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That was the experience of one family on the outskirts of Glasgow - who will have to remain nameless if they want to avoid becoming a stop on one of the city's many Mackintosh bus tours.

Mr and Mrs X weren't fans themselves, but thought there was something familiar about those stained glass windows, those large stone fireplaces and the way even the gutters looped around the drainpipes in a smooth line.

They called in an expert, David Stark, who's director of Keppie Designs, itself a direct descendant of Mackintosh's company Honeyman Keppie.

During research for his history of the company, he'd visited various buildings which showed signs of Mackintosh design, but had never seen this one.

"We knew a house existed in this area but until I came here, we weren't sure this was it," he says.

Now, having had a good look round, he's quite convinced that Mackintosh had a hand in its design, pointing to the glasswork in particular as evidence.

Professor Pamela Robertson, senior curator at Glasgow University's Hunterian Art Gallery requires a bit more convincing.

She's leading the first major investigation of Mackintosh's work as an architect in over 60 years.

At the heart of it all is the Honeyman Keppie records, which meticulously detail all the buildings they ever worked on.

This house is listed - along with all the contractors who bid for work.

It's a reminder of the fact that this is a team effort - hundreds of contractors involved, from carpenters and plumbers to tilemakers and glassblowers.

The details are recorded in Mr Keppie's handwriting - as a senior partner in the firm, it was important he kept a close eye on the finances but later documents - the Hill House bill, for example, is in Mackintosh's handwriting, evidence of his promotion in the firm.

"I'm sure he had a hand in this one," says Professor Robertson," but I don't think he was the lead architect.

"He has clearly had some influence though and we have another 191 sites like this one, we'd like to look at more closely so there could be other surprises along the way."

That's a view shared by Historic Scotland - who recently listed the house.

Unable to conclusively prove it's Mackintosh, they've given it a category C listing.

For Mr and Mrs X, that's the perfect conclusion.

They can continue redecorating, knowing they have a little piece of history and perhaps a little bit of mystery on their hands. But no need to accommodate bus loads of tourists.

To misquote the song, what a difference a year makes.

This time last year, the National Trust for Scotland prepared for one of its stormiest meetings to date, with many members calling for the resignation of the chair and the board.

This weekend, its AGM is the first since a major review of the work of the trust, which has been badly hit by the recession and a fall in visitor numbers.

And members seem slightly more reassured by the recommendations, which include slashing the number of trustees from 87 to 15, electing a new board, carrying out a full audit of properties and coming up with a five year plan.

Chief executive Kate Mavor was bullish in interview. She says she's confident they won't have to close any properties in the coming years - although it's clear some will have to be run by other organisations.

And that's part of the problem. The trust's empire now extends to castles and country houses, the brand new Burns Museum in Alloway, cottages and lighthouses.

Some are already available to rent as holiday homes - like Spain's network of paradors. That's a useful earner.

But many more are reliant on goodwill and volunteers - tired places, run on traditional lines, with little to entice new visitors through the doors.

The National Trust for Scotland is a membership organisation - and it's important those members play their part, and have their say.

That's been the most important message of the last few years, the way people have spoken out because they care passionately about the places in its care.

But the body needs strong, independent leadership, prepared to take tough calls in hard times.

Some members don't believe the recommendations go quite far enough, or at least require further discussion - but in the spirit of getting on with the task ahead, they'll vote them through on Saturday.

And compared to last year's turbulent event, it looks like this year's AGM could be a little more harmonious than last year.

I'm not sure whether the Carbuncle awards have been vindicated by the fact that a group of residents have ASKED for their town to win it.

Admittedly, one of the biggest problems of the awards, was the way they were foisted on unsuspecting passers-by in damp and dreich town centres.

At least in the case of Denny, where the Carbuncle was handed over at lunchtime today, the residents actually requested it.

Well, some of them.

A small group of campaigners believe the resulting publicity will be the catalyst they need to speed up regeneration of their town centre, so they argued if John O'Groats, the actual winner, wouldn't claim the title, they would.

Brilliant location

Their town centre - described by judges in their citation as like a horrific concrete Battenburg cake - is universally detested.

Campaigner Brian McCabe insists he didn't take the decision to apply for the accolade lightly.

Denny has a brilliant location, rolling hills in abundance and some lovely old stone cottages.

But like a lot of Scottish towns, it finds itself lumbered with an ugly, decaying town centre.

Mr McCabe and his fellow campaigners believe the council is dragging its feet on redevelopment, hence this radical move.

An eyesore

Falkirk Council, on the other hand, say they're disappointed by the move - and don't believe Mr McCabe represents the whole community.

They say their development has been delayed by the current recession, but that planning permission permitted, demolition of the old centre and construction of the new one, will begin next August.

They also dismiss suggestions that they haven't kept the community informed, citing the 12,000 newsletters they circulated to households in the area last week.

And while most people in Denny agree the centre is an eyesore, not everyone agrees the town should have laid claim to the carbuncle.

Even as we gather in the town centre to see the award handed over, a local man whose father runs a business in the town, arrives to tell the campaigners he thinks they're wrong and that the award will simply further stigmatise the town.

Temporary trophy

Sharon Tait, a local mum, says it couldn't get any worse.

She wants to encourage people to support the businesses in the town centre, but admits it's been a battle for years and that's why they've decided to stand up and do something about it.

They're now one of a growing number of communities taking their campaigns online - with their own Facebook site.

Brian McCabe, meanwhile, hopes the Carbuncle will only be a temporary trophy.

By next year, if work is under way, he hopes the town can hand it back (if anyone is keep to accept it) but if the centre remains undeveloped, he has no qualms about once again claiming Scotland's most unwanted accolade for his home town.

Film premieres are one thing. But dressing up to the nines to attend the screening of a 51-year-old film?

Welcome to the latest offering from Club Noir. Hot on the (high) heels of their burlesque night collaboration with Scottish Opera, they're chumming up with Glasgow Film Theatre for a film club.

The first film - with saucy sequins aplenty - was Some Like It Hot - and those so inclined, could turn up in clothes appropriate to the film.

A friend - a vision in velvet and chiffon - was put out when her partner suggested she take along a double bass.

"Either he doesn't know the film as well as he thinks, or he thinks I look like a man in drag," she grumbled.

Still, in costume or not, it was almost a full house at the GFT on a Sunday night, leaving Club Noir impressario, Tina Warren with just one problem - what to persuade GFT to screen next?

A tantalising glimpse of the 1943 film Lady of Burlesque, starring Barbara Stanwyck, and based on Gypsy Rose Lee's wonderfully-named mystery thriller The G String Murders, doesn't live up to the teaser, according those who've seen it.

The forthcoming Hollywood film Burlesque - starring Cher and Christina Aguilera - also fails to fit the bill which organisers say requires nostalgia, great costumes and just the right level of sauciness.

Let's hope they find something suitable - I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship....

The Fringe is already the world's largest arts festival so it's surprising to hear them admitting that they regularly add attendance to free events to their end of festival box office figures.

Not all free events - many of the promoters of the ever expanding free festival side of the fringe say they deliberately refuse to co-operate with the Fringe Society on speculating about numbers. Good for them.

As one of a number of reporters who regularly report the final box office figures in good faith - backing them up with calls to individual promoters - it's somewhat unsettling to know the Fringe are deliberating muddling the two together.

The defence today is that it's the methodology consistently used for the last decade.

If anything, they say, the figures could give a very conservative estimate of attendance.

But that's not the point. The figures announced on Monday were quite clearly labelled as tickets sold - 1,955,913 of them - not tickets handed out, or even heads counted in free events in pubs.

Promises of transparency

As most marketing experts point out, the two shouldn't be confused, and the row doesn't do it any favours, particularly after the promises of transparency following the box office problems of 2008.

Kath Mainland and the rest of the Fringe Society need to take steps quickly and clarify the way they add up their sales.

Meantime, it looks as if the real overall figure, about 120,000 less than that announced, is the incremental rise predicted by analysts like Professor Joe Goldblatt of Queen Margaret University.

The fringe may now level out - particularly if the anticipated cuts in the local authority sector begin to bite.

Any growth will also be limited by the amount of accomodation available - with some performers this year staying up to two hours away from the city - and by the availability of venues.

The Fringe - like the festivals around it - will remain the world's biggest.

Sometimes it requires a little effort, though, to remain the best.

It was only a chance encounter on a trip to the Netherlands.

But thanks to John Gerrard's trip to Groningen, Scotland's own Doors Open Days event was born.

Back then John was technical director of the Scottish Civic Trust.

And impressed that normally private parts of the medieval Dutch town were "resounding to brass band music and a general sense of enjoyment", he decided to try and introduce the notion back home.

That was just before 1990, when Glasgow took up the title of European City of Culture, and about 30 buildings in the city took up the challenge.

Over the last 20 years, that's grown across the country, and across the calendar month.

Not accessible

More than 900 buildings are involved this year, from a lighthouse in Shetland to a network of Victorian sugar warehouses in Greenock.

The motivation remains the same, to encourage people to take an interest in the architectural heritage on their own doorsteps.

Often, as in the case of the Greenock sugar warehouses, the buildings are right in the middle of communities but not always accessible.

George Hunter of Riverside Inverclyde, which is the midst of a £3.7m development of the site, says one of the first things his agency did when they took over the site, was take down part of the brick wall which blocked the view of the building from the A8.

"People locally see it as something of an icon," he says.

"They joke about it being their Eiffel Tower, but it has that same sort of effect on the pysche of this community.

"It has such a presence on the Greenock skyline and almost everyone has a connection with the place, whether they worked here, or knew someone who worked here."

Sadly, not everyone feels so strongly.

Heavily monitored

Four years ago, the A-listed building was badly damaged when vandals set it on fire.

The site is now heavily monitored with alarms and CCTV cameras.

And like many of the buildings featured, it has the double-edged honour of being both an architectural gem and a Building At Risk.

For as well as playing to that universal urge to have a look round a building not normally open to the public, it also raises the question of how best to maintain and develop such buildings in the current economic climate.

And there are certainly no shortage of visitors.

When the Clyde Port Authority opened its opulent head office in the very first year, a director warned the caretaker he might expect a few people to call in, and he might want to make them a cup of tea.

By the end of the day, 2,000 people had visited and he'd given up trying to share the custard creams.

Grabs the imagination

Last year, more than 250,000 people visited - thanks in no small part to more than 5,000 volunteers who made the tea and gave the tours.

And no matter how many buildings you've visited, there's always one which grabs the imagination - the private telephone museum in Darvel? A 1940s bunker in Inverness? A Masonic Temple in Aberdeen?

On a similar note, although not officially attached to Doors Open Day, the Colony of Artists who live and work in the Colonies in the Abbeyhill area of Edinburgh, are throwing their doors open to the public this weekend too.

The event has been running for the past seven years with artists who live in the area opening their homes to the public.

In keeping with the Doors Open theme, the buildings themselves are architecturally significant and it's a good chance to learn something about their history.

This year, there are 20 artists exhibiting work and workshops, as well as exhibition spaces.

Artist Debbie Phillips tells me the event is fuelled by community spirit rather than public funding, and they make everything from the bunting to the home baking themselves.

The event takes place from 1pm on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 September and you can get more information from their website www.colony-of-artists.com/

For more information about Doors Open Day, go to www.doorsopendays.org.uk