A la ronde

Marie Antoinette’s passion for furniture and genius for bagatelles, however evanescent their purpose, filled the French royal palaces with beauty and charm, as Matthew Dennison reveals

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

Known for her vintage style as seen on Channel 4’s Escape to the Chateau , designer and author Angel Strawbridge welcomes us into the Salon at Chateau de la Motte Husson

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

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

A CHANCE CONVERSATION PROMPTED ANNE AND JOHN TO EMBRACE A RURAL LIFESTYLE AND TRANSFORM A FORMER VICARAGE