Keep it clean...

There's spic, there's span, and there's Linda Pool. "I just can't sit still I'm afraid," she says. "If there's some dust that needs dusting, I'm there." Which is probably why she has just been awarded the National Housekeeper of the Year title at the Best Western Great Britain Celebrate Success Awards in Dublin.

Linda, 48, of Huntington, is housekeeper at the Monk Bar Hotel in York, where she ensures that not a speck of dust is found, not a bed is left unmade and not a flower remains unarranged.

She started as a chambermaid at the hotel four years ago, after working at the Elmbank Hotel for 13 years. She was quite happy in her job, but hotel director June Nelsey saw greater potential in her from day one.

"If a job needed doing, she was there," she says. "If a babysitter was needed or a guest wanted their dog walking, Linda would do it. She has always been very willing and very able."

And, perhaps most importantly of all, she is a stickler for high standards: a fact recognised by the three sets of inspectors who visited the Monk Bar on three separate occasions to check out the rooms, waiting areas and corridors.

"They were very thorough,"says June. "But they couldn't find fault with Linda. She was surprised she won the national award, but I wasn't."

That was not the only surprise Linda received when she went to Dublin. Her partner Mick Fletcher, a maintenance engineer at the hotel, proposed as they celebrated her win.

"He got down on one knee and popped the question," says an obviously delighted Linda. "I was very pleased to see he put a napkin on the floor first so he didn't get his best trousers dirty."

Her prize - other than the lovely Mick of course - was an all expenses-paid trip to any Best Western hotel in Europe. She chose Crieff in Scotland.

"The trip to Dublin was the first time Mick and I had ever been out of Yorkshire," she explains. "It was the first time either of us had flown and to be honest we're not keen to do it again.

"It was only a half hour flight and everything went well, but I think half an hour is enough for now. And anyway, Scotland is sort of abroad isn't it?"

Linda readily admits to being a bit of a homebody with only one real vice: watching BBC1's Life of Grime.

"It's really horrible, but I enjoy it," she says with a half-grimace, half-grin. "I can't believe that people actually live like that. It really makes me appreciate my own home."

She dusts and vacuums at home every day and can even predict the weather with her rigorous cleaning routine.

"Every time I wash my windows it rains - guaranteed," she says. "I don't work on a Saturday, so I usually wash them then. Sorry!"

Like TV super-cleaners Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie, of Channel Four's How Clean Is Your House, Linda is not a fan of gadgets and gloop. When it comes to cleaning, she firmly believes in going back to basics.

"I wash my windows with vinegar and newspaper," she adds. "You can buy all the fancy products you like, but you can never beat vinegar, newspaper and a bit of elbow grease. It's the same all through the house, and the hotel: basic products and a good routine are vital. There is no magic cleaning wand I'm afraid."

But if there was, you just know that Linda's would be the shiniest, cleanest wand in the country.

Linda Pool's tips for a top spring clean:

Wear comfortable old clothes that you don't mind getting dirty

Make a checklist of each room and prioritise them

Make a list of your cleaning supplies, ensuring you have everything you need

Pop the following into a bucket to carry with you to every room: a few rags, paper towels, polish, a good all-purpose glass cleaner and two bin liners (one for rubbish and one for useful things that you no longer want)

When dusting, start at the top and work down

Wash walls from the bottom up to avoid streaking

Don't mix cleaning products - ammonia and bleach are toxic

Allow cleansers to set for several minutes to ease cleaning

Be ruthless - collect everything you don't use any more as you go and either give them to charity or sell them at a car boot sale

Put your feet up with a nice glass of wine and admire your handiwork.

If you have any tried and tested cleaning tips to share, send them to Jo Haywood, Features, The Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York YO1 9YN.

Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie, Channel 4's 'super-scrubbers', dish the dirt on spring cleaning:

Buy rubber gloves a size too big so you can wear a pair of cotton gloves inside, soaked with hand cream to keep your hands moisturised and soft

Save your toothbrushes - they are perfect for all those awkward nooks and crannies

Don't over-use your furniture polish; dust regularly, but only use polish once a month on a slightly damp cloth

WD40 (the spray lubricant often found in the shed or garage) is great for getting paint off windows

Distilled white wine vinegar is good on limescale, for wiping down a shower door and is great on mirrors

Bicarbonate of soda is a superb alternative detergent if you suffer from allergies or are sensitive to chemicals - it's good on stainless steel, sinks and even smelly trainers

Three parts salt to one part lemon juice works really well on copper and brass (rinse and buff dry with a soft cloth)

Use biological washing powder to clean your roasting tins: sprinkle in a cup of powder, add warm water and leave to soak for an hour

A squirt of washing-up liquid is great for removing stains from clothing.

How Clean Is Your House? by Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie is available in bookshops at £12.99.

Updated: 08:54 Tuesday, April 13, 2004