The hospital was founded in 1475 by William Browne, a wealthy wool merchant from Stamford during the reign of Edward IV.
With over 35 main rooms and many other halls, corridors and bathrooms, Burghley is one of the biggest houses from the time of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) and is filled with furnishings and furniture from that period. It was built for William Cecil, and the Exeter-Cecil family still live there today.
Doddington Hall is the work of Robert Smythe, a renowned architect from the 16th century. This Elizabethan house was built for Thomas Tailor, registrar to the Bishop of Lincoln, and sold to Colonel George Jarvis in 1830, whose descendants own the house today.
Known as Lincoln’s ‘lost gardens,’ the Easton Valley not only offers 12 acres of wildlife in full bloom, but also a fascinating 400-year history. Just off the A1 in Grantham (Lincolnshire) the gardens today are flourishing, with lots of to see and do thanks to the Yew Tunnel, Cut Flower Garden, Cottage Garden, Turf Maze and two glasshouses.
One of the reasons for visiting Ellys Manor House in Grantham is to admire the stunning wall paintings which date back to 1500 and have been described as the most ‘complete and extensive domestic decoration’ from this era in the UK. Architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner has continued to highlight how rare such French tapestries are.
Grimsthorpe Castle sits within the rolling hills of south Lincolnshire and dates back to the 13th century. Formal gardens were created in the 17th century and it is in this style the gardens greatly remain. Looking away from the 18th-century Sir John Vanbrugh north front, a wide tree-lined vista carries the visitor's eye over large formal lawns softened with swathes of long grass.
This Jacobean manor house was built for Richarch Nelthorpe in 1603, and his family have lived there ever since.