BBC National Trust series features Hughenden and Cliveden

Hidden Treasures of the National Trust will return for its second series on BBC Two on Friday, May 10, at 9pm.

Each episode of the programme, whose first season uncovered the histories of trust-owned estates, gardens and coastlines across the UK, will focus on a different central theme, explored through the stories of objects and properties shrouded in historical intrigue as they undergo conservation.

Cliveden, near Taplow, which was built by the second Duke of Buckingham in 1666 and played a role in the infamous Profumo Affair, a political scandal that rocked the Conservative party in the 1960s, will be featured in episode two, which airs next Friday, May 17.

The episode will go behind the scenes of efforts to restore John Singer Sargent's portrait of Cliveden resident and first sitting female MP, Nancy Astor, alongside touching on the work of 94-year-old volunteer statue cleaner John and learning about a species of snail only found in the UK at Cliveden and Cotehele house in Cornwall.

Portrait of Nancy Astor, on display at Cliveden (Image: National Trust)

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Meanwhile, Grade-I listed Hughenden Manor, in High Wycombe, which was the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli from 1848 until he died in 1881, will feature in episode five of Hidden Treasures as it looks at his ‘spare chair’, which he commissioned to be carried aloft in victory during his electoral campaign of 1832.

Disraeli lost each time he stood as a radical candidate, however, and the chair never ended up being used. The episode will also focus on the restoration of Disraeli’s carriage gates at Hughenden, with commentary from a specialist blacksmith.

Disraeli's chair (Image: National Trust)

National Trust curator Ben Alsop said Hidden Treasures allowed the heritage conservation charity to both “highlight the care and skill that goes into the conservation of our remarkable collections” and “learn more about their creation and the fascinating people that once owned them”.

BBC Arts commissioning editor Alistair Pegg added: “I’m delighted to be delving behind the scenes once more at the National Trust, uncovering hidden histories of houses and their owners, secrets of the painstaking conservation carried out on beautiful objects and buildings, and the wonderful staff and volunteers who work, often unsung, across the country.”

Cliveden is open from 9:30am to 5pm daily, with the portrait of Nancy Astor available to view on house tours running now. Hughenden is open between 10am and 5pm, where Disraeli’s chair is now on display alongside an exhibition exploring how the Prime Minister used the estate to further his political ambitions.