A quick tour of England - 7 Historic homes you need to visit

Celebrating our latest release, Historic Homes of England, taking readers around some 101 of our finest houses to visit, enjoy a look at seven featured entries from across seven beautiful English regions.

Offering timely holiday inspiration, we start in the North West with a true Cumbrian gem...

1. Levens Hall, North West of England

A truly stunning Elizabethan house built around a 13th century Pele Tower, Levens Hall stands at the gateway to the Lake District and has an enchanting 10-acre garden.

Largely unchanged since the 17th century, it features the world’s oldest (and seriously impressive) topiary gardens, roses, herbaceous borders, wildflower meadows and a willow labyrinth.

The estate also has a deer park with excellent walks, where you should keep an eye out for black fallow deer, kingfishers and rare Bagot goats.

There’s also a licensed restaurant, plant centre and play area. There’s plenty to see inside the house, too, from the great hall and drawing room to the impressive bedrooms. The plaster on the ceilings downstairs is out of this world!

Info: Kendal, Cumbria LA8 0PD; 01539 560321; levenshall.co.uk

2. Lindisfarne Castle, North East England

Northumberland is famous for its castles, and one of the most dramatic is on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, cut off from the mainland by a tidal causeway. The castle sits on top of a rocky promontory in the south-east corner. 

From the battlements the cliffs fall almost vertically and the views are spectacular. There’s been a castle on Lindisfarne since 1570, though it has never seen much military action. Originally part of a monastery that was closed during the Reformation, Henry VIII ordered a fort to be built on an outcrop of basalt rock.

It was rebuilt by his daughter, Elizabeth I, as part of England’s defence against Jacobean uprisings. What castle visitors see now is a 20th-century makeover and restoration created by Arts & Crafts architect Sir Edwin Lutyens for Country Life magazine founder Edward Hudson in 1903.

It was his holiday home and it’s an elegant interior filled with wooden furniture and simple patterns while respecting the heavy stone walls. Garden designer Gertrude Jekyll’s original walled garden planting scheme has been restored by the National Trust, which now takes care of the property.

More Info: Holy Island, Northumberland TD15 2SH; 01289 389244; nationaltrust.org.uk

3. Hardwick Hall, Central England

Created by the formidable Bess of Hardwick in the 1500s, this is one of the greatest Elizabethan houses, characterised by its expansive windows, an example of the 16th-century architectural fashion for “lantern houses” at a time when glass was phenomenally expensive.

With spectacular interiors, it’s full of architectural and artistic delights, including Flemish tapestries, Persian table-carpets, painted wallhangings, plaster friezes, inlaid furniture, rows of original portraits, and the finest collection of 16th and early 17th-century needlework in the world.

The famous Gideon Tapestries, one of the most ambitious tapestry sets of the 16th century, were fully returned to the house last year after a 24-year restoration project (as described in This England, Winter 2023).

More Info: Doe Lea, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S44 5QJ, 01246 850430; nationaltrust.org.uk/hardwick-hall

4. Blickling Hall, East Anglia 

A gorgeous Jacobean mansion, thought to be the birthplace of Anne Boleyn, sits north of Norwich. As well as the house interiors, including the impressive Long Gallery, with its plasterwork ceiling and 12,500 books, there’s plenty to see outside.

There’s a huge formal garden, the result of three centuries of planting, and that gives way to 4,600 acres of woodland, parkland and farmland including a lake – and a 200-year old stone pyramid mausoleum. 

More Info: Aylsham, Norfolk NR11 6NF. 01263 738030; nationaltrust.org.uk

5. Blenheim Palace, South East

The birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill was built by the nation for the first Duke of Marlborough, John Churchill, to reward him for his victories in 1704 at the Battle of Blenheim. His success in Bavaria ended Louis XIV’s vision of a French dominated Europe while triggering Britain’s rise to becoming a world power.

Queen Anne gave the Duke the royal hunting estate at Woodstock and Parliament voted him £500,000 to build the only residence in England with the title of palace that was not built for a royal or bishop. The 187-room palace was designed by playwright and garden designer Sir John Vanbrugh with Sir Christopher Wren’s clerk Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Since its completion in 1722, Blenheim Palace has been home to the Churchill family, later the Spencer-Churchills, and became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987. The 2,100-acre Oxfordshire estate has fabulous gardens.

The highlights include the Palace State Rooms, which feature priceless portraits, tapestries and furniture. There’s also an Upstairs Tour of the family’s apartments and Downstairs Tour of the staff quarters. Sir Winston’s birth room is also on show.

More Info: Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1UL; 01993 8105; blenheimpalace.com

6. Kingston Lacy, South West

Art lovers will be impressed by this lavish property with its opulent interiors and impressive works of art by such names as Rubens, Van Dyck, Brueghel and Titian.

Built in the 1660s to resemble an Italian palace, this former residence of the powerful Bankes family also houses the UK’s largest private collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts, mementoes from William John Bankes’ incredible travels through Egypt in 1818.

The Spanish Room, for example, features a 17th-century gilded ceiling brought back from the Contarini Palace in Venice. It’s not a massive house, but it does pack a big punch. The grounds, are equally impressive with and include Iron Age forts, water meadows, a Roman road, a Japanese garden and a fernery.

Info: Wimborne Minster, Dorset BH21 4EA; 01202 883402; nationaltrust.org.uk

7. Strawberry Hill House, London

Art lovers will be impressed by this lavish property with its opulent interiors and impressive works of art by such names as Rubens, Van Dyck, Brueghel and Titian.

Built in the 1660s to resemble an Italian palace, this former residence of the powerful Bankes family also houses the UK’s largest private collection of ancient Egyptian artefacts, mementoes from William John Bankes’ incredible travels through Egypt in 1818.

The Spanish Room, for example, features a 17th-century gilded ceiling brought back from the Contarini Palace in Venice.

It’s not a massive house, but it does pack a big punch. The grounds, are equally impressive with and include Iron Age forts, water meadows, a Roman road, a Japanese garden and a fernery.