Knole National Trust, Kent,

Knole was extended from an earlier manor house in the 15th century and became a royal possession during the Tudor dynasty when Henry VIII's daughter lived and Elizabeth I is also said to have visited. From 1603, Thomas Sackville made it the aristocratic treasure house for the Sackville family, who were prominent and influential in court circles. Over more than 400 years, his descendants rebuilt and then furnished Knole in three further bursts of activity.

Thomas Sackville's Jacobean great house, unlike any surviving English great house apart from Haddon Hall, still looks as it did when Thomas died, having managed "to remain motionless like this since the early 17th century", balanced between growth and decay.