Antony

The house, containing collections of paintings, furniture and textiles, and home of the Carew family for almost 600 years, is faced in silvery-grey Pentewan stone, flanked by colonnaded wings of mellow brick. The grounds were landscaped by Repton and include the formal garden with the National Collection of Day Lilies and fine summer borders. The woodland garden (owned privately by the Carew Pole Garden Trust) has an outstanding display of rhododendrons, azeleas, camellias and magnolias, and surrounding woods provide delightful walks. Also of note are the 18th-century dovecote and 1789 Bath Pond House.

Oliver Garnett is the National Trust's Guidebook Editor and the author of Living in Style: A Guide to Historic Decoration and Ornament.