Badminton House

Badminton House has been the seat of the Dukes of Beaufort since the dukedom was created in 1682, and the family still lives here. Successive Dukes brought in William Kent, James Gibbs, Charles Bridgeman and Capability Brown, and the estate around the house carries their work: Kent's Worcester Lodge at the end of a three-mile avenue, Thomas Wright's castellated barns, and a park that hosts the Horse Trials each spring.

The house lets its West Wing for private occasions. The North Hall is the headline room. Gibbs designed it in the 1730s, Charles Stanley and Giuseppe Artari did the plasterwork, and the four John Wootton hunting and racing canvases were painted for the walls and still hang there. Its proportions set the size of a badminton court after the game was played here in 1863. It seats 80 for dinner and takes 120 standing. Beside it sit the Old Hall, where the household of successive Dukes ate at a long oak table, the Old Kitchen with its original hearth and copper pots, the Stewards Room and a small dining room for ten.

Across the park, Worcester Lodge seats 20 under a plasterwork ceiling, with a balcony looking back down the avenue to the house, and the field in front of it takes a marquee. Swangrove House, an eighteenth-century hunting lodge in the grounds, seats 20 with a kitchen built for a private chef. Catering comes from the estate's list of recommended suppliers, and enquiries go through the Estate Office.