After the turkey, chocolates and mince pies comes lusciously escapist TV and this year, for country house lovers, the outstanding...

a wall painting at Adlington Hall ...which chronicles our relationship with the Ottoman sultans - not entirely what you expect from a countr

Without Sir Roger and Arbury, Mary Ann Evans might never have become George Eliot at all and I couldn’t be more pleased to discover a close

It’s Napoleon’s birthday! Light the candles this 15 August. Why is this important? Because, in Britain, we are still just a little bit obses

Things get lost in big houses - put away by one generation and forgotten by the next. Just occasionally, a chest in the attics reveals an ex

Elizabeth I employed eight men to beat her furs all day to make sure they didn’t get chomped. More specifically, in 1598 it took six men fo

Something very special is going on in the real life story of Anne Lister of Halifax in the BBC’s production of Gentleman Jack now on BBC...

I heard an amusing story this week about the way English Heritage now organise their services. Our house had a chilly morning yesterday,...

I've just visited Kettle’s Yard, a house in Cambridge, once home to the art curator Jim Ede and left by him to the University in 1966....

I’ve only bought a lottery ticket twice. And I won. Well, sort of. A joint purchase with a friend netted us £2.93 on our first ever...

What a surprise! The start of LGBTQ Month has unearthed all the simmering questions about the appropriateness of celebrating gay heritage...

Do you notice whether you go in through the front door or some sort of grotty back entrance when you turn up at a historic house or...

Love costume drama? You are spoilt for choice in 2019 and several costume dramas are a hot ticket in this awards season. Why do we like...