Attingham Hall, Shropshire

National Trust
Successful politician Noel Hill, later 1st Lord Berwick, built Attingham Hall, a grand Georgian mansion, in the 1780’s on the site of an earlier house. Successive Lords Berwick completed and furnished the house, and made alterations such as adding the picture gallery with its innovative iron-framed roof lights, and demolishing the remnants of the earlier building on the site.
Attingham came to the National Trust in 1947, and for many years parts were let out as a Further Education college.
The grand rooms on the principal floor are all on display, with masculine styled rooms on one side of the house, and feminine themed rooms on the other. The principal rooms with their superb decorations and plasterwork are well worth a visit, but upstairs seems to be a work-in-progress and most of the upper floor is not open to the public. The service basement and kitchens are open to visitors.
There is an extensive park including an imposing stables block, and a walled garden.
The NT guidebook rather irritatingly does not contain a floor plan or room guide, so if you see a separate floor plan available you might want to avail yourself of it.
I visited again in 2023, again touring the principal rooms. There is no general access to upstairs, but an extra-cost guided tour is available to visit a two-floor apartment in the East Wing which contains a number of furnished and grand rooms. This apartment was occupied by the last (8th) Lady Bervick, and then was leased to a Mr Cohen, a Regency furniture collector, who died quite recently. The rooms are as he left them. This extra tour is well worth the fee. You are advided to book it at the reception on arrival to save yourself a lot of trekking about, later.
In 2023 I also visited parts of the grounds, including the ice-house (disappointingly just a hole in the ground), the Bee House, and the large Walled Garden. The latter is worth the walk. Nearby are some excavations uncovering lost pleasure ground fratures. The stable block, on the entry route, is also worth a look around. If you make an all-day visit, there are circular walks around the extensive grounds and estate.