BEDFORDSHIRE
WOBURN ABBEY
Woburn, Bedfordshire MK17 9WA
Tel: 01525 290666
Seat of the Dukes of Bedford, Woburn originated as a medieval Cistercian monastery. Dissolved in 1543, it was converted to a country house by Sir John Russell in 1619, then rebuilt as a Palladian house by Henry Flitcroft in the 1740s, and further remodelled and extended by Henry Holland in the 1780s.
BERKSHIRE
ASHDOWN HOUSE (NT)
Lambourn, Newbury, Berkshire, RG17 8RE
Tel: 01793 762209
Fine Classical mid-seventeenth century house with symmetrical wings.
BASILDON PARK (NT)
Lower Basildon, Reading, Berkshire RG8 9NR
Tel: 0118 984 3040
Classical house designed by John Carr of York in 1776-83, with fine plasterwork interiors.
HIGHCLERE CASTLE
Highclere, nr Newbury, Berkshire RG20 9RN
Tel: 01635 253210
Country house remodelled in the early nineteenth century in neo-Elizabethan style by Charles Barry.
MAPLEDURHAM HOUSE
Mapledurham, Reading, Berkshire RG4 7TR.
Tel: 01189 723350
Red-brick, sixteenth-century house (reputed to be the model for Toad Hall in Kenneth Grahame?s story The Wind in the Willows [1908]).
STRATFIELD SAYE HOUSE
Strafield Saye, Reading, Berkshire RG7 2BZ
Tel: 01256 882882
Originally a Jacobean house, built by Sir William Pitt in 1630, Stratfield was acquired by the 1st Duke of Wellington in 1817 with a gift of money from a grateful nation. The Duke added the conservatory in 1838 and the outer wings in 1846.
WINDSOR CASTLE
Windsor, Berkshire SL4 1NJ
Tel: 02077 667304
The official residence of HM the Queen, originally Norman, the castle was remodelled in the early nineteenth century by Sir Jeffry Wyatville.
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
CHICHELY HALL
Chichely, Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire MK16 9JJ
Tel: 01234 391252
A fine early Georgian country house, designed for Sir John Chester in 1719-23 by Francis Smith of Warwick, with decoration b William Kent.
CLAYDON HOUSE (NT)
Middle Claydon, nr Buckingham, Buckinghamshire MK18 2EY
Tel: 01296 730349
Eighteenth-century house with unusual Rococo and chinoiserie decoration. Originally a Jacobean manor house, Claydon was remodelled in the 1760s by the 2nd Lord Verney.
STOWE LANDSCAPE GARDENS (NT)
Buckingham, Buckinghamshire MK18 5EH
Tel: 01494 755568/ 01280 822850
The finest eighteenth-century landscape gardens with Arcadian temples and statues.
WADDESDON MANOR (NT)
Waddesdon, nr Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP18 0JH
Tel: 01296 653203/01296 653211
Built 1874-89 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the style of a sixteenth century French chateau.
WEST WYCOMBE PARK (NT)
West Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP14 3AJ
Tel: 01494 513569
Eighteenth-century house with an important Rococo landscape garden.
CAMBRIDGESHIRE
ANGLESEY ABBEY (NT)
Quy Road, Lode, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire CB25 9EJ
Tel: 01223 810080
This house, modelled from monastic remains, was restored by the 1st Lord Fairhaven in the 1920s.
ELTON HALL
Elton, nr Peterborough PE8 6SH
Tel: 01832 280468
Of fifteenth-century origins, Elton was much re-modelled in the Gothic Revival style during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
MANOR, THE
Hemingford Grey, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE28 9BN
Tel: 01480 463134
A twelfth-century house believed to be one of the oldest houses to have been continuously inhabited in Britain.
EAST SUSSEX
BODIAM CASTLE (NT)
Bodiam, nr Robertsbridge, East Sussex TN32 5UA
Tel: 01580 830436
Ruins of a fine moated castle, built in 1385, with the exterior mostly intact.
FIRLE PLACE
Firle, Lewes, East Sussex BN8 6LP
Tel: 01273 858567
Tudor house remodelled in the style of a French chateau.
GLYNDE PLACE
Glynde, Nr Lewes, East Sussex BN8 6SX
Tel: 01273 858224
Sixteenth-century flint and brick house, with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century alterations.
GREAT DIXTER
Northiam, Rye, East Sussex TN31 6PH
Tel: 01797 252878
The fifteenth-century hall house was restored and extended in 1910 by Edwin Lutyens.
ESSEX
AUDLEY END HOUSE (EH)
Saffron Walden, Essex CB11 4LG
Tel: 01799 522842/01799 522399
Major early seventeenth-century house, with later alterations (including Robert Adam interiors).
LAYER MARNEY TOWER
Nr Colchester, Essex CO5 9US
Tel: 01206 330784
A fine Tudor gatehouse, dating from 1520, built by Henry the 1st Lord Marney, Lord Privy Seal to Henry VIII.
HAMPSHIRE
BEAULIEU, PALACE HOUSE
Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Hampshire, SO42 7ZN
Tel: 01590 612345
A thirteenth-century monastic gatehouse, remodelled for Lord Montagu in the nineteenth century by Arthur Blomfield.
MOTTISFONT ABBEY (NT)
Mottisfont, nr Romsey, Hampshire SO51 0LP
Tel: 01794 340757
A twelfth-century priory, Mottisfont Abbey was converted into a house after the Dissolution. During the 1930s, the drawing room was decorated by Rex Whistler, a master of imaginative trompe-l?oeil.
STANSTED PARK
Rowlands Castle, Hampshire PO9 6DX
Tel: 02392 412265
Eighteenth-century house desgined by James Wyatt, and restored by Arthur Blomfield after a fire 1900.
VYNE, THE (NT)
Sherborne St John, Basignstoke, Hampshire RG24 9HL
Tel: 01256 883858
Sixteenth-century house, with mid-seventeenth century Classical portico and eighteenth-century alterations.
HERTFORDSHIRE
HATFIELD HOUSE
Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL9 5NQ
Tel: 01707 287010
An early seventeenth-century Jacobean courtier?s house, Hatfield House was built in 1611 by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, with gardens designed by John Tradescent the Elder.
KNEBWORTH HOUSE
Knebworth, Hertforshire SG3 6PY
Tel: 01438 812661
Remnant of a sixteenth-century country house, remodelled as a Romantic Gothic Revival house in the early eighteenth century.
ISLE OF WIGHT
OSBOURNE HOUSE (EH)
York Avenue, east Cowes, isle of Wight PO32 6JY
Tel: 01983 200022
Seaside retreat of Queen Victoria, designed by Prince Albert and Thomas Cubitt.
KENT
CHIDDINSTONE CASTLE
Nr Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7AD
Tel: 01892 870347
Tudor hall remodelled by Williams Atkinson in Georgian Gothic style in the early nineteenth century.
COBHAM HALL
Cobham Hall, Cobham, Kent DA12 3BL
Tel: 01474 823371
Sixteenth-century house, remodelled in the seventeenth century and the again by James Wyatt in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, with parkland landscaped by Humphry Repton. Cobham Hall is now an independent school for girls.
DANSON HOUSE
Danson Park, Danson Road, Bexleyheath, Kent DA6 7AA
Tel: 0208 303 6699
A villa designed in the 1760s by Sir Robert Taylor for the London merchant Sir John Boyd, with additions by Sir William Chambers.
DOWN HOUSE
Downe, Kent BR6 7JT
Tel: 01689 859119
The early nineteenth-century country home of Charles Darwin.
HEVER CASTLE
Hever, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7NG
Tel: 01732 865224
Fifteenth-century moated manor house, resotored in the early twentieth century for the 1st Lord Astor.
IGHTHAM MOTE (NT)
Ivy Hatch, Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0NT
Tel: 01732 810378
Moated manor house dating from 1330, with later alterations.
LEEDS CASTLE
Leeds, Nr Maidstone, Kent ME17 1PL
Tel: 01622 765400
Thirteenth- and fourteenth-century moated castle, with interiors remodelled by Lady Baillie in the 1920s.
KNOLE (NT)
Sevenoaks, Kent TN15 0RP
Tel: 01732 462100
Mid-sixteenth-century house remodelled in the early seventeenth century.
LULLINGSTONE CASTLE
Lillingstone Park, Eynsford, Dartford, Kent DA4 0JA
Tel: 07810 355199
Fifteenth-century brick gatehouse, remodelled in the early eighteenth century.
PENSHURST PLACE
Penshurst, Nr Tonbridge, Kent TN11 8DG
Tel: 01892 870307
SISSINGHURST CASTLE GARDEN (NT)
Sissinghurst, nr Cranbrook, Kent TN17 2AB
Tel: 01580 710700
Remnants of an Elizabethan house that became the setting for the gardens created by Vita Sackville-West.
SQUERRYES COURT
Westerham, Kent TH16 1SJ
Tel: 01959 562345 or 563118
Late seventeenth-century red-brick manor house built by Sir Nicholas Crisp on the site of a twelfth-century manor belonging to the de Squerie family.
LONDON
QUEEN?S HOUSE
Greenwich, London SE10 9NF
Tel: 0208 858 4422
Early seventeenth-century house designed by Inigo Jones, completed in the 1630s.
MIDDLESEX
OSTERLEY PARK (NT)
Jersey Road, Isleworth, Middlesex TW7 4RB
Tel: 020 8232 5050
Sixteenth-century house, transformed by Robert Adam in the 1760s, with magnificent interiors.
NORFOLK
BLICKLING HALL (NT)
Blickling, Norwich, Norfolk NR11 6NF
Tel: 01263 738030
Early seventeenth-century manor house, with important seventeenth- and eighteenth- century interiors.
EUSTON HALL
Euston, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2QP
Tel: 01842 766366
Seat of the Dukes of Grafton, with the surviving range of the late seventeenth-century house. The landscaped park was designed by William Kent.
FELBRIGG HALL (NT)
Felbrigg, Norwich, Norfolk NR11 8PR
Tel: 01263 837444
Country house of early and late seventeenth-century buildings periods, with important Grand Tour collections.
HOLKHAM HALL
Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk NR23 1AB
Tel: 01328 710227
Eighteenth-century Palladian-style mansion, built to designs by William Kent, Matthew Brettingham and the 1st Earl of Leicester.
HOUGHTON HALL
Houghton, King?s Lynn, Norfolk PE31 6UE
Tel: 01485 528569
Built in the 1720s and 1730s for Sir Robert Walpole to designs by James Gibbs.
OXBURGH HALL (NT)
Oxborough, King?s Lynn, Norfolk PE33 9PS
Tel: 01366 328258
Moated manor house built in 1482, its interiors remodelled in the nineteenth century.
SANDRINGHAM HOUSE
Sandringhma, Norfolk PE35 6EN
Tel: 01553 772675
Neo-Jacobean house built in 1870 for the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII). Country home of H. M. The Queen.
OXFORDSHIRE
BLENHEIM PALACE
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1PX
Tel: 08700 602080
English baroque palace designed by John Vanbrugh for the 1st Duke of Marlborough.
BROUGHTON CASTLE
Broughton, Banbury, Oxfordshire OX15 5EB
Tel: 01295 722547
Originally moated manor house of c. 1300, rebuilt in the mid-sixteenth century.
DITCHLEY PARK
Enstone, Oxfordshire OX7 4ER
Tel: 01608 677346
Eighteenth-century house designed by James Gibbs, with interiors by William Kent and Henry Flitcroft.
KELMSCOTT MANOR
Kelmscott, Lechlade, Oxfordshire GL7 3HJ
Tel: 01367 252486
Sixteenth-century manor house, leased by William Morris as his summer house in the late nineteenth century.
KINGSTON BAGPUIZE HOUSE
Kingston Bagpuize, nr Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX12 5AX
Tel: 01865 820259
Late seventeenth-century red-brick house, with handsome panelled interiors.
STONOR
Stonor Park, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 6HF
Tel: 01491 638587
A Tudor manor house, set within a deer park and built around a twelfth-century dwelling. Stonor was subsequently remodelled in the sixteenth century, with the addition of sash windows in the eighteenth century.
SUFFOLK
HENGRAVE HALL
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP28 6LZ
Tel: 01284 701561
Early sixteenth-century manor house, built around a courtyard (originally moated).
ICKWORTH HOUSE (NT)
The Rotunda, Horringer, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk IP29 5QE
Tel: 01284 735270
Late eighteenth-century house with a huge rotunda, completed in the 1820s.
KENTWELL HALL
Long Melford, Suffolk CO10 9BA
Tel: 01787 310207
Moated Tudor manor house, with some interiors altered in the 1820s in the Gothic style of Thomas Hopper.
MELFORD HALL (NT)
Long Melford, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 9AA
Tel: 01787 379228
A little-altered Tudor mansion house with turrets.
SOMERLEYTON HALL
Lowestoft, Suffolk NR32 5QQ
Tel: 01502 734901
Great Victorian country house designed in neo-Jacobean style by John Thomas.
SURREY
CLANDON PARK (NT)
West Clandon, Guildford, Surrey GU4 7RQ
Tel: 01483 222482
Palladian country house designed in the 1730s by the Venetian architect Giacomo Leoni for the 2nd Lord Onslow, with a two-storeyed Marble Hall and chimneypieces by the sculptor John Rysbrack.
HAM HOUSE (NT)
Ham Street, Ham, Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey TW10 7RS
Tel: 020 8940 1950
A seventeenth-century grand house on the banks of the Thames, built in 1610 and extended during the 1670s by the extravagant Duchess of Lauderdale.
HAMPTON COURT PALACE (HRP)
East Molesey, Surrey KT8 9AU
Tel: 08707 527777
Henry VIII?s magnificent early sixteenth-century riverside palace.
HATCHLANDS PARK (NT)
East Clandon, Guildford, Surrey GU4 7RT
Tel: 01483 222482
Mid-eighteenth-century house, with fine Robert Adam interiors and wooded park landscape by Humpry Repton, home to the historic Cobbe Collection of Old Master paintings, portraits and keyboard instruments.
LOSELEY PARK
Guildford, Surrey Gu23 1HS
Tel: 01483 405120
A house built in 1562-68 from the stone of a demolished abbey.
PAINSHILL PARK
Portsmouth Road, Cobham, Surrey KT11 1JE
Tel: 01932 868113
Important eighteenth-century landscaped park designed by the Hon. Charles Hamilton.
SUSSEX
PETWORTH HOUSE (NT)
Petworth, Sussex GU28 0AE
Tel: 01798 342207
Magnificent late seventeenth-century house, with carvings by Grinling Gibbons.
STANDEN (NT)
West Hoathly Road, East Grinstead, Sussex RH19 4NE
Tel: 01342 323029
House designed in the 1890s by Phillip Webb and furnished by Morris and Co.
UPPARK (NT)
South Harting, Petersfield, Sussex GU31 5QR
Tel: 01730 825415
Imposing late seventeenth-century house on the South Downs, recently restored after a major fire.
WEST SUSSEX
ARUNDEL CASTLE
Arundel, West Sussex BN18 9AB
Tel: 01903 882173
Seat of the Dukes of Norfolk since 1580, the ancient castle, dating from the 1070s, was restored in an early English style by the architect C. A. Buckler in the late nineteenth century.
GOODWOOD HOUSE
Goodwood, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 0PX
Tel: 01234 755040
Seat of the Dukes of Richmond substantially rebuilt in the late eighteenth century by James Wyatt.
PARHAM HOUSE
Parham Park, Storrington, nr Pulborough, West Sussex RH20 4HS
Tel: 01903 742021
Elizabethan manor house restored in the 1920s by the Pearson family.