HIGHCLERE CASTLE
HOLKER HALL
HOPETOUN HOUSE
HUTTON-in-the-FOREST
ICKWORTH
INVERARAY CASTLE
KEDLESTON HALL
KELMARSH HALL
KENWOOD HOUSE
KINGSTON LACY
KIRBY HALL
KNEBWORTH HOUSE
KNIGHTSHAYES COURT
KNOLE
LAMPORT HALL
LONGLEAT
LYME PARK
MAPLEDURHAM HOUSE
MELLERSTAIN
MONTACUTE HOUSE
MUNCASTER CASTLE
NEWBY HALL
PETWORTH HOUSE
POLESDEN LACEY
SCONE PALACE
SEWERBY HALL
SHUGBOROUGH
SIZERGH CASTLE
SLEDMERE HOUSE
SOMERLEYTON HALL
STANFORD HALL
STRATFIELD SAYE
SUDELEY CASTLE
SUTTON SCARSDALE HALL
TATTON PARK
TRAQUAIR
TREDEGAR HOUSE
UPPARK
WADDESDON MANOR
WILTON HOUSE
WIMPOLE HALL
WINFIELD MANOR
WITLEY COURT
WOBURN ABBEY

During the prosperous and more settled age of the Tudors, house-building flourished. New properties, and converted castles, or abbeys deserted after the Dissolution, became a status symbol - an ostentatious display of wealth, power and social standing, and a competitive arena for entertaining the royalty of the day. Many new styles were incorporated into the grand house to show appreciation of evolving trends, and distinguished architects such as Adam, Barry, Lutyens, and Vanbrugh, accumulated enviable portfolios. Attention to detail and craftsmanship became as important as the art collections and fine furniture displayed in the house.

Between the mid 16th century and the early part of the 20th century, some 500 'stately homes' were built but, with the sudden change in fortunes after the World Wars, only a small proportion of these survived as ancestral homes. Today a curious mix of part-ruined houses, living museums, and grand family estates, provide an insight into a past opulent and extravagant lifestyle. Elizabethan, Georgian, Palladian and Victorian homes are all well represented, and many have spectacular gardens or landscaped parks once fashioned by Capability Brown or Humphrey Repton.