Historic Houses In Britain

Britain’s stately homes and grand housesare among its greatest treasures, andThe Most Amazing Stately Homes inBritain brings you the grandest, mostmagnificent, eccentric and unusual ofthem all. This wonderfully illustratedregional touring guide describes eachhouse and tells its story, following theebb and flow of fortune and fame.Every house has something that setsit apart from the rest: the magnificentfour-storey Tudor tower (set in worldfamous gardens) of Sissinghurst inKent; sumptuous painted cloth wallhangingsof romantic Owlpen Manorin Gloucestershire; superb topiary atLevens Hall in Cumbria; sinister mythsof Blickling Hall in Norfolk and theenchanting Great Garden of Edzell Castlein Scotland, created in 1604 to stimulatethe mind and the senses. Discoverancient deer parks; exquisite collectionsof furniture, national treasures andbreathtaking views, to enjoy season-byseasonand year-round.The cover features Chatsworth inDerbyshire, one of Britain’s most famoushistoric houses and the fastest-growingpaid-for visitor attraction in 2010* withmore than 716,000 visitors. In May 2012Chatsworth featured in a popular threepartBBC1 documentary covering a yearbehind the scenes of the house and estate.

The British country house has long been regarded as the jewel in the nation's heritage crown. But the country house is also an expression of wealth and power, and as scholars reconsider the nation's colonial past, new questions are being posed about these great houses and their links to Atlantic slavery.This book, authored by a range of academics and heritage professionals, grew out of a 2009 conference on 'Slavery and the British Country house: mapping the current research' organised by English Heritage in partnership with the University of the West of England, the National Trust and the Economic History Society. It asks what links might be established between the wealth derived from slavery and the British country house and what implications such links should have for the way such properties are represented to the public today.Lavishly illustrated and based on the latest scholarship, this wide-ranging and innovative volume provides in-depth examinations of individual houses, regional studies and critical reconsiderations of existing heritage sites, including two studies specially commissioned by English Heritage and one sponsored by the National Trust.

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Describes over 100 of the most interesting houses to be found in Britain.

'This wonderful book makes me want to take a year off . . . and plunge off into what Jenkins has memorably Described as 'the theatre of our shared memory'' Adam Nicolson, Evening Standard England's houses are a treasure trove of riches and a unique, living record of the nation's history. Simon Jenkins's lavishly illustrated guide selects the finest homes throughout the land, from Cornwell to Cumbria, in a glorious celebration of English life. Ranges from famous stately homes and palaces to humble cottages and huts Organized county-by-county for easy use Features a ratings system for each house Highlights the very best 100 'Buy, beg, borrow or steal a copy and keep in the car' Daily Mail 'This is the perfect book to have beside your bed or on the back seat of your car . . . Jenkins's zeal is infectous. He quite rightly sees England's greatest houses as collectively nothing less than a wonder of the world' Geordie Greig, Literary Review 'A hertiage enthisiast's Ode To Joy' Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph 'A feast, enlivened by the sort of tasty snippets that only a master journalist can produce' Hugh Massingberd, Daily Telegraph