Putting your home on display is now a compulsory part of entertaining. People who come to dinner these days don’t just expect to be fed and watered. They want to follow you around the house like a pack of King Charles spaniels after the monarch. And if it’s their first time in your home, they expect to see the lot — inside the larder, your wardrobe, the linen cupboard. Since when have we been expected to make every room fit for inspection?

Nothing highlights the generation gap more than the House Tour Mentality. Our parents certainly never did it. But Britain has moved a long way from the days when the front room was kept for best and only smart people had dinner parties. The concept of privacy has vanished along with the walls between the kitchen and dining room. These days we are supposed to have a magazine lifestyle, with every room immaculate in case someone wants to poke their snout in. And some people are not just looking.

At a party we attended recently, a pretty water feature in the garden attracted so much interest that four of the six guests got out pen and paper and wrote down the name of the supplier.

Makeover shows and our national obsession with property are to blame, according to Andrew Winter, presenter of Channel 4’s Selling Houses. He says: “We are more obsessed with our homes than any other Europeans, probably because the weather is awful and we spend so much time in them. The Spanish, for instance, prefer to spend money on pools and terraces.

“My parents certainly never showed their mates round when they entertained. It’s perhaps got something to do with the fact that most of us are mortgaged to the hilt and so want to make the place the best we can. It’s a pain to have to tidy up as well as do the catering, but look on the bright side — if you’re the guest, it’s great inspiration for ideas.”

Having people round is also a good rehearsal for real viewings when you come to sell. If you’re ashamed of the odd scruffy corner when your mates arrive, you’ll be in the same position when potential buyers appear.

However hard you strive to be houseproud, little mounds always seem to erupt all over the house. For example, on my desk are some prescription drugs, a stack of junk mail, three batteries (are they duds?) and a Rolling Stones cassette with a cracked case. My husband’s desk is like the aftermath of the battle of El Alamein. There’s a box of Christmas cards (in September), a bar of Cadbury’s Whole Nut, some dog treats and several remote controls for goodness knows what. So I had a brain wave. I bought wicker baskets in which to hide things when people arrive. These could be stuffed full and dealt with at a later date. Great plan, eh? Except that after six dinner parties they were overflowing and had to go under the bed in the spare room.

The younger you are, the more normal it is to ask for a guided tour of your host’s house. Sarah Eliot, 31, a graphic designer, reckons guests ask to look round because their hosts would be offended if they didn’t. She says: “I build 15 minutes into the cooking schedule so that when people arrive they can have a quick look at the loft extension before we sit down. When guests come, they look straight upstairs and make ‘ooh, nice’ noises, and it’s obvious they want a guided tour. I don’t mind because I want to see round their houses as well.

“They ask what you have done, and what you are going to do, and guests swap builders’ phone numbers. In many ways it is easier to take them all round at the beginning, because otherwise they pop to the loo one by one and are gone for ages snooping.

“I always spend 15 minutes doing quick-fix stuff, rather than cleaning the whole house for two hours. Get the place looking nice and get the tour over with. It’s like brushing your teeth, then going to the dentist.”

Explore Property

• Buying & Selling

• New Homes

• Overseas

• Interiors

• Investment

• Gardens

• Specials

Times recommends

• Analysis: frustration for everyone - except investors
• Spanish property: why it's crunch time on the Costa del Sol
• Buy-to-let: professional investors cash in on the credit crunch