Phil Spencer's Stately Homes

One of the largest and grandest houses of the Elizabethan age, Burghley was built by Queen Elizabeth I’s Lord High Treasurer. Building expert Phil Spencer visits this masterpiece of Elizabethan architecture set in 1400 acres of glorious Lincolnshire parkland. From its Heaven room and Hell staircase to its extravagant antiques and gardens, this astonishing structure oozes history.

Nick Howard's family has lived in Yorkshire’s magnificent Castle Howard for over 300 years. He takes architecture expert Phil Spencer on an exclusive tour through one of Britain’s most celebrated stately homes and the setting for TV drama Brideshead Revisited. Phil climbs the grand staircase, passes through the stunning crimson dining room and spends some time in the family mausoleum.

Magnificent Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire has been the ancestral home of the Dukes of Bedford for nearly 400 years. The current Duke takes architecture expert Phil Spencer on an exclusive tour around the magical shell grotto, the sumptuous state rooms and the glorious 3000-acre deer park. And he hears of a 1950’s scheme to save the historic building that involved nudists!

A little piece of Italy in this quiet corner of England, Holkham Hall is a magnificent 18th-century Palladian mansion. With unprecedented access to the archives, architecture guru Phil Spencer discovers the mind-boggling amounts of materials, labor and money it took to construct this astonishing building. The project required a 30-year build, three million bricks and a huge amount of money.

Having made their fortune from mining, the Hopetoun family spent lavishly on their magnificent mansion, employing not one, but two celebrated Scottish architects. Building expert Phil Spencer travels north of the border to Hopetoun House in the spectacular Scottish Lowlands, where he uncovers the extraordinary history of the lavish house and the vast estate built at enormous cost.

A little piece of Italy in this quiet corner of England, Holkham Hall is a magnificent 18th-century Palladian mansion. With unprecedented access to the archives, architecture guru Phil Spencer discovers the mind-boggling amounts of materials, labor and money it took to construct this astonishing building. The project required a 30-year build, three million bricks and a huge amount of money.