Coughton Court. An elegant Tudor house in the Warwickshire countryside near Alcester (and only 12 miles from home).

A National Trust property since 1946, it’s been owned by or lived in by the same Throckmorton family for six centuries.

The family has been involved in some of the major events of English history – as a major Catholic family during the Reformation under Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth I. They were dragged into the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, even if only tangentially.

One wing of the house is still occupied by the family under the terms of a very long lease with the National Trust. The house contains some wonderful treasures, and the extensive gardens and bluebell wood are worth the walk.