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For those of us whose ancestors failed to hover close enough to Charles II’s court as he doled out titles, visiting a stately pile can have the Brideshead effect: a wide-eyed, dry-mouthed ogle at the architectural splendour, the watercolour gardens and sheer grandeur of it all. And though most of these family seats have fallen under the auspices of the stanchion-obsessed National Trust, a clever few have mobilised their whopping assets and marched into the 21st century, roof and seat fully intact.
They’ve gritted their uneven, English teeth, and zhuzhed up coach houses, follies neglected boozers, let in the film crews and have opened their romantic stretches of parkland to the hoi polloi.
Whatever your political leanings, no one can deny the aesthetic reverie of it all; the architectural crescendos of our recent history; the follies; the drawing room views across Capability Brown-sketched gardens, towards swans gliding on lakes. Why not slip into a period drama with a stay at one of these stately homes. Bring your bonnet.
Goodwood, West Sussex
Famous for its motor racing, revival festivals and general petrol-fuelled madcap antics, Goodwood is as much a national treasure as Judi Dench or Paddington. Passed like a shiny baton down the centuries between the Dukes of Richmond, the estate had the good fortune of falling into the hands of switched-on heir, Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox (the 11th Duke) at a time when most of the UK’s stately homes were falling into the hands of the National Trust.
He mobilised his ancestral pile with track, air and saddle lust, tapping into a nostalgia for good-looking vintage cars and the enduring appeal of aristocratic pursuits. So it’s their home still, a home where Stubbs and Van Dykes’ hang casually above fires, without glass or stanchions. And it can also be yours, for a night or two — a room in the hotel at least (an 18th century lodge revived in cosy, country house style), or Hounds Lodge, where fires roar, drinks trollies wait impatiently by draped curtains and rooms with Narnia-like wardrobes are decked in heritage fabrics and eiderdown quilts.
Both are the sort of classically-dressed, piping-hot bath n’ butler stays you’re thrilled to slink home to after hours spent traipsing the South Downs (or, indeed, finessing slide control on the tracks). Small groups, families or couples escaping the London grind can nab themselves one of the charming and wholly private self-catered cottages.
Book it: goodwood.com
The Beeley Inn, Chatsworth, Derbyshire
You’re only half an aristocrat, film director or ex-footballer these days if you don’t own at least one pub, the more gnarled, ale-soaked, and ye-old-tavern in character, the better. Even the Duchess of Devonshire owns one, in Oxfordshire. But back on home turf, that is to say, Chatsworth Capability Brown parkland, the family’s on-site boozer offers a chance to drop bags, dine like a Duke and crawl upstairs, into four posters and under thick, duck down duvets.
Wake up early for a Peak District ramble, return to a farm-to-fork menu, then saunter through the house’s stately rooms and its equally resplendent gardens before returning to rounds of Chatsworth Gold by the fire.
Book it: chatsworthescapes.co.uk
Cliveden, Berkshire
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Animating all the hefty chandelier, tapestry, grand fireplace antiquity of Cliveden is a little daylight to keep the moths at bay, but also, a tangible sense of naughtiness that reaches fever pitch at that iconic, statue-framed pool. 19-year-old model and showgirl Christine Keeler famously plunged into its depths, starkers, shortly followed by John Profumo (the then Secretary of State for War).
His mishap would have been a mere footnote in the great anthologies of Britain’s scandalous stately home weekending but, as fate would have it, Keeler was also involved with a Soviet spy. The illicit affair continues to capture the British imagination and its era’s louche behaviour is easy to imagine amid Cliveden’s Italianate gardens, its silk drape-framed drawing rooms and portrait-studded hall, where fires roar and Champagne flows.
The sheer palatial heft of this Berkshire country house feels almost Versailles-grade, and is best absorbed from the convivial-spin-on-stately bar or the long Italianate terrace. From here, you’ll see the symmetrical gardens, woodland, and a lazily snaking Thames, where punting is taken very seriously — as are Brideshead Revisited-style picnics and long stints in the spa back at stately base.
Book it: Doubles from £445. clivedenhouse.co.uk
Holkham Estate, Norfolk
Up on the rump of Blighty, occupying one of the most poetic stretches of the wispy north Norfolk coastline, Holkham is a mid-18th century marvel, and home to the Earl and Countess of Leicester. Famous for its deer park, nature reserve and golden sands (along which a horse ride is almost obligatory), the estate is a fine examplof an English stately home that has really ‘made things work.’ It’s also an incredibly romantic part of the country to drop bags in and explore, not in the main house (please), but in one of the Victoria’s reasonably priced rooms (the estate’s on-site hotel), its self-catered shepherd huts, or, one of the eight lodges dotted around the estate (the William Kent-designed Triumphal Arch wins in the period drama stakes.
Book it: holkham.co.uk
Weston Park, Charlotte’s Folly, Shropshire
Young, glamorous and renowned grafters, Viscount and Viscountess Newport have confidently taken on The Bradford Estates, breathing new life into its smattering of tired buildings and generally restoring the vast estate to its former glory, with Eliza's (Viscountess Newport) design touch.
Charlotte’s Folly is just one of the Brothers Grimm-esque cottages peppered throughout the parkland — a blush-pink, gabled folly without the expected chintz and stuffiness inside. Instead, up to six guests are treated to leopard-print fire guards, bonbon pops of colour and light-filled rooms where beds are playfully slotted into Antoinette alcoves.
The gingerbread house overlooks soft lawns and lavender, a Red Riding Hood wood and a swing hanging from an old oak. Fishing jaunts to the lakes are well rewarded back at folksy base, with a roaring fire, a long stew in a claw-footed bath and hot chocolate curled up beside the diamond muntin windows for sunset.
Book it: uniquehomestays.com
Fonthill Estate, Wiltshire
Unlike Somerset, Wiltshire remains smug in its relatively undiscovered status (despite its civilised sub-two hour chug from London). And despite falling dangerously close to commuter belt territory, it still has soul and plenty of breath-snatching country piles, such as The Fonthill Estate. Owned by Lord Margdale, Alastair Morrison, this family seat is wrapped in mist-strewn parkland, upon which you’ll also find a gastro-forward country pub, The Beckford Arms, and The Arch, a fantastical 18th century gatehouse.
This design marvel is the work of Beckford Arms owner, Charlie Luxton and Paddy O’Donnell of Farrow and Ball, who pooled their colour, textile and art expertise to bring this architecturally unique gatehouse to life. There’s a roll top bath with views over the lakes, cosy nooks and a clever interplay of modern art with heritage prints and mahogany furniture.
Book it: fonthill.co.uk
Badminton House, Gloucestershire
You’ll have seen its stately splendour in the Gentleman, Bridgerton, or even Pearl Harbour. Badminton is undoubtedly one of the UK’s most striking stately homes, one that nearly every eminent architect and landscaper has had a go at (from William Kent to Capability Brown) and where the famous Badminton horse trials are held.
Passed down through the centuries to the Somerset heirs (the Dukes of Beaufort), it has, quite staggeringly, remained a family home — keeping the National Trust at bay. And while dining like a Duke in the main house is off the cards (unless you’re forking out for a wedding here), Swangrove House is a reimagined 300-year old hunting lodge — the sort of balustraded, castellated, architectural folly pulled straight from a period drama and available for bookings.
Sleeping five, this sliver of stately living is well-placed for parkland walks (well behaved dogs are allowed at an extra cost) and a particularly cosy winter bolthole with two open fires and four poster beds.
Book it: badmintonestate.com
Highclere Castle, (Downton Abbey), Berkshire
Downton Abbey disciples, hold your vintage clutches. Not only can you bumble through the ITV period drama set, otherwise known as the Berkshire-based Highclere Castle, as part of its guided tours (admiring its portraits and resplendent interiors), you can in fact stay on site, in two beautifully restored lodges. Lord and Lady Carnarvon have gone to great lengths to keep the Downtown circus at bay, generously allowing tours and teas here and there, but miraculously, their own restored lodges appear to have 2025 availability.
A precious gatehouse, London Lodge is painfully pretty — a sort of children’s storybook stay that throws you back in time. More Mediaeval in character, Grotto Lodge throws its guests back even further, with winding staircases, crenulations and narrow, defence-first windows.
Book it: highclerecastleshop.co.uk
