Derbyshire revels in an edifying assembly of historic country houses: Haddon Hall, the quintessential mediaeval manor house; Sudbury, a late 17th century mansion with splendid decorative plasterwork; and Kedleston, Robert Adam's neo-Classical chef d’oeuvre.

A handful of private visits will distinguish our late summer tour of Derbyshire: Sudbury Hall is a late 17th century house with sumptuous interiors, whilst Renishaw, once notorious as the setting for Lady Chatterley’s Lover, reveals the eclectic tastes of generations of the Sitwell family.

Seventeenth century Bolsover Castle, which dominates the surrounding countryside from its hilltop perch, was once the most fashionable of society venues, even hosting a Ben Jonson masque in honour of a visit by Charles I. We will trace the royal route, admire the classical wall paintings and scrutinise the country’s earliest illusionistic ceiling paintings.

Hardwick Hall, famed for its huge expanses of window, is a lasting memorial to Bess of Hardwick. The house contains the finest selection of Elizabethan embroideries in the country, together with a captivating collection of 16th century French furniture acquired for Bess by Mary Queen of Scots.

We stay at the four-star Kenwood Hall Hotel, with heated indoor pool, set in a dozen acres of delightful parkland a mile from the centre of Sheffield.