Set some 2 miles west of Wimborne, Dorset's must-see stately home looks every inch the setting for a period drama. Highlights include the gold- and gilt-smothered Spanish Room, the hieroglyphics in the Egyptian Room and the elegant marble staircase and loggia. The opening hours and days for the house vary – see the website for updates. In the extensive landscaped grounds, hunt out the restored Japanese Tea Garden and the Iron Age hill fort of Badbury Rings.
Kingston Lacy's high-profile artworks include the overwhelming ceiling fresco The Separation of Night and Day, by Guido Reni, and paintings by Rubens, Titian and van Dyck.
The house became the home of the aristocratic Bankes family when they were evicted from Corfe Castle by the Roundheads during the Civil War; look out for the bronze statue of Dame Mary Bankes in the loggia – she's shown still holding the keys to her much-loved castle in her hand.