Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Opening The Manor House Door
The popular television series
Downton Abbey
is just the start. Britain is filled with historic
houses, castles and palaces. Join us as we take you
Beyond Downton Abbey
to dozens of the
grandest, most romantic, quirkiest great houses in England and Wales. Filled with fascinat-
ing tidbits from the history of the houses and the families that lived and worked in them,
Beyond Downton Abbey
is a guidebook for serious travelers and armchair tourists alike.
A bit of history to set the stage
Manor houses. Stately homes. Country house estates. Great houses. Grand old piles. Spec-
tacular mansions. Country retreats. These are all terms used to describe the hundreds of his-
toric houses scattered across the British countryside.
Some historic properties have timelines that date back 500 years or more, but most British
manor houses were built between the mid-1600s and the late 1700s. The heyday of the man-
