Ashby St Legers: A spectacular house where the Gunpowder Plot was hatched
A house associated with the Gunpowder Plot was splendidly enlarged by Lutyens and is now enjoying a new lease of life as a modern family home.
The most haunted houses that you can visit in England and Wales
County houses, castles and palaces almost always have stories of ghosts who have appeared over the years. We picked out 10 of the spookiest that you can visit.
Cobthorne: A home that stands out for its grace, even in the beautiful town of Oundle
This striking town house in Oundle serves as home to the head of the town's famous school – and is testimony to the zealous ambition and colourful career of its builder, an opportunist soldier and Parliamentarian in Cromwellian times.
Château de Lassay: The castle of Bluebeard’s widow
This magnificent French castle has a remarkably colourful history. Its present owners have made heroic strides in restoring its fabric and are determined to preserve it for the future.
Kedleston Hall: A National Trust gem restored to its extraordinary former glory
It's 30 years since the National Trust raised the money to buy Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. The work done since then is nothing short of staggering
Torosay Castle: The Hebridean shooting lodge that stayed in one family for 150 years
Mary Miers tells the story of a Victorian shooting lodge owned by the same family for 147 years – with photographs by Simon Jauncey taken by Country Life shortly before the house and its contents were sold.
Upton House: A beautiful 1750 creation by Halfpenny, updated in a manner he’d have loved
Upton House, just outside Tetbury, is a beautiful Georgian house that has been brilliantly extended in a manner which is so sympathetic as to be scarcely noticeable.
Chitcombe House, Dorset: A modern Classical creation
An award-winning country house was completed in 2014 by Dorset-based architect Stuart Martin. We explored the themes of this clever and compact design in the Classical tradition.
Powderham: The Devonshire castle that’s been in the same family for 600 years
An ancestral West Country home that has passed through the hands of one family for the past 600 years has, since the 18th century, developed a dazzling succession of interiors.
Great Chalfield Manor: The magic of the Middle Ages
The serene beauty of this magnificent 15th-century manor house belies a complex and eventful history.
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ChilstoneChilstone have been makers of fine cast stone garden ornaments and architectural stone since 1953.
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Guild AndersonGuild Anderson’s work in country houses and historic buildings centres around the design and reimagining of domestic working spaces, chiefly kitchens, sculleries, boot rooms and pantries.
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Cath Harries — The photographer on a 15-year quest to find the most incredible doors in London -
The extraordinary Egyptian-style Leeds landmark hoping to become a second British Library — and they used to let sheep graze on the roofThe project has been awarded £10million from the Government, but will cost £70million in total.
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Art, architecture and plastic bricks at Lego House: 'It's as if the National Gallery set up easels and paints next to the masterpieces and invited you try your hand at creating a Van Gogh'The rural Danish town where Lego was created is dominated by the iconic toy — and at Lego House, it has a fittingly joyful site of pilgrimage. Toby Keel paid a visit.
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Restoration House: The house in the heart of historic Rochester that housed Charles II and inspired Charles DickensJohn Goodall looks at Restoration House in Rochester, Kent — home of Robert Tucker and Jonathan Wilmot — and tells the tale of its remarkable salvation.
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'A glimpse of the sublime': Inside the drawing room of the 'grandest Palladian house in Ireland'The redecoration of the drawing room at Russborough House in Co Wicklow, Ireland, offers a fascinating insight into the aesthetic preoccupations of Grand Tourism in the mid 18th century. John Goodall explains; photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The ideal of the Scottish castle: Aldourie's joyful fantasy of turrets, invention and recreationThe process of stitching together the architectural fabric of the Aldourie estate in Inverness-shire has created an outstanding group of new and restored buildings. John Goodall explains more; photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Brutalism and the Bauhaus in BritainAdrien Brody won the Best Actor award for his turn in ‘The Brutalist’, playing the role of Lazslo Toth, one of the key movers in the architectural movement. Will Hosie takes a look at the legacy of Brutalism in Britain, looking at the best buildings both of Brutalism and the Bauhaus Movement which preceded it.
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Nature and nurture in the gardens of Bramham ParkTim Richardson looks at the innovative and superbly maintained 18th-century landscape garden of Bramham Park in West Yorkshire, home of Nick and Rachel Lane Fox. Photographs by Paul Highnam.
