Stately Homes

The author Vanessa Beaumont and her husband took on his grandfather’s house, Bywell Hall just before lock down. After a period where its future was uncertain the house is now a leading character in their story

When Lady Chichester inherited Radbourne Hall, she became the custodian of a jewel in the interior-design crown – a surviving example of an almost complete John Fowler scheme. A decade on and the house has been subtly and sensitively restored to its former glory

With its Robert Adam interiors and Capability Brown landscape, Bowood is the epitome of an eighteenth-century English country house, formed by the taste and vision of previous inhabitants and now adapting gently to the needs of the twenty-first century

For Alice and Julian Kennard, preparing for Christmas at Forde Abbey is a communal activity, as everyone works together to decorate the 900-year-old house with foliage and flowers from the estate

The Sackvilles have inhabited Knole for more than four hundred years. In this extract from Knole: A Private View Of One Of Britain's Great Houses, Robert Sackville-West, the thirteenth generation of the family, takes readers on a personal tour of this “calendar house,” (so called for its legendary 365 rooms, fifty-two staircases and seven courtyards) providing a window into British history.

More than a decade after inheriting their Perthshire estate, James and Caroline Inchyra have realised its full potential, turning this bustling family home into the setting for three thriving business ventures

Built on the site of a cottage orné in a garden by Capability Brown, Cadland House has evolved through several incarnations into a graceful country house enhanced by its coastal setting

The extraordinary story of Faringdon House: the Palladian gem immortalised in Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. The eccentric Lord Berners, the inspiration for the character Lord Merlin, unexpectedly left the house to the 25 year old writer Sofka Zinovieff. Here we revisit our April 2016 piece on the extraordinary story of this home as the BBC adaptation hits screens

Thomas Clifford and his wife Clarissa on their tenure at Ugbrooke and its restoration, making use of once-forgotten furniture and rehanging family portraits

After moving from London to Wiltshire, Ed and Polly Nicholson brought this Georgian house to life with eclectic art, antiques and an abundance of flowers from their cutting garden, from which Polly now runs a floristry business

Interior designer Fiona Shelburne's clever mix of contemporary touches and a killer art collection brings freshness to this classic English country-house

As the son of the celebrated artist and sculptor Gerald Laing, Farquhar Ogilvie-Laing is ensuring his family’s legacy lives on, both in the Highland castle home his father saved from ruin and through his prosperous bronze foundry

For former House & Garden retail editor Carole Annett, a passing request for decorating advice from her friend, the interior designer Emma Sims Hilditch, turned into the top-to-bottom redecoration of her Surrey house in time for Christmas

Combining classical proportions and traditional furnishings with the informal elements of family life, this house in Cornwall has proved to be the perfect acquisition for its owners

At Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire – former home of the Mitford sisters – Rosie Pearson has restored the Jacobean house and gardens, which now provide the setting for a biennial celebration of contemporary sculpture.