Wimpole Estate

Wimpole Estate has been lived on and farmed for more than 2,000 years, and the 17th-century hall at its centre carries the marks of every owner since: Edward Harley, whose manuscripts formed the core of the British Library; Philip Yorke, the Attorney General whose opinion on slavery held sway for half a century; and Elsie Bambridge, Rudyard Kipling's daughter, who refurnished the empty shell in the 1930s. Inside, John Soane's Yellow Drawing Room and plunge bath contrast with the basement corridor below stairs. Outside are a walled kitchen garden, Capability Brown parkland with a Gothic folly reached over a Chinese bridge, and Home Farm, built in 1794 and the Trust's largest organic in-hand farm, with Shire horses, pigs, sheep and goats. A waymarked 1.2-mile archaeology walk crosses the parkland from the stable block. Reviewers call the farm the children's highlight and praise the homemade sandwiches and cake. Tips from visitors: start at the farm before the house, dogs on leads are limited to the parkland and Stables, and a volunteer-driven buggy shuttles between the visitor centre, hall, gardens and farm.