The Country House Podcast

In April 1930, a young socialite - cheated of her inheritance by the laws of primogeniture - walked into a Kentish ruin; no electricity, no drains, a farmyard of "squalor and slovenly disorder"... and spent what money she had to buy it. Thirty years later, Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson had made what her biographer called her "one magnificent act of creation" - ten garden rooms enclosed i...

In this episode we travel to Bournville, the extraordinary model village laid out by George Cadbury on the southern fringe of Birmingham. Part garden suburb, part moral experiment, Bournville married vernacular Arts and Crafts architecture to a Quaker vision of dignified working-class life: light, air, gardens, schools and not a pub in sight! Join us as we explore its origins, its architectural ch...

Some gardens demand attention. Rousham simply holds it. Tucked into the Oxfordshire countryside, this is a place where design and landscape speak in the same breath - where structure yields to softness and every view feels both composed and completely inevitable. In this episode of The Country House Podcast, we sit down with Michelle from Woodsford Landscape Designs to unpick what makes Rousham so...

From the marble corridors of Newport to the draughty majesty of Blenheim Palace, Consuelo Vanderbilt was the ultimate 'Dollar Princess' - a woman who was traded in by her parents for a title she never sought. In this episode, we trace her architectural odyssey from the opulence of the Vanderbilts' Gilded Age mansions to her eventual flourishing in the French countryside. It is a story of a gilded...

In this second instalment with our special guest, Teddy, the 19th Earl of Derby, we are guided through the magnificent state rooms of Knowsley Hall, the Derby's privately owned stately home that sits cheek by jowl with the great industrial city of Liverpool! The Earl shares intimate stories behind the world-class Derby Collection and the architectural evolution of the house. In this episode we als...

Join us for an exclusive 3-part series with the Earl and Countess of Derby at the extraordinary Knowsley Hall! In this episode, we peel back the layers of the Stanley dynasty - a family that turned the tide at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and once ruled as Kings of the Isle of Man. In this series, Lord and Lady Derby will give us a tour of Merseyside’s only stately home... sharing personal storie...

In this episode, we explore how guilt-ridden medieval merchants and eccentric Victorian philanthropists built almshouses - so-called 'hospitals of the soul.' We deconstruct the classic almshouse form - the defensive gatehouse, the peaceful quadrangle, and the central chapel - to understand how architecture was used to engineer social cohesion.   Join us as we discover why these 600-year-old d...

As the resonant peals of the Great Bell usher in the New Year, we turn our eyes to the Elizabeth Tower; the neo-gothic sentinel that is universally - if erroneously - known as 'Big Ben'! In this New Year's special episode, Rory helps deconstruct the architectural swan song of Augustus Pugin, whose feverish medieval detailing perfectly complements Charles Barry’s structural ambition. We venture bey...

We are delighted to be joined in this week's 'Christmas special' by historian Daniel Wilson - known for his brilliant social media platform 'Daniel's Historic Architecture' (@greatbritisharchitecture). Join Daniel, Geoff and Rory as they discuss the parish church - the long and storied history (architectural and social) of these important buildings - and their particularly important role at Christ...

On this week's podcast episode, we are delighted to be joined by Helena, Lady Rees-Mogg. This marks the first time Lady Rees-Mogg has ever appeared on a podcast, and the first time she has spoken publicly about her extraordinary family history. The daughter of the sole surviving child of the 8th Earl Fitzwilliam, Lady Rees-Mogg offers a unique, intimate perspective on the rise and dramatic decline...

In this timely episode, Rory steps into the shoes of Inspector Clouseau to give Geoff - and you - a tour of the Galerie d'Apollon; the scene of the crime for the latest Louvre heist in which eight priceless pieces from the French Crown Jewels were stolen in only eight minutes. We invite our listeners to join us in the luminous splendour of the Galerie d’Apollon in Le Palais du Louvre; a room that...

In this Remembrance Day special, we step through the doors of  Bateman’s , the 17th-century Jacobean house that became both a refuge and a muse for imperial poet, journalist and writer, Rudyard Kipling. Nestled in the folds of the Sussex Weald, the sandstone gables, mullioned windows and heavy beams of Bateman's speak of endurance - a quality that runs like a golden thread through Kiplin...

In this episode - the final part in our series on the shortlisted candidates for the HHA Collections Award (sponsored by Dreweatts ) - we travel to the heart of the Forest of Bowland to visit Browsholme Hall, Lancashire’s oldest surviving family home. We’re joined by Robert Parker, current custodian of Browsholme, who inherited his family home somewhat unexpectedly in 1975 upon the death...

Many country houses claim to be the inspiration for Pemberley, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park, but few houses have such tangible links to Jane Austen as Chawton House in Hampshire. On this week's podcast - the penultimate episode in our series on the HHA Collections Awards shortlisted candidates - Jane Austen’s world comes to life at Chawton House, the historic Hampshire estate once owned by...

What happens when the last in a line of viscounts has only one child - a daughter - but the family's ancestral seat is entailed to the male line (meaning it'll go to a distant cousin)? This was the dilemma facing Charles, 9th Viscount Fairfax, in the mid-18th century... The answer (for Lord Fairfax, at least) was to purchase a prime site in the centre of the ancient cathedral city of York, and to...

A Cabinet of curiosity (also known as a wonder-room ) is an encyclopaedic collection of objects assembled in post-Enlightenment Europe by noblemen, landowners and merchants who were fascinated by science and natural history. In the second of our 5-part series looking at the houses shortlisted for this year's Historic Houses Association Collections Award (sponsored by Dreweatts) we discuss the fine...

Over the next five weeks, we will be exploring the history and collections of the five shortlisted candidates for this year's Historic Houses Association Collections Award (sponsored by Dreweatts) . Geoff is a judge in this year's awards, along with Francis Terry (architect), Rita Konig (interior designer), Tessa Murdoch (art historian) and Will Richards (Chairman of Dreweatts). First up is one of...

The challenge for all portraitists is in painting not only what they see but in trying to distil and capture the essence or spirit of their subject in oil, ink or watercolour. This challenge applies as much to those who paint portraits of buildings as it does to those who paint people. On The Country House Podcast we often talk about how houses are far more than mere bricks and mortar - they are l...

This week Geoff 'goes it alone' (Rory's on holiday) and visits Somerleyton Hall in Suffolk, where he's joined on the podcast by Hugh and Lara Crossley, Lord and Lady Somerleyton. The seat of the Crossley family since the late 19th century, Somerleyton has a fascinating story to tell. Aside from the theatrical Jacobethan/Italianate architecture and the usual story of the rise and decline of the est...

The shooting lodges of the Scottish Highlands have beguiled and entranced people from all walks of life for generations. But beyond the romantic facade - the magnificent architecture and breathtaking scenery - lies a complex and at times troubled past that continues to echo down through the centuries. Joining Geoff and Rory on this week's episode is architectural historian, writer and proud H...

James Bond is one of Britain's most iconic fictional characters, and without a doubt the most famous spy in the world. And the man behind the legend - author Ian Fleming - lived a life almost as thrilling as Bond's. In this high-octane podcast episode, Rory guides Geoff through the life (and many country houses) of Fleming - from his time at Eton and Sandhurst, via his string of high-pro...

How a fire reduced this 18th century Palladian house to a mere shell... and the questions that it raises. This week, Geoff and Rory are joined by Cornelia Van Der Poll - an Oxford academic and co-founder of Restore Trust - a lobbying group that encourages the National Trust to focus on its founding principles to safeguard our nation's heritage for all to enjoy. In this fascinating episode, we...

How a humble Venetian artist became synonymous with Britain's country house collections... This week Geoff and Rory are joined by renowned Canaletto expert, Charles Beddington, to discuss all things Canaletto! From the artist's humble Venetian beginnings to his 'discovery' by the British Consul in Venice - Joseph Smith - who became Canaletto's patron and agent, placing him...

Every summer, dozens of country houses open their gates for festival-goers, with a huge array of different events hosted within the grounds of our most cherished estates. Off the back of our recent episodes on 'Capability' Brown and Vache Baroque Festival, we have chosen this week to dedicate an entire episode to festivals held on country estates, where fabulous houses provide the most b...

This week, Geoff and Rory are joined by countertenor, arranger of classical music and co-founder of 'Vache Baroque' , Jonathan Darbourne, to discuss the storied history of the  The Vache  - an elegant, privately owned Elizabethan country house nestled in the gently rolling Chiltern Hills - and the Baroque music festival he directs every summer in its grounds. Every year in late August an...