I’m not entirely sure why anyone would want to exclude Spiders from their home, my preference would be to have a flyeater in each corner of the room to eat the flies. Flies spread disease. Spiders modulate diptera activity.

Anyway, every autumn, the deceived wisdom that putting Conkers, the seed of the horse chestnut tree,  Aesculus hippocastanum, around your home will scare the spiders away comes up. It’s evergreen content for columnists. But, it is a myth, it has been debunked several times over the years.

More about conkers coming soon in my Materials Today column.