The Animals at Lockwood Manor was such a disappointment! I agree about the pacing and characters, and I also found it full of little anachronisms and sloppy language use.

I had not heard of Helen Forrester or Robert Bhatia, but those books sound absolutely fascinating—I'll have to look them up!

I find caving unnerving at the best of times ( for which I can blame reading The Weirdstone of Brisingamen at the age of 9)

Agreed, and brrr, I remember that book....