'When they came to me and said, "do you want to do a book on the Guinness houses?" I leapt at the chance. Because, I've got to tell you, they have some astonishing houses. I mean, some really amazing places.'
So says Adrian Tinniswood, who — like the Guinness family houses — is also amazing and astonishing.
Subscribe to the Country Life Podcast
He's a historian and writer who has enjoyed a fifty-year career writing books about the greatest houses in Britain which manage to be simultaneously scholarly, fascinating and wildly entertaining. Adrian's new book, The Houses of Guinness (Scala, £34), is out at the beginning of November, tying in nicely with the new Netflix series about the Guinness family.
'I don't know if you've seen it, James,' Adrian tells the podcast host, James Fisher. 'It's fascinating. There's very little truth in it, but it's a fascinating piece of TV.'
Adrian tells James about how his early studies in literature fell away as he began his career, first with a temporary job working at Sudbury Hall, and then when he read Mark Girouard's Life in the English Country House. 'Still, 50 years later, that book is a bible for me,' Adrian says. 'That just changed the game as far as country houses were concerned.'
Adrian goes on to talk through his work, his favourite places and some of the most extraordinary tales of the Guinness family's houses and the colourful characters who inhabited them. He takes us through the early days of cunning business decisions, the wild success of the stout that bears the family name and the philanthropy which ushered them into the corridors of power, right through to the wild parties where the later generations of Guinness heirs rubbed shoulders with The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. It's a wonderful episode, and we hope you enjoy it.
The Houses of Guinness by Adrian Tinniswood is out in November (Scala, £34).
Episode credits
Host: James Fisher
Guest: Adrian Tinniswood
Editor and producer: Toby Keel
Music: JuliusH via Pixabay
-
The secret life of seeds: The little wonders that sustain all life on EarthThey might not be especially striking to look at — if you can see them at all — but seeds are among the natural world’s most awe-inspiring marvels.
-
Country Life 15 October 2025Country Life 15 October 2025 plants hedges with Alan Titchmarsh, pulls up a chair in the London Library and basks in autumn's beautiful colours.
-
‘One remembers not to give the Queen a thump of joyful friendliness’: Remembering Norman Parkinson — revolutionary fashion photographer and Cecil Beaton’s only homegrown rivalCecil Beaton might be the toast of London right now, with a new exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, but contemporary Norman Parkinson was always hot on his heels.
-
‘She was a sort of fairy godmother to Country Life’: Mark Hedges, Tom Parker Bowles, Sophia Money-Coutts and more on the genius of Jilly CooperJilly Cooper appeared in the pages of Country Life multiple times. Here, friends of the magazine reflect on time spent with her and what she meant to them.
-
Amanda Owen: The Yorkshire Shepherdess on farming, life, and having tea with her sheepLife can be beautiful for farmers, and often is — but it can also be hard and bleak. James Robinson joined the Country Life Podcast to talk about the extraordinary ups and downs of the job he loves, and how Nature helps out when things get tough.
-
The new rat-pack: the Gen-Z team saving shearwaters and killing invasive species on a remote island in the Irish seaMeet the twenty-somethings trading clubbing and pub quizzes for bird ringing and hard graft on the Calf of Man.
-
Sophia Money-Coutts: 'Strictly Come Dancing' is back and I hate it. Do I have to pretend otherwise for the next three months?Spoiler alert: Yes, you do have to pretend to like it.
-
James Robinson: A fifth-generation farmer on the ups and downs of 'the most glorious job in the world'Life can be beautiful for farmers, and often is — but it can also be hard and bleak. James Robinson joined the Country Life Podcast to talk about the extraordinary ups and downs of the job he loves, and how Nature helps out when things get tough.
-
Hollywood star Audrey Hepburn, whose early career was formed in London, is to be honoured with a prestigious Blue PlaqueThe 'Breakfast at Tiffany’s' star’s time in the capital will be celebrated with a plaque in Mayfair on the walls of her former home, and a film screening.
-
Martin Brudnizki, the face behind almost every five-star hotel interior, on his consuming passionsGrilled feta with honey, The Rest is History and a bit of Bossa Nova on a Friday night — Lotte Brundle asks what drives the Swedish designer.
