Phil Spencer's Stately Homes

Phil visits a masterpiece of Elizabethan architecture set in 1400 acres of Lincolnshire parkland, from its Heaven room and Hell staircase to its extravagant antiques and gardens.

Phil visits one of the most celebrated stately homes in Britain: Castle Howard in Yorkshire. It's the setting for TV's Brideshead Revisited, and Phil is given an extensive guided tour.

Phil visits Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire, the Dukes of Bedford's ancestral home for nearly 400 years, with its magical shell grotto, sumptuous staterooms, and 3000-acre deer park.

Phil visits the magnificent Holkham Hall, an 18th-century Palladian mansion in north Norfolk, to reveal the mind-boggling amounts of materials, labor, and money it took to construct.

Phil travels north of the border to Hopetoun House in the spectacular Scottish Lowlands, where he uncovers the lavish house's extraordinary history and the vast estate.

Phil visits the vast estate of Goodwood House in West Sussex, where every acre is dedicated to entertainment - from horses to cricket, to parties and fast cars.