Waddesdon Manor

Your horse-drawn carriage would sweep you through the grand entrance gates in the village of Waddesdon near Aylesbury and up the mile-long drive through the estate towards the house. The drive would be lined with impressive flower beds the work of 200 gardeners.

Sweep past a beautiful fountain that that would be perfectly fitting in a grand Italian palace, turn the corner, and there ahead lies the manor. You'd think you were in 18th century France, approaching a magnificent turreted chateau.

The French impression is deliberate. When Baron Ferdinand built Waddesdon, from 1874 to 1889, he said he sought "to revive the decoration of the 18th century in its purity, reconstructing the rooms out of old material, reproducing them as they had been during the reigns of the Louis'."

It's not just the fairytale castle style of the manor which is entrancing. He filled the house with a collection of art treasures which has rarely been equalled.

All these are displayed for your pleasure as guests are welcomed and shown to the East Gallery. Here marvellous 18th-century paintings, sculptures, tapestries and furniture are set off by magnificently carved oak panelling.

It was lucky for the baron that many old houses in Paris were being pulled down at that time to create new boulevards, and he was able to get a wealth of panelling and architectural ornamentation to build into his new manor, creating a setting of unparalleled elegance for his art treasures.

Members of the Rothschild banking family were renowned throughout Europe for their good taste, and as you continued through to the elegant drawing room, the drawing rooms, the library and if you were lucky the state bedroom, there would be art treasures on the walls, the floors, the furniture, the dining table and indeed the ceiling to keep you marvelling all weekend.

Today visitors can walk through the manor's 45 rooms and feast on the work of some of the world's best painters, such as Gainsborough and Reynolds and Dutch Old Masters.

Or if antique furniture of the highest standard is your interest, there's a jewel at every turn.

There are also superb collections of porcelain, historic buttons, manuscripts, sculptures, tapestries, and the famous Waddesdon Wine Cellars housing a collection of 15,000 bottles.

Philippa says: "People visiting Waddesdon for the first time often say: 'I had no idea I thought it was an ordinary National Trust house.' "In fact it's an art gallery, a museum, an archive, a historic building and a beautiful garden all rolled into one. We're considered the jewel in the crown of the National Trust."

The garden is renowned, with an interesting aviary and a magnificent parterre.

Waddesdon manor, north-west of Aylesbury, (01296) 653226.

www.waddesdon.org.uk