Abbeys & Halls
Steeped in history and rich with beauty - the Heart of The Shires has some of the most splendid Abbeys and Halls in England.
Cottesbrooke Hall
Arbury Hall
Coombe Abbey
Stanford Hall
Kirby Hall
ARBURY HALL
Arbury Hall contains important collections of paintings, furniture, glass and china collected through the centuries by successive generations of the Newdegate family. George Eliot, born on the estate in 1819 where her father was the agnet, features Arbury in several of her novels, especially "Scenes of Clerical Life" where in "Mr Gilfil's Love Story", she portrays Arbury as Cheveral Manor and gives detailed descriptions of many of the rooms in the house including The Saloon and The Dining Room.
COOMBE ABBEY
Travel back in time and enjoy a "No Ordinary" Medieval Evening. More than "Just a Banquet" the evening will include a theatrical experience combined with Fine Wine, Fine Mead, Fine Fayre and Fine Tune!
COTTESBROOKE HALL
This magnificent Queen Anne house dating from 1702 is set in delightful rural Northamptonshire. Reputed to be the pattern for Jane Austens 'Mansfield Park' the Halls beauty is matched by the magnificence of the gardens and views and by the excellence of the picture, furniture and porcelain collections it houses.
KIRBY HALL
Imagine what life here must have been like in the 'golden age'. This outstanding Elizabethan country house ruin, in a secluded hollow of a winding stream, was home to a courtier of Elizabeth I. Constant developement gave it a rare richness of detail. Outside, you can still see elegant peacocks roaming free. Kirby Hall was once described as having 'the finest gardens in England'. It was also the location for the filming of Jane Austens 'Mansfield Park'.
STANFORD HALL
Stanford, where Shakespeares Avon flows gently through the park, has been the home of the Cave family, ancestors of the present owner Lady Braye, since 1430. In the 1690's, Sir Roger Cave commissioned the Smiths of Warwick to pull down the old Manor House and build the present Hall, which is a superb example of their work and of the William & Mary period.