Guided Tour

The family home of Bess of Hardwick, one of the richest and most remarkable women of Elizabethan England, stands beside Hardwick New Hall which she had built later in the 1590s.

Though the Old Hall is now roofless, visitors can still ascend four floors to view surviving decorative plasterwork, as well as the kitchen and service rooms with our audio tour.

No-one ever forgets their first sight of Oxburgh - a romantic, moated manor house.

Built by the Bedingfeld family in the 15th century, they have lived here ever since. Inside, the family's Catholic history is revealed, complete with a secret priest's hole which you can crawl inside.

The ruins of a medieval palace (together with later additions) used by the Bishops and senior clergy of Winchester as they travelled through their diocese. Winchester was the richest diocese in England, and its properties were grandiose and extravagantly appointed.

The impressive ruins of Henry II's 12th century keep, on the site of a Roman fort guarding the approach to strategic Stainmore Pass over the Pennines.

The remains of a large, wellbuilt Roman courtyard villa. The most important feature is a nearly complete mosaic tile floor, patterned in reds and browns. The remains are located in a peaceful rural landscape, within a loop of the River Evenlode, which flows gently past the site to the north and west.

The great 13th century circular shell-keep of Restormel still encloses the principal rooms of the castle in remarkably good condition. It stands on an earlier Norman mound surrounded by a deep dry ditch, atop a high spur beside the River Fowey. Twice visited by the Black Prince, it finally saw action during the Civil War in 1644. It commands fantastic views and is a favourite picnic spot.

The remains of a medieval castle crucial to Anglo-Scottish warfare, superseded by the most complete and breathtakingly impressive bastioned town defences in England, mainly Elizabethan but updated in the 17th and 18th centuries. Surrounding the whole historic town, their entire circuit can be walked.

Nestling beneath thickly wooded hills alongside the River Tay, Dunkeld has an air of timeless tranquillity. In Cathedral Square and The Cross, the Trust has restored 20 houses, some dating from the rebuilding of the town after the Battle of Dunkeld in 1689.

Set on a headland high over the popular seaside town, Whitby Abbey is the perfect choice for a great value day trip in Yorkshire. It's easy to see how Bram Stoker was inspired by its gothic splendour when writing Dracula. This is one of the most atmospheric visitor attractions on the Yorkshire coast.

An intimate family home and peaceful estate set in the rolling hills of the Chilterns.

This picturesque 16th-century mansion and tranquil gardens were home to the Brunner family until recent years. The house exudes a welcoming atmosphere with a well-stocked kitchen and homely living rooms.  The series of walled gardens is a colourful patchwork of interest set amid medieval ruins.

The flint-walled 13th-century chapel and hall of a 'Commandery' of Knights Hospitallers, later converted into a farmhouse. It has a remarkable medieval crown post roof and 16th-century ceilings with moulded beams.

Step inside this simply furnished, timber-framed cottage and travel back in time. Lived in continually right up until the mid-1980s, today this 16th-century labourer's dwelling has been restored to bring four hundred years of uninterrupted occupation to life.