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Elegant and congruous: How Hartland Abbey draws together eight centuries of architectural and family history
John Goodall looks at the history of Hartland Abbey in Devon after the Reformation, and its descent in the hands of one family to the present.
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Hartland Abbey: The beautiful Devon house behind which lies 1,500 years of history
David Robinson visits Hartland Abbey in Devon, a seat of Sir Hugh and Lady Stucley, starting from its nebulous medieval origins as an ancient religious site associated with the cult of St Nectan.
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How the country houses of Britain proved perfect for the Allied Forces to get ready for D-Day
Country houses great and small were indispensable to D-Day preparations, with electricity and sanitation, well-stocked wine cellars, countesses to run the canteens and antique furniture to feed the stoves, says Allan Mallinson.
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Russell House: A Broadway sensation
Russell House in Broadway, Worcestershire, is a Cotswold house beloved by an important Edwardian Anglo-American artistic circle. Now, it has been revived and restored; John Martin Robinson tells its remarkable story. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The history of Covent Garden: 500 years of the world's most famous market
It’s half a century since Covent Garden’s eponymous market travelled south of the River Thames, but it did little to dent the area’s appeal. Jack Watkins charts the history of Covent Garden from Tudor times to the present day.
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Stansted Park in the 20th century: The private made public
John Goodall traces the 20th-century evolution of Stansted Park, West Sussex, and its current revival in the care of an independent charitable trust, the Stansted Park Foundation. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Stansted Park, West Sussex: From royal favourite to stranger’s heir
John Goodall looks at the stages by which a medieval hunting lodge developed from the 17th century to become a great country house: Stansted Park, West Sussex, a property of the Stansted Park Foundation. Photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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'We cannot have beauty without paying for it': The glorious revival of Rochdale's Town Hall
A major restoration project has brought one of Britain's greatest Victorian buildings back to splendour and life. Steven Brindle explains the extraordinary story of how it came to be.
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'One of the great landmarks of the Sussex coast', finally finished some 156 years after work was started
John Goodall looks at the recent completion of the chapel of Lancing College, one of the great landmarks of the Sussex coast. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Cluny Castle: Granite, grandeur, and testimony to the exceptional wealth of its creator
Never previously described in Country Life, Cluny Castle, Aberdeenshire — the home of Cosmo and Bronya Linzee Gordon — is an outstanding Scottish castle that is also an architectural testimony to the exceptional wealth of its creator. John Goodall reports on its history and recent revival. Photography by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Newnham Paddox: The ancient country seat that's also brand new
Newnham Paddox in Warwickshire — the seat of the Earl and Countess of Denbigh and Desmond — is an ingeniously planned new house on a small scale which takes advantage of the landscape of a large predecessor demolished in the 1950s. John Martin Robinson explains more; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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The tale of Knebworth: How does your garden village grow?
A garden city planned by Sir Edwin Lutyens was never brought to completion. Plans to redevelop it today, however, threaten to destroy the character of what was created. Clive Aslet reports.
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Boston Manor House: Renewal and recovery
Boston Manor House in Brentford, Greater London — owned by the London Borough of Hounslow — is a 17th-century house that has undergone a sensitive restoration and now offers fascinating insights into changing domestic tastes, as Charles O’Brien explains.
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'Halfway between a restoration and an environmental research project' — A transformed Georgian country house
The ingenious integration of the polite and service rooms of handsome Marlwood Grange in Gloucestershire has created a modern family home.
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The exotic and irresistible beauty of Leighton House
An ambitious redevelopment project at Leighton House in West London, former home of the artist Frederic, Lord Leighton, has augmented the celebrated interiors of this magnificent studio house. John Goodall reveals how it came into being; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
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Chillingham Castle: 'Curiosity and beauty' at a spectacular castle that survived ruin by the skin of its teeth
Chillingham Castle, Northumberland — the home of Sir Humphry Wakefield Bt and the Hon Lady Wakefield — is a castle saved from the brink of ruin that is now a memorable home. John Goodall reports; photographs by Paul Highnam.
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Gilmerton House: The great Scottish country house whose history is intertwined with a pitiful murder
Gilmerton House, Lothian — the seat of Sir David Kinloch Bt — is a handsome 18th-century house that's been developed by the same family for the past four centuries. And it has an unexpectedly dramatic story to tell, as John Goodall explains; photographs by Paul Highnam for Country Life.
