Today, weekend breaks are increasingly regarded by British workers as a welcome opportunity to get away from the daily grind. However, the idea is not new. Back in the Nineteenth Century, wealthy city dwellers were just as quick to seek refuge on their country estates, with many inviting guests to admire their family treasures and enjoy their lavish hospitality.

One such weekend retreat was Waddesdon Manor, in Buckinghamshire, which was built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1874 to house his family's extensive collection of porcelain, furniture, Renaissance art and curiosities. Now owned by The National Trust, the house remains an excellent showcase for the banking dynasty's interest in fine art and houses, and is attracting a growing number of visitors - around 200,000 per year. The vast majority of these also take the opportunity to explore both the gift shop and, uniquely, an adjoining wine shop, which sells bottles from the Rothchild's famous French vineyards.

To handle this increasing level of demand, Waddesdon's management team has replaced its old tills with a new retail management system from Birmingham-based IT solutions provider, Tek Response. Consisting of Paypoint EPoS software from Oxfordshire's Advanced PayPoint Solutions, running on three Epson Intelligent Registers (two in the gift shop and one in the wine shop), the touchscreen solution has been live since early 2002. Fully integrated with Waddesdon's SageLine 100 accounting package - a key requirement from the outset - the system has been a hit with management and staff alike reports IT Systems Administrator, Steve Connor.

"The system is exactly what we wanted. It's reliable, easy to use, and from my point of view, far more efficient because the terminals can now be managed remotely through the network thanks to their onboard LAN support. The store manager can also see what is happening on each till from the back office computer, while information about stock levels is available almost instantly at the point of sale. The terminals have also been a revelation for our staff. It's almost like leaping from the Seventeenth Century to the Twenty-First.

"Of course, there are many more things we can still do with the software," added Steve, "we’ve still just touched the tip of the iceberg. However the advanced technology we now have at our disposal means that we have a flexible platform for our continued growth."

For further information contact
Nicholas Fraser, APS Tel: 0870 750 1780.