Historical Country Houses

A large manor house on Dartmoor with later additions presented its new owners with a daunting challenge. Designer Guy Goodfellow masterminded the refurbishment, including a new stone tower, which consolidates the old while introducing modern comfort

Having worked in the music industry internationally, Harry Grafton returned to Suffolk to become the custodian of Euston Hall in 2011 and found the house in need of revival. Since then, he and his wife Olivia have turned it into a family home and founded the Red Rooster festival in the grounds

At Asthall Manor in Oxfordshire – former home of the Mitford sisters – Rosie Pearson has restored the Jacobean house and gardens, which now provide the setting for a biennial celebration of contemporary sculpture. We revisit this archive story from 2020.

Interior design duo Salvesen Graham are known for creating classic, calm and comfortable rooms. Their signature style and attention to detail have brought a welcome feeling of harmony to this formerly disjointed country house in Hampshire, providing the perfect setting for family life

When Lady Chichester inherited Radbourne Hall, she became the custodian of a jewel in the interior-design crown – a surviving example of an almost complete John Fowler scheme. A decade on and the house has been subtly and sensitively restored to its former glory

In this archive story from 2015, we recount how, thirty years on from a life-changing meeting with the man who was to become her husband, the Scottish-born Amelie, Duchesse de Magenta, remained at the helm of the Château de Sully in Burgundy

Following centuries of neglect and being gutted by fire, Astley Castle in Warwickshire now offers comfortable accommodation in a modern structure sympathetically inserted inside the medieval and Tudor shell

Having inherited the house from her parents, fourth-generation antiques dealer Dana Jennings Rohn has made it a space that pays homage to her family traditions while reflecting her own convivial spirit

In December, Lulu Benson welcomes her extended family to Neidpath Castle in the Scottish Borders, where they celebrate the season with reeling and feasting in the vaulted medieval hall

Interior designer Martin Brudnizki and his art consultant partner Jonathan Brook like to let their imaginations run riot at home in West Sussex, especially at this time of year. Part of a large 17th-century house in West Sussex, their flat, with its grand proportions and ornate original features, provides the perfect backdrop for indulging their lavish, country-house decorating dreams.

As House & Garden’s editor Hatta Byng explains, the process of restoring the house her husband inherited in North Yorkshire was a collaborative endeavour. Working closely with a team of specialists, they have created inviting rooms that work as well for daily life as they do for joyful celebrations

Though over 300 years old, this Northamptonshire house had lost much of its character until its owners enlisted the help of trusted decorator Robert Young, who restored a sense of its past with a mix of antiques, folk art and rich distemper walls

At her home in Devon, House & Garden's food editor Blanche Vaughan lives a life dictated by the rhythms of her garden and the seasonality of the produce she grows

Together, Jean-Baptiste Martin and Vincent Farelly of paper company Antoinette Poisson have sensitively restored this historic house in a French seaside town to its former glory

After the successful renovation of Ven House in Somerset, interior designer and owner Mike Fisher turned his studied eye to the derelict stable block, fashioning it into comfortable, layered guest quarters

With its stone mullioned windows and roof peaked with gables, there is something of the fantastical about this Dartmoor house. And now the fairy-tale façade is echoed by its interiors, brilliantly conjured into life by architectural salvage experts Maria Speake and Adam Hills of Retrouvius

A move to the house on the North York Moors that has been in her husband’s family since 1899 has provided textile designer Natasha James with inspiration and the ideal showcase for her colourful block-printed linens

The late Victoria de Rothschild had a passion for beautiful things, evidenced in a new exhibition of contemporary handcrafted pieces from her collection at her former home, Ascott House in Buckinghamshire, which still bears the hallmarks of her refined taste

With its Robert Adam interiors and Capability Brown landscape, Bowood is the epitome of an eighteenth-century English country house, formed by the taste and vision of previous inhabitants and now adapting gently to the needs of the twenty-first century

For three decades, Davina and Gavin Hogg have dedicated themselves to the preservation and revival of a family estate in the Brecon Beacons, restoring the house and gardens, and protecting Penpont’s future through a series of sustainable businesses and conservation projects