Everyone has them right? Erm, well no - I don't.

With no side access and a shared driveway I'm lacking gates in my life. I'm coping ok, but I do wonder if that's why I end up being drawn to them - and photographing at least one or two of them - when we're out and about whether that's at National Trust properties, cycling around Norfolk or other places we've visited.

I snapped these Norfolk gates on a cycle one day, they couldn't be more different in style and while I wouldn't say the ones above are plain, next to the Sandringham Estate ones below they certainly look it.

Yes, the gates at Sandringham are pretty impressive aren't they - and probably a bit larger than the ones you might have yourself.

But even so all of the gates I've included in this post do have something in common, and it's not necessarily ironwork - although most of my photos do seem to be of iron gates, I did manage to find a picture of a white painted wooden gate too so that's at the bottom of this post to prove it exists.

Gates get a lot of use - they are after all the way in and out of a space. I'll concede those grand gates at Sandringham may not get as much use as some of the others I've shown but every gate needs maintaining. If it's wooden then a coat of paint or varnish will having it looking new in no time, for iron gates painting might take a little more time depending on its detail but it'll look a million dollars afterwards.

But it's not just their looks that we need to take care of, it's their moving parts too. A gate that is hard to open, or opens too easily or creaks isn't ideal either so it's a good idea to check the hinges, catches and closures, Barrier Components have replacement parts if yours are beyond repair.

I'm sure we've all heard a creaking gate in our time, and wished we hadn't! How do you look after yours?

This is a collaborative post but all opinions are my own