Phil Spencer's Stately Homes

Season 2

Phil Spencer returns for another grand tour of some of Britain's magnificent stately homes

Longleat
E1
LongleatPhil hears tales of lovesick ghosts as he surveys Longleat's lavish interior décor and some of the most elaborate gardening in history.
Belvoir Castle
E2
Belvoir CastleBelvoir (mispronounced Beaver) in Leicestershire is the Manners family's home and the seat of the Dukes of Rutland. In 1799, the 5th Duke and his ambitious wife, Lady Elizabeth Howard, turned it into their own personal fairy tale castle.
Houghton Hall
E3
Houghton HallHoughton Hall is the residence of the 7th Marquess of Cholmondeley. However, this grandiose country house in Norfolk was originally built, in 1722, for Sir Robert Walpole, the controversial first Prime Minister of Britain.
Blenheim Palace
E4
Blenheim PalacePhil explores the magnificent Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and gets to know its formidable builders, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, and his wife Sarah. Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, Phil’s host, explains that the palace was a gift to the Marlborough family from their friend Queen Anne, a monument to the Duke’s victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. However, in the archive Phil discovers the build was plagued with problems: fall-outs with the architect, unpaid builders and costs beyond even the wildest estimates. Phil tots up a total in today’s money that makes Blenheim the most expensive house he’s ever visited.