Britain’s 15 greatest stately homes

Britain has more than 3,000 stately homes, and many are open to us hoi polloi. Indeed, visiting a stately home has become a staple leisure activity: what could be more British than a weekend drive to a fancy pile, a look at some portraits, and then tea and scones?

John Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford, was an industry pioneer. Faced with astronomical death duties, he opened his place, Woburn Abbey, in 1955. Later, he wrote How to Run A Stately Home, a must-read for aristocrats thinking of doing the same and a good guide to what’s required to be one of the best.

1. Loos

“The first thing you need is good loos and plenty of them,” the Duke of Bedford states in How to Run A Stately Home. “To see a Rembrandt… even a gold-plated dinner service may give pleasure; but it is not a biological necessity after a long drive. To visit the loo is.”

Best of British: Audley End, Essex

Is it crass to laud one of England’s grandest Jacobean mansions, once owned by King Charles II, primarily for its loos? Perhaps. But, among Audley End’s many fine attributes, are its innovations in domestic technology. Visit to learn about John Griffin Griffin, the 18th-century owner, who was one of the first to install mod cons such as flushing toilets, piped water and servant bell pulls.

Visit: Open daily April-October, varied days November-March; £20/£12.50 adult/child (0370 333 1181).

Stay: Cambridge Lodge, Audley End’s Victorian gatehouse, costs from £540 for three nights, sleeping four.

Honourable mention: Brodsworth Hall, South Yorkshire – home to a restored garden privy.

2. Grandeur

Stately homes weren’t mere houses, they were physical statements of lineage, influence and wealth. “Ideally the house you open to the public should be a large edifice,” reckoned the Duke. “[Visitors] like to look at something immense, preferably preposterous.”

Best of British: Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire

Can any stately home beat Blenheim? The only non-royal country house in England deemed a “palace”, and a designated Unesco World Heritage Site, Blenheim is a behemoth of the Baroque, sitting within immense Capability Brown-designed grounds, with a stellar claim to fame – Winston Churchill was born here. It has it all: explore ostentatious state rooms, take a below-stairs tour, visit Bridgerton filming locations and get lost in a maze made of 3,000 yews.

Visit: Open year-round; £38/£22 adult/child (01993 810530).

Stay: Reopened in 2024, the refurbed Feathers in Woodstock (01993 812291) offers B&B doubles from £300 per night.

Honourable mention: Hopetoun House, near Edinburgh – self-proclaimed “Scotland’s finest stately home”.

3. Fancy fixtures and fittings

Stately home furnishings were often about showing off and trendsetting rather than comfort. Though these days, we may regard things slightly differently: “People look at your antique furniture,” wrote the Duke, “and rejoice in their hearts that it is you who have to keep it clean, not they.”

Best of British: Nostell, West Yorkshire

Nostell is an impressive Georgian home. But it is what’s inside that’s truly world class. The politically aspirational Winn family, keen to appear fashionable, enlisted furniture-maker extraordinaire Thomas Chippendale to supply more than 100 items, from Japanned cupboards to chopping blocks. This collection is accompanied by other treasures, including a John Harrison longhouse clock and an intricate 1730s dolls’ house.

Visit: Open year-round, house closed November (01924 863892; nationaltrust.org.uk).

Stay: Luxe country-house hotel Wentbridge House (01977 620444; wentbridgehouse.co.uk) offers B&B doubles from £169 per night.

Honourable mention: Wrest Park, Bedfordshire – wallpaper tours explore the superb hangings in its rarely opened French and Chinese rooms.

4. An eminent resident

“Not everybody is keenly interested in 18th-century French furniture,” wrote the Duke, “but a person is a person.” A notable name attached to a stately home will draw in the crowds.

Best of British: Greenway, Devon

There are grander houses than Greenway. But this creamy, dreamy Georgian villa on the Dart river feels so liveable, which is exactly why Agatha Christie bought it, using it for family holidays. Greenway is preserved in Christie’s 1950s; you can see her bed, her books, her piano and her collection of curios, ranging from silverware to medicine (poison?) bottles. You can visit the boathouse, used as the murder scene in Dead Man’s Folly, and the drawing room, where she would read guests her latest mystery.

Visit: Open daily, February-October, weekends November-December; £16.50/£8.30 adult/child (01803 843235).

Stay: The Apartment at Greenway costs from £779 for three nights, sleeping eight.

Honourable mention: Abbotsford House, Scottish Borders – romantic Tweedside home of Sir Walter Scott.

5. Landscaped grounds

Humphry Repton was commissioned to redesign Woburn’s grounds in 1805, following the 18th-century fashion to turn one’s estate into a romanticised vision of rural Britain. The ideal stately home has a sprawling park, preferably designed by either Repton or Capability Brown.

Best of British: Stourhead, Wiltshire

Upon opening in the 1740s, Stourhead was described as “a living work of art”. Everything around this Palladian house – the shimmering lake, the exotic and venerable trees, the classical temples, the ornamental bridge – is strategically arranged to offer the most picturesque views. Walk the garden trails and strike out for Alfred’s Tower, a spiral staircase of 205 steps runs up this hill-top folly, which affords views over three counties.

Visit: Open year-round; £22/£11 adult/child (01747 841152).

Stay: The Spread Eagle Inn at Stourhead (01747 840587) offers characterful B&B doubles from £130 per night.

Honourable mention: Croome, Worcestershire: Capability Brown’s first big commission.

6. Ghosts

“One absolutely indispensable attraction is a ghost,” wrote the Duke. “All things eerie, frightening and sinister are good for business.”

Best of British: Blickling Hall, Norfolk

Ghosts don’t come much higher profile than Anne Boleyn, who is thought to have been born in the Tudor house that once stood here, and is said to haunt the fine Jacobean hall that replaced it: the former queen has been seen arriving in a carriage drawn by headless horses, driven by headless horsemen, carrying her own head.

Less ghoulish are Blickling’s outstanding Long Gallery and library (home to 12,500 books), printing museum, neat gardens and vast parklands, rippling across the Bure meadows.

Visit: Open year-round, with varied hours and access; £16.60/£8.30 adult/child (01263 738030).

Stay: Mini-castle-like Blickling Tower costs from £714 for three nights, sleeping four.

Honourable mention: Llanerchaeron, Ceredigion – Georgian villa where spirits can be felt and smelt in the serving quarters.

7. A place in history

“If your house has a long and infamous history, it will help,” wrote the Duke. “If a gruesome murder has been committed under your roof, you are lucky.”

Best of British: Holdenby, Northamptonshire

It’s said Northamptonshire has the highest concentration of stately homes in the country, and Holdenby is one of its highlights. A Tudor prodigy house – built to host Elizabeth I, should she have ever wished to visit – it was once the largest private residence in England. Elizabeth never came, but Charles I was held under house arrest here for five months in 1647 – a plaque marks the spot where he stood when Cromwell’s men came to cart him off.

Visit: Gardens and falconry open weekends April-September, house open Bank Holidays; £14/£11 (01604 770074).

Stay: Flore House (01327 341179), a former Jacobean hunting lodge nearby, offers doubles from £195 per night with breakfast hamper.

Honourable mention: Hatfield Park, Hertfordshire – this Jacobean estate is where Elizabeth I learnt she’d become queen.

8. An extra attraction

The Duke created Woburn Safari Park in 1970, which he admitted solved his financial woes. His advice? Get a lot of monkeys: “They are cheaper to buy and feed than the lions, and they steal the show every time.”

Best of British: Longleat, Wiltshire

Longleat, the Marquess of Bath’s magnificent Elizabethan seat, opened the first drive-through safari park outside Africa in 1966, inspiring the Duke to open his own. Longleat remains well stocked, with more than 120 species. As well as wildlife-spotting by car, you can also safari by train, boat and on foot; VIP experiences – from tiger feeding to breakfast with the aardvarks – allow even closer encounters.

Visit: Limited winter opening; from £42.95/£32.95 adult/child (01985 844400).

Stay: There are several properties on the Longleat Estate; Keepers’ House, overlooking the safari park, costs from £600 for two nights, sleeping four.

Honourable mention: Walton Hall, Cheshire – a free kids’ zoo is packed with rescue donkeys, pot-bellied pigs and pygmy goats.

9. A formal garden

The Duke put lions in his grounds, but there’s no need to go that far – some topiary ones will do, or animal statuary dotted about terraces and parterres.

Best of British: Leith Hall, Aberdeenshire

Dating from 1650, this baronial estate is full of surprises, but its centrepiece is a magnificent Arts and Crafts garden, flourishing at 610ft above sea level. There are bountiful herbaceous borders, a rock garden, zig-zag paths, lichen-encrusted steps, a Chinese Moon Gate and spiral-cut lawns. Beyond, waymarked trails offer a chance to see Leith’s “fantastic five”: kingfishers, otters, teal, badgers and wildcats.

Visit: Garden open year-round, hall closed November-March; £15/£12 adult/child (01464 831216).

Stay: Luxury cabins at Boutique Farm Bothies in nearby Huntly (07973 264003) cost from £270 for two nights, sleeping two to eight.

Honourable mention: Levens Hall, Cumbria – home to the world’s oldest topiary.

10. Scandal

The Duke himself was a character: thrice married, snappy dresser, appearances in Coronation Street. All good publicity if you’re trying to pull in the crowds.

Best of British: Plas Newydd, Denbighshire

From 1780 to 1829, this Welsh Borders cottage was home to Lady Eleanor Butler and Miss Sarah Ponsonby – the “Ladies of Llangollen” – who scandalised and intrigued Georgian society. With a penchant for men’s clothing and sharing a bed, they’re considered by some to be early lesbian icons. The women transformed Plas Newydd and its gardens into a Gothic fantasy; here, they entertained everyone from Wordsworth and Walter Scott to Anne Lister. An exhibition in the dressing room tells their tale.

Visit: Open Wednesday-Sunday, April-October; £9/£7 adult/child (01978 862834).

Stay: The 15th-century Tower in Flintshire (01352 755043; tower.wales) offers B&B doubles from £180 for two nights.

Honourable mention: Shibden Hall, West Yorkshire – atmospheric 1420s home, once owned by Anne “Gentleman Jack” Lister.

11. An on-screen appearance

The Duke allowed a film called Nudist Paradise to be shot at Woburn – the content was irrelevant, he said, as long as it brought the cash in. Set-jetting (visiting filming locations) is an increasingly popular trend.

Best of British: Lyme, Cheshire

Since Mr Darcy clambered out of that lake, in that shirt, Lyme has been a must-visit for many an Austen/Firth fan – the imposing Palladian-influenced house on the edge of the Peak District played Pemberley in the BBC’s 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. The lake is just part of this 1,400-acre estate, which is fantastic for striding about (dripping wet or not) and spotting deer. Inside, explore 600 years of history, and don a bonnet in the Regency Dressing Room.

Visit: Park open year-round, house closed over winter; £16.50/£8.30 adult/child (01663 762023).

Stay: Lyme’s East and West Lodges cost from £405 for two nights, both sleeping four.

Honourable mention: Chavenage, Gloucestershire – star of both Poldark and, more recently, Rivals.

12. A world-class collection

Don’t hide your good stuff and put only the rubbish on show, warned the Duke: “A poor and denuded stately home will be visited – but only once.”

Best of British: Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute

Built from the ashes of the burnt-down original, this Victorian Neo-Gothic red-sandstone wonder is a work of art in itself – the craftsmanship is exquisite, from the woodwork and stained-glass windows to the star map on the ceiling of the Marble Hall. But the Marquesses of Bute have always been avid patrons of the arts, leaving Mount Stuart with an eclectic collection of paintings, sculpture, tapestry, textiles and metalwork, plus a first folio of Shakespeare (only discovered in 2016) and the marriage certificate of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Visit: Open April-October; £17/£9.50 adult/child (01700 503877).

Stay: Mount Stuart has seven holiday cottages; the Kennels costs from £745 per week, sleeping four.

Honourable mention: Kingston Lacy, Dorset – a mini “national gallery” of Velazquezs, Titians and Brueghels.

13. Hidden secrets

A huge house is bound to hold secrets. Woburn is currently closed for restoration (reopening 2026), which is, say the current Duke and Duchess of Bedford, “revealing new and interesting details”. Details, especially hidden ones, are good for business.

Best of British: Harvington Hall, Worcestershire

Harvington is known as the “house of secrets”. This moated Elizabethan manor has seven priest holes, added by the devoutly Catholic Pakington family during the Reformation. These range from a teeny space above the bread oven (entered via a trapdoor in the privy) to a huge attic hideaway that the priest could access via a false chimney.

Visit: Open Wednesday-Sunday, February-October, weekends November-December; £13.75/£8.25 (01562 777846).

Stay: A former Victorian country house, Brockencote Hall Hotel (01562 777876) offers doubles from £155 per night, room only.

Honourable mention: Norton Conyers, North Yorkshire – its secret staircase, only discovered in 2004, is thought to have inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.

14. Tea rooms

Along with lavatories and parking, good teas are essential, according to the Duke. “Provide these three commodities, then – according to my computer – 87.3 per cent of visitors will not notice if you have no house at all.”

Best of British: Wentworth Woodhouse, South Yorkshire

This enormous 18th-century pile is one of Europe’s biggest private homes, with more than 300 rooms and a 600ft Palladian facade. It’s currently undergoing a huge restoration, expected to take 20 years. One of the latest completed projects was the transformation of its Grade II-listed Georgian camellia house into an award-winning tea room, which has views over orchards to the Ionic Temple and a menu based on locally sourced produce. Afternoon teas are also available in Wentworth’s Long Gallery.

Visit: Open year-round; £15.95/free adult/child (01226 351161).

Stay: The Rockingham Arms in Wentworth (01226 742075) offers B&B doubles from £75 per night.

Honourable mention: Lyntham Hall, Lancashire – luxury afternoon teas are served in the old library.

15. A bit of ordinary

“A number of people are only interested in the commonplace things,” wrote the Duke. “The Ming dynasty is all right, but what they really want to know is what soap you use and where you bought your vacuum cleaner.”

Best of British: Calke Abbey, Derbyshire

A Baroque 18th-century mansion built on the site of an Augustinian priory, Calke is the “un-stately stately home”. It is displayed as it was left, in a state of arrested decay: peeling wallpaper, rusting metal, shabby fabric; rooms cluttered with hoarded paraphernalia, from the rare and precious to the broken and mundane. Calke is fascinating in its faded grandeur, which tells the story of the decline of Britain’s stately homes.

Visit: Parkland open year-round, house March-October; from £7.50/£3.75 (01332 863822).

Stay: Breedon Hall (01332 864935), a late-Georgian manor house, offers B&B doubles from £255 for two nights.

Honourable mention: Leighton Hall, Lancashire – a family home where visitors are invited to touch artefacts and sit on furniture.