Phil Spencer's Stately Homes

Season 2

2018 · 4 episodes · 3h 9m in all

Phil Spencer returns for another grand tour of some of Britain's magnificent stately homes

Episodes

1. 

   1. Longleat

   13 Aug 2018 · 47 min

   Phil hears tales of lovesick ghosts as he surveys Longleat's lavish interior décor and some of the most elaborate gardening in history.

2. 

   2. Belvoir Castle

   20 Aug 2018 · 47 min

   When is a stately home not a stately home? When it's a stately castle. In Leicestershire, Phil tries some medieval pest control and finds evidence of an aristocratic sex scandal and a lost railway.

3. 

   3. Houghton Hall

   27 Aug 2018 · 48 min

   Phil is off to Norfolk and a grand pile built by Britain's first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole. He discovers jaw dropping costs, bedrooms, and a giant silver bed.

4. 

   4. Blenheim Palace

   3 Sept 2018 · 47 min

   Phil explores the magnificent Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire and gets to know its formidable builders, John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough, and his wife Sarah. Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, Phil’s host, explains that the palace was a gift to the Marlborough family from their friend Queen Anne, a monument to the Duke’s victory over the French at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. However, in the archive Phil discovers the build was plagued with problems: fall-outs with the architect, unpaid builders and costs beyond even the wildest estimates. Phil tots up a total in today’s money that makes Blenheim the most expensive house he’s ever visited.