Dear English Gentleman,

My boyfriend’s family have invited me to visit them in Cornwall. What gift should I buy them to show that I appreciate their invitation?

Thanks,

A reader.

Dear Reader,

My mind is taken to The Swimming Pool Season by Rose Tremain, because in the novel there’s a British family visiting a French family, and the French family assumes that the British family will turn up with a load of inappropriate gifts.

But they don’t. The British family take a tree rather than taking a gateau for the French.

So what I’m trying to say is that bad gifts would be things that you could just buy in the UK, or that show a lack of thought.

So pick something that you enjoy giving. And don’t worry about all that stuff in The Swimming Pool Season.