FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
Every answer here is drawn from the 279 stately homes actually catalogued in this list - not general trivia.
How many stately homes are there in the UK?
This list covers 279 stately homes with a genuine public offer - ticketed entry, guided tours, or accommodation in the stately home itself. It spans grand palaces, aristocratic country seats, gentry manor houses and the writers' and artists' homes now open to visitors; stately homes that survive only as private residences are excluded by design.
Which UK stately homes are free to visit?
2 stately homes on this list are free to enter without a ticket. Many more are included free with an annual membership of the body that runs them - the National Trust, English Heritage, the National Trust for Scotland or Cadw - so the effective cost depends far more on membership than on any single entry price.
Can you stay overnight in a stately home?
Yes - 119 stately homes on this list offer bookable accommodation, from National Trust holiday cottages and apartments on the estates to full country-house hotels such as Bodysgallen Hall in North Wales. Look for the 'Stay the night' badge on any entry.
What's the difference between the National Trust, English Heritage, Historic Environment Scotland and Cadw?
They are the largest heritage bodies caring for the UK's stately homes: the National Trust (England, Wales and Northern Ireland), English Heritage (England), the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland (both Scotland), and Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic-environment service. Each runs its own membership, and a single card only covers that body's own properties - this list gathers all of them together with every privately owned and independently run stately home besides.
Which is the largest stately home in the UK?
Several of the grandest are routinely cited among the largest - Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth and Castle Howard chief among them. Knole in Kent is famously a 'calendar house', said to have 365 rooms, 52 staircases and 7 courtyards, one for each unit of the year.
How many stately homes are there in England?
227 stately homes on this list are in England - far more than any other UK nation, from the ducal palaces of the Midlands and the South to the National Trust's manor houses and writers' homes across every county.
How many stately homes are there in Scotland?
28 stately homes on this list are in Scotland, cared for chiefly by the National Trust for Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland alongside a run of privately held family seats.
How many stately homes are there in Wales?
16 stately homes on this list are in Wales, most in the care of the National Trust with several more under Cadw - among them Plas Newydd on the Menai Strait and Erddig near Wrexham.
What's the difference between a stately home, a country house and a manor house?
The terms overlap and are often used interchangeably. 'Stately home' is the popular label for the grandest country residences of the aristocracy; a 'country house' is any large house at the centre of a rural estate; and a 'manor house' is usually older and more modest - the medieval or Tudor seat of a local lord. Many stately homes on this list are all three at once, having grown from a medieval manor into a great country house over the centuries.
What's the difference between a stately home and a palace?
'Palace' is generally reserved for a royal or a bishop's residence. The great exception is Blenheim Palace - the only non-royal, non-episcopal country house in England allowed to use the title, granted to the Duke of Marlborough by a grateful nation after the 1704 victory at Blenheim.
Which UK stately homes have ghost stories?
None of the stately homes on this list are flagged for ghost stories in their own visitor reviews - this list only notes a haunting where reviewers themselves raised it unprompted, rather than repeating folklore.
What is the oldest stately home in the UK?
It is hard to pin to a single house, but several on this list keep genuinely medieval fabric: the moated manor of Ightham Mote in Kent dates from around 1320, and timber-framed Tudor houses like Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire preserve interiors little changed in four centuries.
Do National Trust or English Heritage members get in free?
Members of each body get free entry to that body's own houses as part of their annual membership. The schemes are separate - as are the National Trust for Scotland and Cadw - so no single card covers everything, and the privately owned stately homes on this list set their own admission and are not covered by any of them.