Lynda Bellingham opens the doors of Renishaw Hall, Ragley Hall and Ugbrooke Park for 21 weekly visits between April and September 2013. Each 8.25 a.m. ITV Breakfast slot pairs her with a rotating squad of chefs, gardeners and antiques buffs who cook in the kitchens, prune the topiary and rifle through attics while she chats with owners about leaking roofs and Victorian scandals.
Chef James Tanner turns up in nearly every episode, knocking together three-course lunches from whatever the house gardens yield, while Paul Hayes pokes around servants’ quarters pricing chamber pots and Larry Lamb drops by for Derbyshire episodes to compare the family portraits to his own soap-opera lineage. The format never shifts: drone shot, history nugget, cookery demo, valuation, farewell wave from the portico.
Produced by Twofour for ITV, the series was shot entirely on location with no studio links, giving each pile the hush of a Sunday morning before the tourists arrive. When the final credits rolled on 8 September 2013, the programme had visited only three properties, endlessly re-dressed by season, menu and guest to fill the order of 21 episodes. Bellingham died the following year, leaving these genial wanderings as her last regular television work.
Production Details
ITV1 / 1 Season / 21 Episodes / 2013
Main Cast
