove.

I think the most exciting thing I found was a marvellous set of Victorian photographs of my great-grandfather's family. It's odd but seeing photographs, rather than drawings, seems to make them all more real to me. I look at them and see pictures of my family, just like I would at a picture I'd taken on my digital camera and printed out at home, but these are over 100 years old.

My favourite picture shows my grandfather, John Foster Crace (aged 9 and dressed in a sailor's suit), his father John Dibblee Crace (bald head and large beard) and his father John Gregory Crace (white haired and magnificently be-whiskered as a Victorian patriarch should be). It's dated May 1887 and printed on stiff card with the logo of "Brown, Barnes and Bell. Art Photographers and Portait Painters, Photographers to her majesty the Queen".

Another great picture shows J.D.Crace's family. My grandfather is again in his sailor's suit although this is dated 18th August 1884. I think it's a souvenir of a family outing because the blurb on the back reads: