Harlaxton Manor, Lincolnshire: An American evolution
A landmark of Victorian England that was restored to splendour thanks to an American university.
Marston House, Somerset: A magnificent example of Victorian enrichment of a great Georgian country house
John Robinson on the remarkable history of this building and its return to private occupation after being saved from the wrecking ball.
Ockwells Manor, Berkshire: An insight into the splendours of grand living in 15th-century England
John Goodall on how a delightful timber-frame house offers insights into the realities of luxurious 15th-century living and the brutal complexities of Lancastrian politics.
Ince Castle, Cornwall: A country house risen from the flames
A serious fire can be the end of a country house, but, on occasion, it can also offer the opportunity for a sensitive and thoughtful reworking of a building. Ince Castle demonstrates this to perfection.
The demolition of Halnaby Hall is a warning from history, but destruction needn’t always be a disaster
The loss of our great country houses is lamentable, but need not always spell doom. Lucy Denton of Bidwells – who has family connections to the infamously-demolished Halnaby Hall – explains.
Stockton House, Wiltshire: An Elizabethan house packed with 21st century surprises
It takes a practised eye to spot what has happened to Stockton House over the past four years. At first sight, the house, set in Wiltshire’s lovely Wylye Valley, looks much as it did when Country Life last visited in 1984 or even when we first wrote about it in 1905. Read more at https://www.countrylife.co.uk/architecture/stockton-house-wiltshire-subtly-improving-on-the-elizabethans-172661#pgmTW8WhcvYHBuzW.99
Woodhall Park, Hertfordshire: An exemplary example of restoration that highlights the importance of colour in Georgian interiors
Woodhall Park was the creation of two notorious Indian nabobs, Sir Thomas Rumbold and Paul Benfield. Both men grew exceedingly and rapidly rich in the 1760s. Both returned to England to invest their new fortunes in a country estate.
Capheaton Hall, Northumberland: The revival of a country house that narrowly avoided demolition
The Swinburnes, to whose descendants this house still belongs, came into possession of Capheaton in 1270. Against all the odds they're still there and going strong.
Ashby St Legers: A spectacular house where the Gunpowder Plot was hatched
This house associated with the Gunpowder Plot was splendidly enlarged by Lutyens and is now enjoying a new lease of life as a modern family home.
Chenies Manor: The Tudor estate that encompasses an ancient oak tree beneath which Elizabeth I lost a piece of jewellery
This Tudor house was the unlikely venue for the first meeting of the founding group of The Arts Society. John Goodall tells its remarkable story.
The Country House Library: Why these rooms and their collections need to be taken much more seriously
A new account of the country-house library will compel us all to reassess these rooms and their collections, says John
Broomhall, Fife: A stupendous country house restored by the Earl of Elgin after 40 years of thought
The Earl of Elgin, celebrated for securing the sculpture from the Parthenon, spent 40 years toying with the reconstruction of
Alston Court, Suffolk: A vivid insight into Tudor living on the grand scale
One of the most important late-medieval merchant’s houses in the country offers a vivid insight into Tudor living on the
Stanford Hall, Leicestershire: A vibrant estate playing an active role in the world around it
An ambitious round of restoration work is reviving an estate and country house after a challenging 20th century. John Goodall
-
Who you gonna call to tell them about Country Life's Quiz of the Day, August 27, 2025Wednesday's quiz is out of this world, but also of this world.
-
‘The closest that screenwriting has ever got to Shakespearean’: In an era of television slop, what should you be watching?Members of the Country Life team reveal what they’re watching — and rewatching — this autumn.
-
Inside the remarkable restoration of King George III's observatoryCommissioned by George III, the observatory has a long and fascinating history as a seat of scientific endeavour. It has now been restored as a home, as William Aslet reports.
-
‘Its loss became a cautionary tale, and a rallying cry for architectural conservation’: The rise and fall and renewed interest in Ireland’s remarkable country housesLesley Bond traces a brief history of Ireland’s country houses and questions whether you can ever separate the house from the history it represents.
-
Allerton Castle: The great country house that blends Hampton Court, Highclere and the Palace of WestminsterA disastrous fire in 2005 prompted the rebirth of Allerton Castle, North Yorkshire, an outstanding Victorian house with a deep and remarkable history. Photographs by Paul Highnam.
-
In our built heritage, is the truth stranger than fiction?Athena considers how our historic buildings are presented in an age of film and television.
-
Art Deco: The striking design style that embraced it allArt Deco, with its exuberant passion for geometry, luxury and shiny chrome, cocooned troubled times in a layer of glitz. A century after the style gained its name, Gavin Plumley surveys one of the 20th century’s most all-encompassing movements.
-
Nuthall Temple: The Palladian masterpiece that was blown up to make way for the M1Every Monday, Melanie Bryan, delves into the hidden depths of Country Life's extraordinary archive to bring you a long-forgotten story, photograph or advert.
-
Everingham Park: The revival of a lost vision of Georgian gloryBuilt between 1758 and 1764, Everingham Park, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, was brilliantly reinvented in the 1960s. It also possesses an opulent chapel, a triumphalist product of Catholic Emancipation. John Goodall reports on this Georgian house, home of Philip and Helen Guest. Photography by Paul Highnam for the Country Life Picture Library.
-
Sir Denys Lasdun: The brains behind the building branded 'a clever way of building a nuclear power station in the middle of London’ by The KingJohn Betjeman admired Sir Denys Lasdun’s work, but The King disliked it, and opinion remains divided to this day. Either way, the man who viewed ‘buildings as landscape’ has left an indelible mark on London.
