The homes that are worth £10m

From neo-gothic Carr Manor in Leeds to the 18th century townhouse in Winchester's Cathedral Close, High Court judges exist in splendid surroundings when they visit their districts.

The judges are the most senior in the judiciary and last year 92 of them stayed around the country while they sat on major cases.

Some spend half their lives away from home and the beauty of the lodgings provided by the Lord Chancellor is that they provide privacy, security and some comforts of home while they work with highly sensitive documents.

But the extravagant facilities may stretch many people's ideas of how comfortable a home needs to be. The 32 properties have a total of 169 staff, including 25 butlers. Four have snooker rooms and one at Plawsworth in County Durham has its own tennis courts.

A total of 21 of the historic buildings are properties owned by the Lord Chancellor's Department, while 11 are hired.

The investigations of Labour MP Paul Stinchcombe have revealed that when they were last valued in June 2000, the Lord Chancellor's 12 freehold properties alone were worth £10.4 million - an average of £866,000 each. Yet while 15 of the properties cost between £120,000 and £310,000 a year to run before staff costs are taken into account, even the busiest stand empty for more than half the year.

The properties have 77 bedrooms set aside for judges, which were occupied on average for only 81.4 days each during the year. At a total cost of £5.63 million, that means each night cost an average of £896 - comfortably more than a suite at the Ritz .

And it is clear that judges would be able to stay for a fraction of the cost in the finest rooms of the best hotels around the country, with suites available from £165.

In his review of criminal courts, Lord Justice Auld admitted lodgings were "a frequent butt of media and other criticism which depicts them as the provision of lavish living at taxpayers' expense". He said they had advantages of providing security and privacy, but he believed many "would be content with a good hotel".

Lord Irvine - criticised when he spent £650,000 redecorating his House of Lords residence - indicated he will go along with the recommendation despite the report. In the past, judges have defended the lodgings perk. Former Master of the Rolls Lord Denning said: "I'm all in favour of getting the costs down. But judges have stayed at judges' lodgings for the past 700 years and I don't want them to have to go to hotels mixing with witnesses, jurors and accused. They must be separate and independent of outside influences."