Cornforth, who died last May at 66, knew his way blindfolded around many a stately pile.

Inhabited by generations of hunters and horse breeders, it's a stately old pile that manages to exude an unfussy sense of comfort.

A stately Georgian pile, with a facade sixteen windows wide; parterres in the foreground; huge, smooth lawns receding out of the picture to right and left.

Built in 1869, it is a stately red-brick Italianate pile surrounded by towering Norwegian spruces and miniature gardens.

He cast a look back on the stately pile, majestic still, in spite of approaching decay.

It opened into a spacious quadrangle forming the court-yard of a stately Gothic pile, the portal of which stood invitingly open.

The flames spread rapidly, and of the stately pile there soon remained no more than the gaunt and blackened walls.

He has bought a dilapidated stately pile, Toddington Manor, in Gloucestershire, reportedly for £3m.

I could see the lad as the lord of vast estates, as a duke with scurrying minions and a stately pile in Sussex.

In altar-wise, a stately pile they rear; The basis broad below, and top advanc'd in air.