WHEN modfather in chief Paul Weller played Osborne House on the Isle of Wight recently, English Heritage said they hoped it would introduce the joys of the historic house to a different kind of visitor.

The implication was that those who listen to pop and rock don't generally consider traipsing around a genteel country estate to be a priority activity.

However it now seems that English Heritage may actually have been expressing a hope that Mr Weller appeals to a slightly more literate and educated crowd than some of their current visitors.

The organisation has just released an alarming list of some of the bizarre questions their staff have been asked by visitors to their sites.

Of course English Heritage say the exercise is designed to encourage people to find out more about their historic sites. That no question is too silly.

Well maybe At stately and historic Osborne - famously Queen Victoria's favourite Royal residence - one tourist expressed disappointment at discovering that they weren't getting to look at Sharon and Ozzie's house.

While this reveals a stupendous lack of research and an inability to spell it was certainly not an isolated gaff.

One young visitor thought that Clifford's Tower in York, which has been standing proud over the city since the end of the Norman Conquests, was a lavishly decorated bouncy castle.

At not so far away Whitby Abbey a tourist asked the guide whether they were looking at Dracula's castle. In fairness Whitby does indeed feature in Bram Stoker's Dracula story, although his fictional castle is and always will be in Transylvania.

On the subject of ancient castles a visitor raised a few eyebrows when he asked why the English were so keen on building ruined fortresses.

While children visiting Cleeve Abbey were convinced it was inhabited by monkeys rather than an order of monks and at Kenwood House in Hampstead another young visitor demanded to know where the Hobbits were.

Other questions included a very serious inquiry as to whether the tunnels at Dover Castle were "under the ground?" and at the same location on a day when a thick sea-mist drifted off the English Channel, an intrigued visitor asked at what time the mist would be switched off.

The questions have been released at the start of an English Heritage campaign to encourage tourists to ask guides about the building they are visiting.

The organisation hopes this will boost the impression made by buildings and thereby lead to an increase in visitor numbers.

They hope the list of faux pas will help shy tourists overcome fears about looking silly in front of other visitors.

"We've all had the experience of wanting to ask a question and regretting not doing so when the moment has passed." says Tina Corrim, head of education at English Heritage.

"When it comes to topics such as history , people can often be embarrassed to voice their queries, but the only way to learn is to ask."

Sometimes though it's perhaps best to keep that inquiring mind on hold until you can Google the question into a handy computer.

Back to Osborne House again and the visitor who having learned that Queen Victoria had nine children and asked: "Did they all have the same dad?"

I suspect the not so merry monarch would definitely not have been amused.