Highclere Castle

In 1839 the 3rd Earl of Carnarvon handed his square classical mansion to Sir Charles Barry — fresh from designing the Houses of Parliament — and asked for a transformation. Between 1839 and 1842 Barry reclad it in Bath stone and rebuilt it in the Jacobethan style, a Victorian revival of late-Tudor and early-Stuart England with an Italianate accent Barry called 'Anglo-Italian.' Towers, strapwork, and a great saloon with a mock-hammerbeam roof by his assistant Thomas Allom turned a Georgian box into a storybook castle.

The Carnarvons have held Highclere since 1679, on land the Bishops of Winchester owned from the 8th century — the Domesday Book records it. The 5,000-acre park was landscaped by Capability Brown, who moved an entire village to achieve his sweeping views. And the family made history beyond architecture: the 5th Earl bankrolled Howard Carter, whose 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb the castle's Egyptian exhibition still celebrates.

Then came Downton Abbey. Since 2010 the castle has played television's most famous country house, and the visitors followed — their tickets funding the £12 million of repairs the estate needed. The 8th Earl and Countess still live there in winter, retreating to their cottage when the public arrives each summer.