Elegant and congruous

When COUNTRY LIFE’s Henry Avray Tipping spotted a 17th-century four poster languishing in a Herefordshire attic in 1911, he set off a chain of events that saw the bed leave its ancestral home and land at The Met in New York

Home to a marquess and an RAF air crew – and believed to be the birthplace of a Queen – this red-brick Jacobean mansion contains stories spanning centuries

Glamis Castle, Angus, part 2 The seat of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne

Discover how the UK’s country houses defied the odds to survive as historic monuments and cultural centres

Marble Hill, Richmond-upon-Thames, Greater London In the care of English Heritage

This year marks the 625th anniversary of The Canterbury Tales author – and “father of English literature” – Geoffrey Chaucer’s death. He penned this classic, about a merry band of medieval pilgrims te