[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-116124-en":3,"doc-seo-116124-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},116124,13056712833777,"Logic","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0",10,"Lifestyle","Country Life - Historic Country Houses","A curated selection of stories and historical profiles explores Britain’s aristocratic country houses, tracing how these estates evolved from once-closed family domains to welcoming destinations for modern visitors. From the changing fortunes of notable residences and major restorations after disasters to the enduring charm of iconic palaces, the book connects architecture, social history, and changing tastes. It also highlights the artistic traditions that captured these homes, including the house-portrait craze and painters such as J. M. W. Turner, whose works reflect ideals of England.","Welcome to  \nCOUNTRY HOUSES  \nNothing gives us the opportunity to step  \nlike a great country house. Not only can luxury of a bygone era , but a visit to  \nback in time quite we experience the these aristocratic  \nresidences gives us an unrivalled view of how society – and times – have changed in the passing centuries. Where once great families presided over sprawling estates, benevolently providing dwellingsand livelihoods to those in the surrounding area while haughtily pulling up the drawbridge around their own homes, now the doors have been well and truly flung open to guests.  \nIn this brand-new title from the makers of COUNTRY LIFE magazine, we’ve trawled our archives to find some of the most fascinating stories of British country houses, from the changing fortunes of Lytham Hall in Lancashire and the resurrection of Castle Howard in Yorkshire following a devastating fire, to the remarkable story of Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and the royals’ obsession with their Scottish Highland retreat at Balmoral. Elsewhere, find out how these stately homes are modernising and diversifying to stay relevant into the 21st century.  \n© Alamy  \n06 Home is where the art is  \n12 A Highland paradise  \n20 A Regency revival  \n28A home reborn  \n36 A local revival  \n42 Gothic splendours  \n48 Back to Brideshead  \n56 A Regency prodigy  \n66 A castle and palace conjoined  \n76 Reduced to splendour  \n82 An Englishman’s home is his castle  \n92And now for something different  \n98 An ideal manor house  \n104 The verge of the world  \n110 A Regency prospect  \n116 Italy on the Isle  \n124 A 21st-century renaissance  \n20 Ardgowan House  \n28 Knowsley Hall  \n116 Osborne House  \n56 Belvoir Castle  \n82 Highclere Castle  \n98 Mapperton House  \n12 Balmoral Castle  \nHome is where theart is  \nEver since a craze for house portraits reached Britain in the 17th century, great artists such as J. M. W. Turner have been producing sweeping vistas of stately Edens, observes Michael Prodger  \nJ. M. W. Turner was the son ofa Covent  \nGarden barber and wig maker, but,  \nfor all his humble beginnings, he  \nrapidly became familiar with some of England’s grandest country houses. His talent was such that assorted grandees treated him as a friend of similar social status, rather than merely a commissioned painter, and invited him to stay with them as an honoured guest—sometimes for months at a time—at an assortment of stately residences.  \nChalfont House in Buckinghamshire, Hampton Court in Herefordshire, Towneley Hall in Lancashire, Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire, Radley Hall in Oxfordshire—Turner criss-crossed the country painting houses and castles that sit languorously or dramatically in the landscape. Sometimes, his depictions were workaday records of windows, pediments and columns. Yet, at others, the houses become the stuff of dreams, visions of ideal slices of England, where harmonious architecture takes its place in the embrace of Nature. He became a regular at Petworth House in West Sussex, seat of the Earl ofEgremont; at Farnley Hall in North York-shire, the home of Walter Fawkes, land-owner and MP; at Harewood House, South Yorkshire, the unfeasibly majestic domain of the Earl of Harewood; and at Tabley, in Cheshire, the home of Sir John Leicester. Numerous watercolours of these imposing houses serve as a record  \nAn English idyll: Turner’s bucolic view of Towneley Hall in Lancashire, about 1798  \n6 | Country Life | Historic Country Houses  \nof the rarefied world the low-born painter such scenes was already highly developed  \ninhabited. across the North Sea. Even the great Rubens  \nUsually, Turner knew how to behave him- tried his hand, with one of his most self. At Petworth, for example, the artist and celebrated works showing his own house the Earl once fell into an argument about and land, A View of Het Steen in the Early whether carrots float, which was amicably Morning, dating from about 1636. settled when the Many Royalists fled  \nobleman rang the to the Netherlands ","cbCaiuCVpefkBJtb","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiuCVpefkBJtb","pdf",118207872,4,1,132,"English","en",105,"# Country Houses\n## Home is where the art is\n## A Highland paradise\n## A Regency revival\n## A home reborn\n## A local revival\n## Gothic splendours\n## Back to Brideshead\n## A Regency prodigy\n## A castle and palace conjoined\n## Reduced to splendour\n## An Englishman’s home is his castle\n## And now for something different\n## An ideal manor house\n## The verge of the world\n## A Regency prospect\n## Italy on the Isle\n## A 21st-century renaissance","[{\"question\":\"Country houses in this collection are described as changing in what way over time?\",\"answer\":\"They move from the closed, family-centered world of sprawling estates to being opened to guests, reflecting how society and tastes shift across centuries.\"},{\"question\":\"Which artist and house-portrait tradition are highlighted in the text?\",\"answer\":\"The text discusses the 17th-century house-portrait craze in Britain and focuses on J. M. W. Turner’s country-house paintings and connections with major patrons.\"},{\"question\":\"What kinds of stories about specific houses are included?\",\"answer\":\"The collection covers changing fortunes, major events like devastating fires and subsequent resurrection, and how stately homes modernise and diversify to remain relevant in the 21st century.\"}]","Country Life - Historic Country Houses | PDF",1785656051,203,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":29},"country-life-historic-country-houses","",{"@graph":37,"@context":86},[38,54,69],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,49,52],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":48},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":50,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":51},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/lifestyle/",3,{"item":53,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/country-life-historic-country-houses/116124/",{"url":53,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":42,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-16","2026-08-02",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"Country houses in this collection are described as changing in what way over time?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"They move from the closed, family-centered world of sprawling estates to being opened to guests, reflecting how society and tastes shift across centuries.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"Which artist and house-portrait tradition are highlighted in the text?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"The text discusses the 17th-century house-portrait craze in Britain and focuses on J. 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Turner’s country-house paintings and connections with major patrons.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"What kinds of stories about specific houses are included?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"The collection covers changing fortunes, major events like devastating fires and subsequent resurrection, and how stately homes modernise and diversify to remain relevant in the 21st century.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":53,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":53},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,111,116,121,126,131,134,136],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":48,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":123,"show_sort_weight":124,"slug":125},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":129,"slug":130},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":129,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":132,"show_sort_weight":129,"slug":133},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":135},"lifestyle",{"id":137,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":138,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":139},19,"General","general"]