The largest collection of country houses is in the hands of the National Trust and membership can offer you unparalleled value to access some of the finest pieces of architecture and art in the country. For more information and a guide to visiting their houses visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk
A number of other houses and castles are maintained by English Heritage and membership and visiting details can be found on their website www.englishheritage.org.uk
For a general guide to visiting country houses I would recommend Hudson’s Historic Houses & Gardens Guide which is published annually, listing all properties open to the public, including those in private hands. For more information and to purchase the guide, visit www.hudsonsheritage.com
There is an immense wealth of information now online about specific houses, their history and visiting them. Just enter the name of the property into your search engine. Here are a few other sites with more general information and links to further sources:
www.buildinghistory.org : Information on all building types.
www.british-history.ac.uk : Information on manors and houses from each county held within the Victoria County History series.
www.stately-homes.com : Gazetteer of properties to visit.
www.dicamillocompanion.com : Brief guides to country houses.
www.lostheritage.org.uk : Fascinating information on demolished country houses.
This book forms just part of a series covering all aspects of period houses from the Tudor age to the 1950s and building histories, including castles and abbeys. Visit www.countrysidebooks.co.uk for further information.
Below are listed a few other books which have further information about country houses:
Cruickshank, Dan The Country House Revealed: A Secret History of the British Ancestral Home
Girouard, Mark Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History
Jenkins, Simon England’s Thousand Best Houses
Musson, Jeremy and Barker, Paul English Country House Interiors
Pevsner, Nikolaus The Buildings of England series (yalebooks.co.uk/pevsner.asp)
Sambrook, Pamela A. and Brears, Peter The Country House Kitchen 1650-1900 (National Trust)