Goodwood House

Goodwood House has been the seat of the Dukes of Richmond for more than 300 years, set in an 11,000-acre estate below the South Downs outside Chichester. The 1st Duke bought Goodwood in 1697 to hunt with the Charlton Hunt, and the family still lives here. The state apartments are let for private dinners, receptions and weddings, with the house's own butlers and a kitchen that draws on the estate's organic Home Farm.

The Ballroom is the headline room: a long gallery hung with portraits of kings, queens and the Dukes and Duchesses of Richmond and Gordon, with a minstrels' gallery at one end made for music. It seats 180 for dinner and takes 225 for a reception. The Egyptian Dining Room, restored by the current Duke, is gilded with cartouches, sphinxes and crocodiles and seats 64. The Yellow Drawing Room holds 150 for drinks under its replica Axminster carpet.

Smaller rooms follow the enfilade. The Tapestry Drawing Room is hung with Gobelins tapestries first commissioned by Louis XV, the circular Card Room is lined with a Sèvres service made for the 3rd Duke and dines 12, and the Music Room, the Supper Room and the Round Reception Room complete the set. Three Stubbs paintings of shooting, racing and the Charlton Hunt hang in the Front Hall, where guests arrive for canapés.