Houghton Hall

Houghton Hall stands in the rolling countryside of Norfolk, a grand country house built of pale stone. It was begun in 1722 for Sir Robert Walpole, Britain’s first prime minister, and became a leading example of Neo-Palladian design. The house sits in the middle of a thousand-acre park once owned by the Walpole family. A few miles away lies Sandringham House, the royal residence. The interiors are far more colourful than the restrained exterior. William Kent decorated the ceilings of the reception rooms and designed some of the furniture. The park was reshaped in the 18th century by Charles Bridgeman, who created twisting woodland paths and wide tree-lined vistas. The medieval church of St Martin still stands alone in the park, the only survivor of the village Walpole demolished to make way for his grand scheme. Visitors walk past Gibbs’s domed towers and enter a rectangular main block with a rustic basement and elegant piano nobile above. The detached stable block lies to the south, while the park stretches in four directions. Paintings by Gainsborough and Holbein once hung here, though some were sold to keep the house in good repair. The gardens and wilderness paths remain much as Bridgeman planned, offering long views across the grass and woodlands.