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Staffordshire's fairytale flatpack glass palace destroyed by Second World War soldiersThe repeal of a tax on glass led to the construction of some awesome hot- and glasshouses, including the one at Enville Hall.
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The long-lost mini mansion where one of Victorian England’s greatest ever rags-to-riches stories played outMelanie Bryan delves into the Country Life Archive to find out what happened to Maiden Erlegh.
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This Victorian abbey was so magnificent that Country Life mourned it twiceCountry Life’s photographs of Abercairny Abbey are considered to be the most complete visual record of it.
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Immortalised in 'Poldark' and ravaged by fire: Cornwall's first modern manor houseParts of Tehidy House, a historic Grade II-listed mansion, still stand near Camborne in Cornwall, but it's just not quite the same, says Melanie Bryan.
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This ruinous stately home inspired one of Britain's greatest satirical paintingsMelanie Bryan delves into the Country Life Archive to uncover the story of Sutton Scarsdale Hall.
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Your parents could have bought Ardross Castle — home of The Traitors — for just £70,000Melanie Bryan delves into the Country Life archives and uncloaks the history of the turreted Highland castle made famous by the global TV franchise, 'The Traitors'.
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Beheadings, a duplicitous solicitor and a Rembrandt for the price of an Oasis ticket: The sorry story of Sprotborough HallThe definition of 'investment' takes on a new meaning for this South Yorkshire home modelled on the Palace of Versailles.
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How a sweet malted milk gave rise to the finest garden in Edwardian EnglandThe story behind the pleasure gardens of Cowley Manor is a fascinating one, albeit with an all too predictable ending.
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Country Life's 'unusually hurried and ill-composed photographs' of a curious home eviscerated by The BlitzRadnor House was unfashionable... until it wasn't.
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The rise and ruin of an Elizabethan Hall that tried in vain to prepare a war poet for the trenchesWilfred Owen was one of a myriad First World War troops who learned the art of trench warfare at Park Hall.
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Thomas Becket, a lion and the author of 'Out of Africa' all lived in this medieval monastery photographed for Country LifeMelanie Bryan recounts the fascinating history of Haverholme Priory.
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Even a visit from Queen Mary couldn't save this 15th-century Yorkshire mansion from Britain's coal industryMethley Hall surpassed everyone's expectations and managed to stay standing long beyond its time.
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Bird poo fuelled the First World War and also financed this manor house with a plant collection that rivals KewMelanie Bryan recounts the green-tinged history of Aldenham House.
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The great Tudor hall that housed the guillotine probably used on Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette was executed by guillotine on October 16, 1793. Rumour has is that the exact same machine found its way to Weald Hall in Essex where it was photographed by Country Life.
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This remarkable timbered home was preserved for 300 years — and then flattened by a earlLynmore Hall was inextricably linked to the fall and rise of the British monarchy, but it only took a humble earl to finish it off.
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The unpublished photographs of a gargantuan Victorian mansion whose bulldozed remains were dumped in its own ornamental lakeWarter Priory was once a prime example of peak Victoriana architecture and interior design — but it met a watery end.
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'It contained a hippopotamus, which lived in the Billiards Room': The strange country house that gave way to a crematoriumMelanie Bryan traces the history of Muntham Court and its eccentric residents.
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A lost Surrey garden infested with peacocks and influenced by Gertrude JekyllValewood Farm and gardens was described as 'straying into a Hans Christian Andersen fairy story'
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Felled by a pair of cursed shoes — the butterfly-shaped house that Lutyens builtMelanie Bryan investigates the spooky and eccentric history of Papillon Hall.
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What do Rihanna and a 19th century vegetarian activist have in common? This sprawling Tudor house that American money couldn't saveMelanie Bryan traces the history of Cassiobury House — and its bohemian inhabitants.
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The never-before-seen, 70-year-old photographs of Pugin's Bishop's House that Parliament destroyed to make room for a ring roadMelanie Bryan tells the tale of a Gothic Revival bishop's residence in Birmingham that lives on only in the Country Life Archive.
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The pen is mightier than dynamite: A truly unique 20th-century building destroyed by the wrong paperworkWhat happens when you accidentally knock down the wrong Fonthill House.
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House of the Dragon: The Elizabethan mansion protected by a fire-breathing beast — until it wasn'tMelanie Bryan recounts the fascinating story of Drakelow Hall.
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The financier, racing driver and prolific party animal who saved — and then lost — one of the 20th century's most notable country housesArdenrun Place was a short-lived yet architecturally notable English country house. Melanie Bryan tells its tale.
