Hatfield House

Hatfield House is a magnificent Jacobean country house in the Hertfordshire town of Hatfield, built between 1607 and 1611 for Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and chief minister to King James I. Designed in red brick with stone dressings and a distinctive E-shaped plan, it remains the family seat of the Marquesses of Salisbury and is one of the finest surviving examples of Jacobean architecture in England.

The house stands on the site of the former Royal Palace of Hatfield, where Elizabeth I spent much of her childhood and where, according to tradition, she learned of her accession to the throne in 1558 while reading beneath an oak tree in the park. The surviving Tudor Old Palace, where Elizabeth held her first Council of State, still stands within the grounds and is used today as a banqueting hall. Inside the main house, visitors can see the Marble Hall, the Grand Staircase, and the Long Gallery, along with portraits, tapestries, armour and personal items associated with Elizabeth I, including the famous Rainbow and Ermine portraits.

The surrounding estate covers around 1,000 acres of parkland, formal gardens and woodland, with a long-established kitchen garden and east and west gardens laid out in the Jacobean style. The house lies a short walk from Hatfield railway station, which is on the East Coast main line out of London King's Cross, making it one of the most easily accessible great houses in southern England.