County guide · The Stately Homes
Best stately homes in Dorset
Dorset pairs the Bankes family's grand Kingston Lacy with the two Thomas Hardy houses - his birthplace cottage and Max Gate, the home he designed himself - and the monastic Forde Abbey.
Map
Every stately home on this list - 9 in total, 6 you can stay overnight in
Kingston Lacy
Dorset
17th-century mansion built for the Bankes family, housing an important art collection
Forde Abbey
Dorset
Former Cistercian monastery converted into a country house, privately owned since the 17th century.
Athelhampton House
Dorset
One of England's finest surviving 15th-century manor houses.
Hardy's Cottage
Dorset
Small thatched cob cottage where novelist Thomas Hardy was born
Max Gate
Dorset
House designed and lived in by Thomas Hardy, where he wrote Tess of the d'Urbervilles
Mapperton House
Dorset
Jacobean manor house and gardens, home of the Earls of Sandwich.
Deans Court
Dorset
House and gardens held by the Hanham family since 1548.
Stock Gaylard House
Dorset
Georgian house set within a deer park, privately owned by the Langmead family.
Wolfeton House
Dorset
Medieval and Tudor manor house, home of descendants of the Trenchard family.