Homes & Gardens

 
Waiting to welcome you are some of the most fascinating houses in the world.
 
England has more than its fair share of stately homes and great houses, from the Elizabethan Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire to majestic Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. And what really sets them apart, according to Simon Howard, owner of Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, “is the diversity of the architecture and the presence of the contents of our houses.”
Mix these houses with world-renowned English gardens, which are, in the words of George Plumptre, Chief Executive of the National Gardens Scheme, “made really special by the combination of the plants and design with the particular history and heritage of gardening in this country,” and the result is magical.
Many of our great houses – including Castle Howard – are open to visitors but some allow you to stay after everyone else has left. The writer and poet Vita Sackville-West and her husband Harold Nicolson transformed Sissinghurst Castle in Kent from a dilapidated castle into a gardening legend. Sissinghurst was – and still is – a family home and     you can share that sense of history and belonging by staying in the old Priest’s House, on the edge of Vita’s famous White Garden. The house is picture-book perfect, with mullion and leaded windows, an inglenook fireplace, wooden beams and an archway leading directly onto the estate. Better still, Vita designed the White Garden to be seen by moonlight so you will be among a privilege few to have seen that sight.
At Bowood, still home to the descendants of the first Earl of Shelburne and the first Marquess of Lansdowne, you can rent Queenswood Lodge, a four-bedroom house set in the 2,000 acres of Grade I-listed parkland. You’ll find a warm welcome from Lady Lansdowne, who says, “Sharing our home with visitors is incredibly uplifting. Bowood is a really magical Wiltshire destination and those who arrive here leave completely captivated.”