The Secrets of the Great British Country Houses

We round up England's best stately homes available for hire, from Blenheim Palace to Downton Abbey's Highclere Castle. If you're looking for a unique venue, these stunning stately homes will offer a fantastic backdrop for your event.

An invitiation to an event at a stately home is guaranteed to make an impression. The kind of invitation you'd definitely reply to straight away and certainly an event you'd make a real effort to get to. Even though it's a good drive out of town. That's the fresh appeal of the stately home event, significantly fuelled by Julian Fellowes' almost impossibly brilliant period-drama, Downton Abbey.

Whilst a multitude of events would undeniably and universally benefit from a commanding vantage point atop a skyscraper or nestled in the exclusive surroundings of an almost-impossible-to-get-in-to rooftop bar, confident brands, however hi-tech (in fact, especially hi-tech brands) would undoubtedly be enhanced by an association with one of England's finest country piles.

Let's not forget that these magnificent symbols of well travelled sophistication, power, superiority and wealth were state of the art in their heyday and now represent the finest architecture and craftsmanship on display on a grand scale, admired almost universally by their commanding splendour. Highclere Castle (or Downton Abbey as the world now knows it) is currently the most high profile Stately Home, except, perhaps, for Buckingham Palace, and the fact that it’s still privately owned and lived in by The Earl and Countess Carnarvon makes the place all the more authentic and intriguing.

In fact, I'm rather familiar with Highclere because they used to be my client in my PR days. It’s actually in Berkshire as opposed to Yorkshire, where Downton Abbey is set. Apparently, gaggles of American tourists have been spotted attempting to locate 'Downton' near Harrogate, hundreds of miles away (although Yorkshire has more than it’s fair share of magnificent houses, of course).

Highclere castle is also the home of Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, a suitably horsey client who got landed with me after approaching the finest and most fashionable consumer PR agency in the land. Mainly because I was considered less cool (but more posh) than most of my contemporaries, I have to admit. So off I spluttered through the magical Capability Brown designed parkland in my beaten up old Porsche to this magical place, perfectly preserved (because its still being lived in by the original family) and, although I wasn't quite met by Carson at the front door, I immediately fell under the spell of this magnificent stately world. The ‘Grand Tour’ included a fascinating private viewing of the treasures of Tutankhamun’s tomb which are casually concealed on shelves, behind the impressive double-doors between the drawing room and the dining room. The 5th Earl’s discovery of the tomb with the original Indiana Jones, Howard Carter, was, interestingly, the world’s first global media event. The Fifth Earl’s mysterious death shortly afterwards in Cairo, caused by accidentally cutting into an infected mosquito bite with a shaving blade, only served to fuel the sensational story further, re-igniting the fabled “Curse of Tutankhamun”. Carter, who lived sixteen more years has one of the most stirring statements I’ve ever come across etched into his tombstone - “May your spirit live, May you spend millions of years, You who love Thebes, Sitting with your face to the north wind, Your eyes beholding happiness"

Aside from being a master-class in how to re-invent (and make use of) a metaphorical relic of an outdated era, Highclere Castle is a classic example of how to ‘sweat the asset’ and preserve the family seat for future generations - exactly as the third Earl Carnarvon would have intended when he commissioned the building. He certainly wouldn't have foreseen today's world where one of his London Town House servant's terraced cottages in Fulham would be worth over a million quid and where the Lords of the realm are resigned to being largely penniless and shoe-horned into a tiny 'wing' of their ancestral home (if they’re lucky), with the National Trust taking control of their estates following a begrudgingly forced sale (often due to excessive and disproportionate death duties). Of course, the National Trust is a Godsend because it has preserved so much of our rich heritage (and commercialized it to enable us to host these amazing events) but it's a stark reality how quickly old money can dry up via one wayward generation. If you think about it, it's almost always going to happen eventually because it’s difficult enough to make money in the first place, let alone keep it for over 500 years!

It hasn't happened at Highclere though, as the Herbert family, are the Madonnas of the stately home brigade. Always reinventing themselves and maximising their prize assets. Sure, they have land, farms and copious tenants but, in this day and age, it's not enough. Silly things like heating and electricity bills, mowing the lawns and the upkeep of the roof - acres of troughs and gullies, hoppers and downspouts, lead flashing and slates - all Grade one listed and not a reproduction in site. Not to mention the payroll which, in the golden era of the Great Houses was far less because many ‘below stairs’ members of staff were largely paid in kind, via accommodation and food, something which is not feasible today – you can’t ‘contra’ cleaning! It costs millions, every year and that has to come form somewhere because old money, however much there once was, can not keep up with inflation unless it’s been invested and reinvested (wisely) year upon year, upon year.

Highclere’s secret is the way the family have embraced events. Whilst events are inherently and potentially an invasion of their privacy the Carnarvons have successfully incorporated events into their way of life. Whether it’s a wedding, a conference, a photo-shoot, product launch, Country Fair, festival, dinner or, in many cases, used as a film location, it’s all about using the House, the grounds and the stunning interiors as a non-institutional back-drop for others to benefit from. It’s a very clever way to capitalize on the assets of the house, in a very similar way to how it was originally intended – to entertain and impress on a grand scale.

Of course, Highclere’s success has had a knock-on effect and the popularity of Stately Homes for events is soaring. And they never fail to impress.

So, with all that in mind, click here to reveal our favourite Country Houses and unveil their secrets - from fake facades to mysterious goings-on as well as the obligatory scandals and billiard table-top shenanigans...